Research
It’s also about identifying those who link, what kind of content do they link to. It’s the current market that goes to define the content. You may have come up with a great idea, but the truth of the matter is that your readers will ultimately decide what exactly you publish and that your ideas will come from research. If you haven’t spent enough time researching the niche you are going to publish in then you will fail.
Distribution
You then need to ensure that the content is shown to as many potential linkers as is possible, and the nature of social media marketing can assist you with this but a powerful online network is of paramount importance. To those who have no access this is like hitting a brick wall. But it can be solved by taking the time to build a network, or buy the people who have built that network.
It’s important to realise when considering adding linkbaiting to your strategy that it takes a specific skill to create something worthy. It would seem that for successful linkbait to work, there is always an element of simplicity that makes the whole creation look simple. In reality, to create something which appears so very simple can be quite a difficult process.
The process of creating linkbait should follow this three step process:
1. Find who links
2. Discover what they link to
3. Show the linkers the content
Successful linkbait must contain the following elements:
1. Attention grabbing
2. Entice the reader to consume the content
3. Instil a reason for the reader to share content
Linkbait is not a sales message whose intention is to get you to buy a particular product. The whole purpose of linkbaiting is simply to get you to link by using emotional triggers. It’s a well known fact that we are not known for our rational buying, rather that we buy emotionally. Therefore we must not treat linking any differently, it has to serve the purpose of reaching the linker and in turn activate the right emotional triggers.
If you have defined your online marketing problem as too few links then employing linkbait as an element of your whole strategy may be the solution to your problem. It has to mesh with your other online marketing elements such as PPC, Search Engine Optimisation, link buying, blogging, article writing, social media, etc. Of course having a brilliant website in the first place will help and if you get your web design just right, it’s a good beginning.
It is vital that it should in no way be detrimental to your branding plan of action. The accent of the linkbait should not harm in any way the way you want your brand to be perceived. Imagine if you are a bank and you have come up with a piece entitled “Great Gadgets Bankers Buy with their Bonus”, then you may want to reconsider your plan. In today’s climate, it doesn’t strike me as a great idea right now. Even though I am confident that this will get the banks links, linkbait should never really be about gaining links at any cost.
