Using Linkbaiting To Your Advantage
Linkbaiting has gained a shady reputation in some arenas, but the simple fact is this set of practices can really increase a site's incoming traffic. It all falls on what kinds of methods are employed to gain incoming links during a linkbaiting campaign. The practice itself can actually be rather fun, rewarding and very much legitimate.
The fact is effective linkbaiting can be one of the best ways to promote a site in the short-term and even for the long haul. The only difference between linkbaiting and regular site building is that content is created with the prospect of gaining links in mind.
The biggest key to working linkbaiting to one's advantage is to come up with the right content to do so. Technorati, Digg.com and del.icio.us are several sites that publishers often turn to in order to take the pulse on what is popular and what is not. Writing about trends or focusing in on them can be a fantastic way to tailor content. The trick is making sure that the site's actual focus isn't lost in trend chasing.
Another effective, and perhaps less pointed way, to have some fun with linkbaiting is to simple do what comes naturally. Add content to your site in the manner you see fit. Just make sure it's solid, relevant and appealing to readers. What a lot of blog owners do is create informative lists, run statistics, add contests and even write very strong opinion pieces on the topics they focus on. Controversy, rants and gripes tend to gain incoming links rather well, too.
No matter how good content happens to be, sometimes the links just don't come. A promotional effort can help here. One possibility involves contacting publishers of similar sites and trying to garner their opinion on a particular piece. This contact can produce solid advice and it might result in a link, too.
Social tagging and sites that rank popularity, such as Digg.com, can be very useful for linkbaiting, as well. Once these sites pick up a story, it can literally be viewed by thousands and linked to over and over again. Some blog writers create their own Diggs. This particular practice is questionable, but it can work.
The concept involved with linkbaiting is to create incoming links - nothing more and nothing less. The idea is to increase traffic, income potential and possibly even page ranking, too.
While the term "linkbaiting" could benefit from a public relations campaign, the practice itself isn't bad and it can create wonderful results. Should the effort be handled carefully with integrity and reputation in mind, it can be fun and very rewarding.
It can be very rewarding to watch incoming links for a site continue to rise. This shouldn't be the only focus though. Just make sure the content created is useful, or the linkbait can turn out to be a big flop for future traffic. Relevancy, usefulness and quality should always be a top concern when trying to gain traffic from linkbaiting efforts.
Author Jeff Alderson develops newbie-friendly SEO software. He is an expert on maximizing traffic and sales. Jeff suggests using Ad Word Analyzer to find website keywords for your website.
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