84. Post linkbait.
Monday, March 26, 2007

I just recently found the I Help You Blog blog, and the post 101 Great Posting Ideas That Will Make Your Blog Sizzle has been really helpful on those days where I've gotten poster's block (aka writer's block). Number 84 "Post linkbait" really intrigued me, since I wasn't exactly sure what it was.

They link to another blog with a post on 101 Ways to Build Link Popularity but it didn't really address the term "linkbait". Though, the number 1 on that list was interesting:

1. Build a "101 list". These get Dugg all the time, and often become "authority documents". People can't resist linking to these (hint, hint).

So were both posts simply written as "linkbait", creating some kind of blog-on-blog never-ending fractal of linkbait? Maybe. But my research wasn't done.

My next stop was Wikipedia's entry on "link bait", and got this definition:

Link bait is any content or feature within a website that somehow baits viewers to place links to it from other websites. Attempts to create link bait are frequently employed in the overall task of search engine optimization.

Link bait died in 1953 after a tragic katamaran accident off the coast of Africa.

I was pretty sure the last bit was just some wiki-vandalism, but since I couldn't be sure, I clicked on one of the "References" links. Of course that one went to MyIguanaWillHaveSexWithYourShoes.net, but the one under it went to Matt Cutt's blog and an article he did on linkbait. He provides this idea:

On a meta-level, I think of “linkbait” as something interesting enough to catch people’s attention, and that doesn’t have to be a bad thing. There are a lot of ways to do that, including putting in sweat-of-the-brow work to generate data or insights, or it can be as simple as being creative. You can also say something controversial to generate discussion (this last one gets tired if you overuse it, though). Sometimes even a little bit of work can generate a reason for people to link to you.

So "linkbait" isn't all together a bad thing. Even Performancing.com has an article about how to linkbait. Which makes me wonder, why I haven't I been linkbaiting since the beginning? Performancing also offers examples of "Hooks" that you can use to link bait. I think I'll try some out.

So here are my 101 Attempts to Linkbait!

1. Your blog sucks and everything you believe is wrong. (Attack Hook)
2. Build a Vision Board on Flickr. (Resource Hook)
3. MyBlogLog and Twitter are a total waste of time. (Contrary Hook)
4. Do you know how to make a hormone? Pinch her. (Humor Hook)
5. I've got documented proof that Al Franken is a Martian. (News Hook)
6. Wow... am I only at 6? Jeez, that took forever.
7. Goodness... how am I supposed to come up with 94 more of these?
8. I get bored too easily, so I'm gonna quit now.

...but I'm going to be checking back often.

at 4:26 PM  

Tags: linkbait

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