Link bait is content on your website that gets linked to by other websites because they want to. Asking a website to link to your content isn’t considered link bait. Initially, links can be hard to get. However, with link bait, you are “baiting” your content to increase the chances of this happening. When more and sites link to your content, it brings your website towards the top of search engines creating more traffic and visitors.
The Three Main Points
There are three main things you can do that will set your content up for more links on other websites. Relevancy is a huge part of creating successful link bait. Your target audience wants something that is useful and will make their lives better. They want to learn something that they didn’t already know. If you are relevant when you write your content, your audience will rely on your information, thus increasing the chances of your content being linked to. Authenticity is another huge part of creating successful link bait. You want to give your audience content on a current trend or topic that relates to your website’s niche. Lastly, offering something new is a huge step in creating quality link bait. There are thousands and thousands of articles on almost every topic on the internet. Your target audience doesn’t want to hear the same thing continually. Writing content from new perspectives is a great way to offer something new that readers will really be “hooked” on to. If there are five million articles that tell the benefits of double-knotting your shoes, then write an article on the benefits of single-knotting your shoes.
Know Your Readers
There are many methods that you can “bait” your content to set it up as great link bait. Your target audience likes to see content that isn’t just another old article, but rather something invigorating that catches their eye. Interviews are a great way to set up link bait. People are interested in different perspectives as mentioned earlier. When interviewing people with “big names” usually lots of popularity follows right after. Therefore, you get more visitors to your website increasing you chances of getting linked to. Writing reviews are another powerful method to setting up good link bait. When people are interested in a product or service, they usually read the reviews before they take their money out of their pocket. A great way to execute reviews properly is by comparing two top brand products. Your readers will really benefit from these kinds of articles setting you up for greater link bait activity.
Pulling It Off
Link “baiting” is not an easy thing to do, but can be very effective if it is done right. Creating your own strategy will be helpful when writing content. First, think of what type of article you are going to write. Then, make sure that your article will impact your readers strong enough that they will be willing to link to your content. Finally, write your article with a strong and confident perspective. These steps will allow you to maximize the potential that you website has to offer.
Andrew Handley is an outreach specialist for elevator companies in NYC testing linkbaiting strategies to help in linkbuilding. You can contact him through his Google Plus profile page.