Link-baiting is the concept of writing in such a way as to attract other internet-based resources back to our blog. It means creating something that naturally attracts back-links for your web page by getting people to talk about it, discuss it on forums, blog about it, post it on del.icio.us / Sphinn / Digg / Stumble , and link to it from their sites. It also attracts a lot of visitors.
Link-baiting is not a new concept and not a concept used only on the internet. Rae Hoffman has a great explanation of how politicians use link bait all the time and always have.
Being passionate about what you write and how you convey that passion is key to growing your community. Richard Reeve talks about touch points and eloquently explains how this process of attracting readers, and the analytics involved, builds relationships. Whatever the intent or purpose of our blog, we’re all interested in that relationship which forms from the links that are made.
Building community is more than just having high page view counts. It’s about increasing readership and engaging with those readers in a meaningful way.
Some things to keep in mind:
- Are you looking to have as many visits to our site as possible so we can say we have high numbers
- Are you trying to build an audience that signs up to the RSS feed or returns regularly?
- Does you writing change as a result of thinking about the numbers?
- Is it possible to get high numbers and attract repeat readers?
There are lots of great resources out there to explain how to use link bait and honestly, we all would like traffic on our blog. The Golden Rules of Linkbaiting is really helpful. It feels good to know others read and value our writing. It feels good to know we have an audience. People love to discuss how many visits they got that day and where the traffic comes from. Building community is more than just having high page view counts. It’s about increasing readership and engaging with those readers in a meaningful way
“One way to make sure your link bait is successful is to pick a subject that you believe in, are passionate about, and that will bring out an emotional response from members of your target audience. Or you could play it safe and write the 5 ways Twitter is helping web 2.0 businesses. The first is memorable the second is utterly forgettable.” – Michael Gray
Do you have link bait in mind when you write?
Kathryn aka northernchick
Special thanks to graywolf and photo credit: INV/ALT DESIGN