Link Bait Ideas and How to Get the Word Out
The purpose of link baiting is often misunderstood; the objective should not solely be to gain links. When I setup my link bait traps I am not just looking for links from websites, I am looking for lots of social interaction and sharing on Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus, Pinterest, Digg, StumbleUpon and every other social platform out there. Let’s start off with some link bait ideas:
1.) Infographics
There have been countless blogs written about creating infographics so I won’t go into too much detail here. However the main points are it has to be well designed, engaging and most importantly prompt an emotional reaction.
2.) Video Content
It’s simple; people love interesting or funny videos. You do not even have to make the videos yourself, try browsing YouTube for 5 relevant videos to your sector and then embedded them on your site as a top 5 videos list.
3.) Industry Research
Produce research about your business or industry by surveying your customer, clients or business relations.
4.) Aggregate Others Research
If you are unable to produce research yourself then try compiling key points from other research into one concise, well presented piece of content. The beauty of this strategy is that you can credit your sources and then make them the basis for your outreach.
5.) Instructional Cartoon Strips
This is a newer concept that I am trying out. Every business will have something, whether it is a product or service, which requires instructions to use. Try putting a comedy spin on these instructions by turning them into a fun cartoon strip.
Now we have covered creating the link bait it is time to move onto the outreach and distribution. The most common misconception about link bait is the thought it will attract all of these awesome links and social shares by itself. Just because your infographic or top 10 list is the best thing since sliced bread does not mean it is going to gain links and social shares, you need to let people know about it. Here are a few basic ideas you can use for getting the word out.
1.) Social
Social media is one of the best ways to get your link bait out there. Use products such as Follower Wonk to find relevant influencers on Twitter and start making friends. Start engaging with them before the content goes live to try and build up a relationship, maybe share the content with them before it goes public and ask for their opinions. You can then credit them for any changes they suggest, so when the content does go live they are far more likely to share it and link to it.
2.) Optimise your Content
Fairly basic point but is one that is often ignored. You should carry out keyword research to determine what people would search if they were looking for something similar to the content you are producing. This means your content will be highly optimised for when it does start gaining those all-important links.
3.) Paid Advertising
Facebook has to be my favourite form of paid advertising for the purpose of getting link bait out there. This is because you can target your demographic so precisely. It is worth investing in getting your content under the eyes of relevant people.
Hopefully that gives you a rough idea of what is required to get your link bait actually gaining links. However I have one last tip for you: Make it easy for people to share and link! Make sure you have social sharing buttons available and a snippet of code they can easily put on their site.
