Search Engine Marketing Blog

Link bait, in case you never heard of it, is a website/page built to grab your attention. Offering a cool free tool, flaming Matt Cutts, saying “Page Rank Doesn’t Matter”, publishing a Top 100 list are all examples of link bait. In business terms it might be a whitepaper, survey findings, industry reports or predictions and forecasts.

The focus is on targeting a link-happy audience and on marketing to them instead of on delivering to your primary target audience. It’s all about spreading your word through other people’s websites.

You should build link bait content that targets bloggers, social bookmarkers, university professors, Democratic senators, niche media, big media, anyone and everyone that posts online - from those that do it for a living to those that simply like to see their own words in print.

The bottom line is it’s only link bait if it’s something others will want to join in on. If there is no reason for them to comment, disagree, flame you, nit pick, congratulate you, quote you, or in some way engage in the conversation it’s not link bait.

So make it engaging, controversial, quoteable, thought provoking, hilarious, horrid, anything that will cause a written reaction.

10 ways to cheat at link building. Quick, easy tips to get you and your new site going.

1. Directories - quick, easy, fast submissions. Usually free, sometimes a small fee. Links are usually set up in a timely fashion. Find suitable directories at the Open Directory.

2. Buy a Yahoo directory link.

3. Ask people you know - personal friends, family members, your kid’s school, your golf club, people you met on holiday - anyone you know who owns, or knows someone who owns, a site.

4. Arrange with your business partners to do a Partners page - you normally refer them to customers so why not refer them on your site and get them to refer you by linking to you.

5. Ask satisfied business customers for an endorsement. You add their testimonial on your site with a link to theirs and they add you as a preferred supplier on their site with a link to yours.

6. Don’t have a news page, have a blog instead. Just for having a blog you qualify for links a normal site can’t get - there’s a whole Dmoz section devoted to weblogs not to mention all the blog specific directories. Use the blog for posting news, press releases, product recalls, job openings, sponsorships, and so on. If you post something that’s actually interesting to someone you’ll get links without having to ask. Blogging software is like a free, easy to install content management system that can be administered by just about anyone who can type and you don’t have to give them access to the rest of your site.

7. Put up a “Link to Me” sign on your site with code for a professional looking button that people can simply cut and paste into their own site’s code.

8. Offer a “Listed On” or award button link for any site that qualifies. Believe it or not sites are still willing to stick an award or “Listed On” button link on their site.

9. Every time you do a press release make sure it carries your website address and is distributed to the online press release services.

10. Let other sites use your content providing they link back to your site. White papers, studies, surveys, research, product recall notices, tips, articles, jokes, anything that you post on your site that other sites may wish to use. Stick a politely worded permission note on the bottom of the content page letting other site owners know they are welcome to use the material - all you ask is that they credit the content to you using a direct link.

Ok, so there is no completely lazy way of getting links. Didn’t your Daddy ever tell you that anything worth doing is worth doing well?

1. Pay someone to do it for you - just make sure they can spell and speak the language please.

2. Piggy back off someone else’s work - find an article or blog post you like and add to it. Just make sure you fully attribute the original piece of content to its rightful owner.

3. Be a copycat - find an article, piece of research or press release you like and say the same thing but in a different way or targeted at a different audience. Again, attribute it to the original piece of work and its author.

4. Find out what your employees love and let them write about it - on company time.

5. Ask your partners, suppliers, heck - the general public - for content and publish it fully attributed. If you have a submit an article page you probably will get article submissions.

6. Run a poetry or product naming or tagline competition. Ask for submissions, post all the entries, reward the winner(s) and name the runners up.

7. Set up an online suggestion box and let people submit to it. Not only is it content, it’s also fantastic - and free - market research.

8. Allow reviews of your products, branches, website, anything. Let people write their own testimonials as well as telling you what you can improve on.

9. Double, tripe, quadruple check that all your product specs, technical information, FAQ’s and so on have been published on your site in a format that search engines can index (not behind a login or password protected barrier).

10. Have a section that contains snippets of what other sites say about your company with a link back to the original article. You’ll need to set up an alert in order to keep track of what is being said and where.

The above suggestions may require a bit of programming and revamping of your site but will not require a lot of ongoing content authoring. Yet they will give your site a fresh injection of new, unique content. Let others do your work for you - after all, they actually want to.