What Separates Great Linkbait from Mediocre?

by Scott Allen

That’s a question I hear all the time. It all starts with your definition of linkbait. There seem to be two schools of thought out there: 1) Linkbait is a temporary eye-catcher that fades away over time, and 2) Linkbait is quality content, but with a twist - it’s interesting enough to generate links. I lean toward school #2.

As such, here’s my definition of linkbait: Any content that generates links without you having to ask.

But, how can we separate the great linkbait from the mediocre? Longevity is a key indicator of great linkbait.

I measure the value of great linkbait by it’s staying power. Does it generate a ton of links right away, and then fade out, or is it a steady link generator, just as powerful a year after it’s launch? If it falls into the second group, then it’s great linkbait.

How do you create great linkbait? Give, and you shall receive. In my opinion, it boils down to this, plain and simple: Give people something useful, or of value, that they want to share with others. Linkbait doesn’t always have to originate as linkbait…often when you create something for community use, you realize later that it’s fantastic linkbait. Try to think along those lines.

I’ve said this before, and I’ll say it again (many times) that I’m a big fan of tools as linkbait. For example, DigitalPoint has a keyword tracker tool that has gained thousands of links over time. It’s a very useful tool, and it’s worth linking to.

Some Practical Tips for Creating Great Linkbait

I’m not going to create an in-depth tutorial on how-to-linkbait - you can do a Google search and find a ton of those. (And these may help at steps 3 and 4 below.) I’m also not writing a tutorial on Social Media Marketing - that would require writing a book. My point here is to show how simple the overall process of creating quality linkbait really is.

To create linkbait - content that people want to link to - you don’t have to be a creative genius or a pop-culture guru. (Although it can help!) Here are some steps that anyone, in any industry can take:

Identify your target audience. This is key in any marketing task (and it’s important to see this as a marketing task).
Identify and make a list of needs that your target audience faces.
Brainstorm on practical ways that you can meet one or more of those needs, whether through informational resources, guides, blogs, tools, videos, etc. Be as creative as possible, but focus on practicality first. Through experience, we’ve found that tools often make great linkbait and have incredible staying power (providing high ROI for clients). For more examples of this, you may want to read a previous blog post I wrote on strategic linkbait.
Whatever ideas you come up with, make sure that they solve some kind of problem and aren’t just “something cool” - the former tend to have much stronger staying power and can generate links steadily for years, while the latter tend to gain a ton of links at first and then fall off the map. (It’s much better to take something with a solid concept and staying power and make it “cool”, than to take a shallow concept that’s “cool” and try to make it useful.) Remember Frank LLoyd Wright’s adage: “Form follows function…” Even if you go the pop-culture route, there needs to be a deep concept behind it.
Execute with excellence. Whatever solution you come up with…build it with quality in mind, and make sure it has value for your target audience. It needs to be executed well, or it will be apparent that you don’t care about delivering a quality solution. Obviously there needs to be balance with practicality, so do your best with the resources you have.
Don’t try to be something you’re not - be real. Whatever you create, speak in your own (or your company’s own) voice. You don’t have to copy the latest greatest linkbait out…you just have to create something useful. Your customers or or other target audience members want to know who you are…not who you aren’t.
Promote your new linkbait. Whether through a blog, company newsletter, or Social Media channels, let others know about it. People have to find out about your content somehow, for others to want to link to it. This step is akin to starting the snowball rolling down the hill. In your promotion efforts, don’t spam people - just begin conversations. Some methods include (but are not limited to): StumbleUpon, Del.icio.us, Digg, Reddit, forums, and emailing website owners you know, especially bloggers who you have relationships with.

Obviously, this is oversimplified, but you can dig much deeper into each step to make your content the best it can be. The complexity and creativity level of your linkbait can vary, but by following the steps above, anyone can create content that will generate links for years to come.

Tags:
seo | link building | linkbait | webgeek