Link bait as a social marketing tool

"Link bait" is the term used to describe any content that is created with the sole intent of generating backlinks to the original source. In some senses, any and all content you create is link bait... however, in order to qualify as proper link bait, the content has to be highly compelling and worthy of conversation.

The reason everyone should be considering writing link bait instead of standard blog posts is because link bait plays beautifully as a social marketing tool. Conversation worthy content is quickly and easily shared with millions of people online. Sparking debate about any topic related to your niche is hugely valuable because it raises awareness of your niche and your website. This in turn leads to greater traffic and higher conversion rates, and this is the ultimate goal for any blogger, or online business.

There are several ways to turn a normal post into link bait. Be:

Inflammatory

Make your post deliberately insensitive, politically or religiously controversial and put it online. Be warned though, this is not a recommended method for anyone who wants to maintain high quality content and comment standards, as well as a respectable reputation. You can deal with sensitive topics in a responsible way though. Point in case, the viral post Social marketing lessons for Gadaffi

Authoritative

This is a good option for businesses. It's a way to show your superior knowledge and skills to the market. Become the go-to authority for a given niche is an exceedingly powerful business asset.

Humorus

Making something funny is a great way to attract buzz and hype. Even if you are a serious enterprise, there is always room to lighten the going with a funny post or two. Point in case, the very popular Marketing explained with reference to cows post.

Unusual or unique

Find something new an interesting, do something that no-one else has done, or think of something far out. Anything that gives people a sense of seeing something they wouldn't normally see is a perfect way to put your blog or site front and center of a huge audience. Point in case, discovering that Google misrepresents its own search engine stats.

By spending some time thinking about how to turn a normal blog post into real link bait, you can pump up traffic volumes and increase your marketing reach far quicker than plodding along with boring old posts...

I personally find it easiest to come up with a catchy link bait title and build an article around that. Be inventive and imaginative. What you'll find is that with a bit of practice, catchy new titles are a dime a dozen and your imagination can add a new dimension to the knowledge and information contained in the post.

People want to have fun.. even when they are learning (and you are cultivating trust with high quality articles), so don't be afraid to come up with some fairly outrageous ideas for articles. Provided link baiting is done in moderation and in a way that is not detrimental to your core focus, it's a powerfull social marketing tool.

Oh, and if you found this article useful

Share it, post it, and link back to it right now