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So whats wrong with link bait?????

by Mike Anthony
13 replies
  • SEO
    • |
I was wondering why there are so few treads that have to do with generating natural leads through link bait so I did a search for it in the forum and found only two previous threads with the term link bait in the topic title. So question?

Why will people spend hundreds of dollars on submitting backlinks but no one talks about link bait?

For those who don't know what link bait is - its the method of attracting people to naturally build backlinks to you. Its the only back linking strategy that Google really endorses.

In link bait you can encourage people to link back to you by creating controversial articles, creative content, downloads, themes, videos, podcasts, widgets, calculators or games and more.

I've actually tested the power of say offering things like videos (not on you tube)and a few themes for download. It gave me a bunch of traffic and quite a few backlinks. I plan on balancing my profile backlinking and link bait for some new projects to get the best of both worlds and was just wondering.

what do you do for link bait and if nothing why not? Why isn't it discussed as much as other techniques?
#bait #link #wrong
  • Profile picture of the author bigcat1967
    Funny you brought this up.

    I just wrote an article regarding something that is contrary to what "experts" believe. The article is on a blog...

    I have a site that gets plenty of traffic - so I put a link to this blog. ppl will be amazed or mad about what I wrote - because it is controversial. I'm assuming ppl will link to this article of mine and put the blog on top page of the serps.

    I love link bait - because it works
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  • Profile picture of the author RedEvo
    It landed me a PR7 so yeah, it works.

    d
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    • Profile picture of the author gjedda63
      Can link bait tools be bought anywhere?
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      • Profile picture of the author Mike Anthony
        Originally Posted by gjedda63 View Post

        Can link bait tools be bought anywhere?

        I don't know of any. I think that question raises a point as to why alot of people are nt interested in link bait. Theres no simple one kit or package for it.
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        • Profile picture of the author Mike Anthony
          Originally Posted by Franco Mocke View Post

          Most people don't do it because it actually requires some work to be done. People are by nature lazy, they just want to press a button to build links and make millions of dollars :p
          Great point. Obviously with what I sell I have no problem with the building of links but at some point if you really intend on staying in the business for years you are going to want to add natural links to those you've built yourself. I mean in some profitable niches if you check the backlinks you are going to see sites with tens of thousands of backlinks and not forums or auto generated links either. Quality links from known sites not link farms.

          At any rate after a few years of building links yourself who wants to continue doing that or having to pay to get it done.
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  • Profile picture of the author Amitywill
    With linkbaiting you need to get traffic to your site so they can read
    your controversial article or whatever so they can decide whether they
    want to link to it or not.

    The fact is that linkbaiting is unreliable. It works well if you already have
    a well trafficked site. But if you're setting up a new site and your only
    method of building backlinks is linkbaiting then you're going to get miserable
    results at best.

    I'd much rather spend my time giving quality content and getting it ranking
    well in the serps with traditional backlink building than writing controversial
    content and praying that people will link to it.

    Will
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    • Profile picture of the author Mike Anthony
      Originally Posted by Amitywill View Post

      I'd much rather spend my time giving quality content and getting it ranking
      well in the serps with traditional backlink building than writing controversial
      content and praying that people will link to it.
      Thats only one narrow definition of link bait. There is a fuller explanation in this article.

      Methods of website linking - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

      Really link bait can be anything that encourages people to link back to your site. Content being one like an article titled "101 ways to rank high on Google". Beyond post or article content it can be something downloadable, video, podcast etc.

      Yes I think when you start out you should be generating backlinks immediately but once you have a system in place you can't keep up with link bait. Theres no rule about it being unreliable. Depends entirely on what youa re doing for linkbait. You get links from all over without submission or anything. Nothing wrong with doing both. Link bait is pretty good for traffic. I bought a theme on DP once for $25. Modified it a little and got hundreds of visitors looking for the theme that I released on a few theme directories.

      I got the backlinks from those directories and I got backlinks from my author footer link. it worked like clockwork and no didn't take me any time.
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  • Profile picture of the author Yoel Cohen
    Originally Posted by Mike Anthony View Post


    Why will people spend hundreds of dollars on submitting backlinks but no one talks about link bait?

    ......

    what do you do for link bait and if nothing why not? Why isn't it discussed as much as other techniques?


    GREAT thread!

    I think Internet marketers are looking for a sure fire way to get links.

    It's easier to pay for them and be sure that you get the links...Link Bait is more for Bloggers who really blog...and link to other blogs...not just people who are looking to "milk the cow"

    Originally Posted by Amitywill View Post


    ...The fact is that linkbaiting is unreliable. It works well if you already have
    a well trafficked site. But if you're setting up a new site and your only
    method of building backlinks is linkbaiting then you're going to get miserable
    results at best...
    Linkbait is great...as long as it is done correctly...and picked up

    TRUE - you can spend a lot of time creating a 1500+ word article with images and videos AND must be with useful controversial/funny/etc' content (goes without saying)...But if that doesn't get picked up...then you've just spent time on creating great content for your site...(which is not bad...but then again that wasn't your goal which is linkbait)

    Solution Would BE:

    1. find a blogger in your niche...I mean a real blogger...one that is involved in the community and has tons of comments on every post...
    2. ask him for an opportunity to post a quality guest post...
    3. Create your linkbait piece and link to your moneypage from it.
    4. that Gueat post will have better chances of getting picked up by similar bloggers...Thus linking to that post...and of course you got links in that post too...which may add up to a PR3 - 5 or even more
    5. so you're getting a direct link from a PR 5 and an Authority Blog !!!
    6. The bloggers that visit that guest post and comment will see your signature in the post and visit your site.
    7. Resulting in a better chance of frequent visitors and more FUTURE LINKS, you'll be creating a community.
    Do this with a few Authority blogs in your niche and you'll see that when you create linkbait pieces on your site...they'll BOOM!
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  • Profile picture of the author HomeComputerGames
    Link bait is awesome if you have something people like and believe adds benefit to their own websites.
    For my gaming store I have free flash games from my arcade that people can put on their sites/blogs, myspace, etc... and it works well. I made sure that the code was easy to copy and supply 2 different sizes of the games so people can fit them to their page according to design.

    During my gambling affiliate days I wrote an odds calculator that I freely distributed that generated over 2000 backlinks to one of my sites.

    I agree, find something in your niche that people would use on their websites and then outsource the production of this. That $300 you spent could far outweigh any other type of outsourcing you have done.
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    • Profile picture of the author aramyus
      After reading a lot about linkbaits (in particular at SEOMOZ.com), Here are my conclusions:

      - link bait works primarily for technology and politics (try to find a link bait on subjects like cooking or knitting...)

      - Normal humans do not link to you even if you ask. Only linkerati do.

      - your success in linkbaiting is tied to your traffic. Statistically, a certain percentage of visitors will praise what you write (unless it's pure garbage)

      Gurus get linked very easily even for boring content. Newcomers will fail miserably even with outstanding content.

      - Even if you use the recommended methods (digg, press releases, forums ...), the previous rule applies. Of course miracles happen once in a while, but they are not predictable.

      - linkbait requires a lot of trial an error. You can get discouraged quickly.

      - For a newcomer, I'd recommend other traffic methods

      - I'd love to see a section of wf dedicated to linkbaiting

      Remy
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      • Profile picture of the author searchnology
        The reason you don't find a lot of info about "link bait" is that it is somewhat of an ambiguous term. You could also call it "quality content" or "viral content".

        "Link bait" just happens to be the term used least often....not sexy enough for me.

        I do agree with others in that it is sort of hit or miss. You never know what will or won't go viral.
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      • Profile picture of the author Mike Anthony
        Originally Posted by aramyus View Post

        - link bait works primarily for technology and politics (try to find a link bait on subjects like cooking or knitting...)
        Not true at all. Just be creative is all. cooking? recipes, equipment reviews, blog themes for cookers.

        Knitting? thats a sub category of a niche that kicks some serious dollars -the crafting industry so free diagrams, templates, clip art etc.


        Gurus get linked very easily even for boring content. Newcomers will fail miserably even with outstanding content.
        Very true. Fair analysis. When you are starting out the best real way to get backlinks is to build them yourself. Just finished watching a video where Matt Cutts practically admits your site is nothing and won't even be completely indexed if you don't have enough backlinks. People who think writing great content gets you to the top should watch some of Cutt's videos on Youtube. In the beginning you had best build your links yourself. Google will show you little love until you get the links.

        Once you are on your way then start sprinkling in some linkbait but yes starting out that way could be really tough and depressing. No one will link to a site that Google doesn't even want to index.
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