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In a white paper on how to write your way to the top of the search engines, I state that linkbaiting is just about the most fun you can have with your clothes on. Those of you who know me aren’t surprised by statements like this, but really, its the truth. Furthermore, linkbaiting isn’t just good times, it can also help you grow your business. Let me explain.

What is linkbaiting? It’s about creating content that will get the attention of news sites, bloggers, and site owners. The name of the game is to get them to link to you. Get enough incoming links, and you start to positively effect where you stand in the search engine results. A good linkbaiting program can work hand-in-hand with a PR effort to get your name out there, and it’s way more fun (and effective) then some dreadful SEO program.

Way back in the day, when I was making a living as a freelance journalist, the emphasis was on leads and angles. Both of these tools give you quite a bit of leverage when constructing linkbait. A lead is a term for the main idea you’re going to “lead” with. For example, several months ago there was a story out there that Al Gore’s son had been pulled over by police. Apparently, he had been going 100 MPH in his Toyota Prius. I remarked to my environmentalist friends that CNN had really buried the lead–they should have gone with the speedy Prius thing.

An angle is an approach to a story. Give me a story, and I should be able to give you a dozen angles (or more) on how to approach it. For example, if I were writing a story about homelessness, I could come at it from some kind of top-down high-level economic number-crunching angle. Or I could zoom in and write the story from the perspective of someone who is homeless. Or I could tell the story featuring those who work in shelters and soup kitchens. Or I could tackle the issue of family members trying to find their loved ones who have “dropped out of sight.”

Same story, different angles and leads.

Tied in with all of this is the headline. Without a good headline, stories die. In journalism, this means that someone skips over your story to read something else. In the world of competitive linkbaiting, it means that you don’t get the links. Headlines are a pretty big topic, and no, we don’t have time to go into them here. Check out CopyBlogger’s headline formulas as a starter.

With linkbaiting, what you want is the link. To get the link, you first have to be noticed. That’s where you lead comes in. However, to maintain interest and actually get the other guy to link to you, you need to give them something worth linking to. Generally speaking, a blogger will link to something that he/she thinks will benefit their audience in some way–your post imparts great information, reinforces their opinions or views, is contrarian in some way, or is just plain funny or entertaining. More and more, we’re also seeing lots of links to “attack pieces.”

Let me expound on each:
Give me News! But don’t try to reinvent the wheel. Give me something new. Find a new area that hasn’t been exploited and give me breaking information. Very hard to pull off, in my opinion.

Attack! Attack! Has somebody said or published something you don’t agree with? Then go on the offensive and challenge their ideas. Warning: don’t stray into ad hominem attacks. That’s just tacky. Just because everyone else is doing it doesn’t mean you should too!

Be a contrarian. If there’s some kind of popular opinion, sacred cow, or current practice that you think is silly, outdated, or what have you, then say so. I’ve been a long-time opponent of SEO. I think it’s a shady practice, and I don’t make any bones about it. I also find most of the advertising world’s tactics to be worthy of a few contrarian shots too. If you like being a pain in the butt, then this is your niche. Just remember, it’s fun to make enemies!

Entertain me while teaching me. If you’ve got something funny or entertaining to say, then say it. One of my most popular blog posts was titled “Everything I learned about marketing I learned in the 80s“. It provides a list of marketing rules/axioms that all relate back to 80s pop culture.

For all of you who look at this and say, “Gee this is hard” I say to you, “Duh.” Content has always been hard, content will always be hard. And yes, I understand that some of you are working in the waste water industry, or the port management industry, or the pet carrier manufacturing industry. I know that you’re probably looking at what you do and are saying (out loud, right now), “There’s no way I can come up with a good piece of linkbait to attract incoming links.”

To you I say, HA! And HA again. Anything can be linkbaited. How about: 101 Ways a Pet Carrier Can Keep your Dog Safe While Traveling? Or, 50 Ways a Comprehensive Waste Water Plan Can Save Your Company Money? Or 153 Easy Ways to Secure your Port Operations?

One final note about linkbait. It takes time to develop a good piece. Prepare to do your research. If you think you’re going to roll out the door with 10 rules for blah, be prepared to write 25. Also be prepared to edit, edit, edit. Forgo long paragraphs for bullet/numbered lists. Pass your linkbait around to see if it gets a reaction from people. Better to know if its lame before you publish it.

Okay, I lied. One more thing. Content may be king, but the title is the crown. Without a good title, you’re not going to get very far. Not only does it attract attention, but it gives your writing focus. Please compare “Strategies for getting links” (blah) with “Linkbaiting for Fun and Profit” (quasi-humorous, tongue-in-cheek, not very descriptive).

That’s it for now. Now check out our linkbaiting service.

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