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What would you call linkbait if you couldn’t call it linkbait?
Guest post by Lyndon Antcliff.
Definitions make us lazy. They confine us to a specific way of thinking. More often than not they stop us thinking. Such is how I feel about the term “linkbait”.
I love the concept of linkbait, I just feel the label which signifies it is a bit of a strait jacket. And thus it is with any label, as soon as something is named it is destroyed.
What would you call linkbait if you couldn’t call it linkbait?
I’m not going to answer that question for you. It’s for you to think about, to explore, to ruminate over. Sorry if you were expecting a piece of knowledge served on a plate, filleted and grilled, lightly seasoned with a hint of lemon.
OK, here’s something.
Take one hundred, tightly written, keyword focused, capsule articles, the kind you can pick up for $20 a pop on any decent writers forum. The kind that solves a specific problem, not very exciting and if you don’t need that specific problem solving, quite tedious to read, but very useful if you do have that problem. Articles like these tend to be a bit wimpy in attracting links, but they sure are juicy for targeted keywords.
One of these articles is not going to do much, but collectively they can demonstrate authority in a given niche.
Amongst these “capsule content” pages consider dropping a big fat, bad ass piece of linkbait, the kind that will attract hundreds of links. Linkbait is sometimes not pretty, but it can provide brute force to aid those wimpy, more focused pages.
After the links come in and things settle down a little, link out from the linkbait to the “wimpy”, keyword pages using the targeted keyword as anchor text.
Different content provides different solutions. Content doesn’t only exist to get links, but linkbait does. Give the job of sucking in those links to linkbait and then let other content tighten up the keyword profile of the site. SUre, the linkbait may not be targeted at a useful keyword, but those other pages are focused and there are 100 targeted keyword phrases which have a lot more chance of ranking because of their ugly cousin “linkbait”.
Using linkbait as part of your overall strategy can have a far better effect than if it’s seen as a stand alone solution.
Lyndon Antcliff teaches linkbaiting strategies over at linkbaitcoaching.com
As posted in Guest Post on July 9, 2008.
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18 Responses: 16 comments and 2 trackbacks
2 trackbacks
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Link Building this week (27.2008) | Wiep.net Says:
July 11th, 2008 at 6:39 am[…] What would you call linkbait if you couldn’t call it linkbait? - Lyndon Antcliff […]
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What is Linkbait Says:
July 23rd, 2008 at 10:37 pm[…] Evo made a comment on a guest post I wrote for Searchenginepeople.com. I ask what would you call linkbait if you couldn’t call […]
July 9th, 2008 at 10:06 am
I’ve got a novel suggestion for an alternative name for link bait. How about…..no I feel stupid, no I will, it’s…..no……it’s just too stupid, oh what the hell, how about - good content - there I’ve said it…..
d
July 9th, 2008 at 10:53 pm
lol.
i love that picture..
controversial pictures are a great way of linkbaiting too.
July 10th, 2008 at 1:58 am
Ggg…nice
July 10th, 2008 at 7:03 am
RedEvo, how wonderful! Could not agree more!!
July 10th, 2008 at 11:09 am
Didn’t we used to call them “Killer Headlines?”
July 12th, 2008 at 10:34 am
I call it the net and the more content you have the more fish you can catch.
July 12th, 2008 at 11:24 am
I totally would go to SEX. Giggity giggity.
July 14th, 2008 at 11:25 am
wow…….sex instead of linkbait,never thought such way.
July 14th, 2008 at 11:12 pm
Nice cartoon. Really gets you thinking about divergent things.
July 15th, 2008 at 3:49 am
Until now, I still don’t understand what is linkbait. “Sad”
July 17th, 2008 at 3:26 am
I would rather call it ‘linkbait’ than anything else.
July 17th, 2008 at 12:12 pm
Nice post, but why do you say everywhere ’subscribe to full feed’ while the feed you offer is summery only?
July 23rd, 2008 at 3:20 am
Hmm. I’m late for the party.
What about attracting targeted and semi-targeted traffic with linkbait (or maybe even using 2-3 keywords in the title)?
Pumping linkbait just for links kinda undermines company creidibility, if it’s a corporate website, for example (something I am confronted atm).
P.S. Actually, with those 100 articles, I thought you’d say “Just turn them in an e-book and get links and exposure”. Bah.
July 28th, 2008 at 8:40 pm
Sounds too similar to jailbait…
July 31st, 2008 at 11:03 am
It is very difficult to do linkbait, even if your story is totally linkable… because you still have to reach a large audience. People like Aaron Wall or other top internet marketers can create linkbait easily, but someone that doesn’t have a following will have a much more difficult time getting linked to with the same materials.
It is good to be creative though and think of new ways to get people linking to your content. It can be done, it just takes focus and thinking outside the box.
August 21st, 2008 at 8:19 am
Sex and linkbait… costs about the same haha