How to Write an Effective Link Bait Post
Basic SEO, Blogging | 7 Jun 2011
In the worlds of web design, development and SEO, it is no mystery that link building, coupled with good content reign king and queen. There are many ways to create backlinks - some good and some not so good (whitehat and black/greyhat respectively). The good backlinks are the ones that come from quality, relevant and high ranking sites, versus spam sites or link farms.
One way to obtain quality backlinks is to write a post that compels others to add a link back to that post. This is referred to as “Link Baiting.” By creating valuable and useful content, other bloggers will want to share that information from their own blog or social media site. This leads to valuable backlinks and a potentially viral post.
How do you create a link baiting post?
While you should always create quality content, the most important thing your post needs is to provide value to your readers. If you provide valuable information or resources that no one else has, you have a better chance at getting a backlink. Lists are a good way to create that value. Everyone loves the “25 Ways to…” OR “Top 10…” posts.
A sneaky way to get backlinks is to post a controversial and unique perspective on a topic. People LOVE controversy and heated topics. If you are comfortable, posts like this can spread like wildfire.
Use a catchy title. Even if the content is not super interesting, a grabbing title will can capture a lot of traffic, especially in social media. Often times on social media sites, like Stumble Upon, Digg and Twitter, people that submit or retweet may not even READ the content – but the post has a catchy title.
Be the first to report. If there is breaking news, be the first to report. This may not work with all sites, depending on the popularity of your blog. However, if your site ranks high enough in search engines and you have an original and interesting topic, you may rank pretty quickly.
Develop a long resource list. A blog post that provides a long list of helpful tips or links is a great resource that people will love to bookmark and refer to come back to. Examples of this are 100 Traffic Tools or 50 DoFollow Blogs. They will also want to pass it on to their own readers by placing a link on a blog post of their own.
There are no guarantees that your link bait post will attract the links intended. Unfortunately, there are simply too many other factors that play into the popularity of a blog post. Nevertheless, these tips will give you a better chance of capturing visitors and links.
Related posts:
- Effective Link Building Techniques
- Tips to improve your page rank
- Does your blog’s bounce rate worry you? Let’s reduce it!
