Downright Linkbait (Natural Link Building)

By Albert
In Google SEO, Web Promotion
25/11/09 at 23:26
0 Comments

Downright Linkbait (Natural Link Building)

What is link bait? And what are the benefits of it? Linkbait is just a simple term used nowadays to say natural link building or in this case, a way of appealing to the general public to gain natural editorial links from other webmasters. Due to the steep competition to get top ranks in top search engines like Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft’s Bing, you just cannot say no to the methods of gaining natural links.

Why is linkbait content so great?

The reason why linkbait content is so great is because being a webmaster, you simply cannot dismiss any advantage you can get in order to stay ahead of the competition. And in this case, gaining natural editorial links is the edge nowadays that can be the deciding factor of whos’ website ranks higher. Essentially, it is like a race among webmasters to get as many high quality links as possible to point back at your site to rank higher in the search engines. And if you got linkbait content, that can really put you ahead of the pack.

Downright Linkbait

There are many methods to attract natural links that are editorially given. Don’t feel like you are limited to just these ideas, there are many other creative ideas to make your website linkbait as well. These are just some linkbait ideas that I’d like to express to the general public.

Tools – Tools are a great way to attract natural links without the effort of having to do much yourself to build links, simply because tools are more likely to be shared than anything else. A great example of a tool that is considered linkbait is BackLinkWatch.
Quality Content – This is probably the most overlooked method of all the possible ways to make your website linkbait. If you got some really deep informative information, other webmasters are bound to write about it.
List Building – List building still proves today to be one of the best ways to make your site linkbait. Among quality content, list building is a great way to make your site’s content linkbait.
Forums – Everyone has different opinions on certain subject matters. Creating a user generated community with valuable discussions can easy stem off to further topics, which can then cause more debates and in turn, become a valid reason for other webmasters to point links back at your site.
Write About Interesting Stuff - If you got a good piece to write about that is of the publics’ interest, it can be a great way to gain exposure as well as be a great opportunity to get more link backs.
Appeal to Social Networks – Along with writing about interesting stuff, this can easily go hand in hand with appealing to social networking sites. If the story you are writing about covers a broad range of people, it is bound to become a viral story that will gain some social network attention. Not to say, earn a lot of backlinks too.
Contests – Contests are great ways to build more links. If you got a contest worthy of participating, webmasters are bound to write about it on their website and link back to your site. You just got to be creative and play fair. It is a win/win situation.
An Edge – If your site has an edge that your competitors don’t have, like for example an integrated rating system, that can be one of the reasons why some visitors might choose your site over a competitor. In general, anything that makes your site unique, can be an plausible edge.
Start a Blog – Blogging is a great way to build links. If you got valuable content, people will link to it. With blogs, almost anything goes. Which means, you can write about anything and as long as people like it, they will link to it. Blogs are great ways to build up more natural linkand in turn help your website overall rank higher in the search engines .
Debates – This is probably an odd way to make your content linkbait, however, it works. One thing leads to another and before you know it, someone has already made a blog post on what they think on the subject matter. In general, any discussion is a great way to build links and also to receive more insightful ideas.
A Neat Design – Just having a neat web design can cause another webmaster to write about your site. Anything that makes another person say “wow” is considered linkbait.
A Neat Concept – If you got a really cool functionality on your website that no other webmaster has, your site is already linkbait.
Write Guest Posts – A great way to establish your self as a writer is to create guest posts for well known blogs and get known. This can be a nice way to receive free exposure as well as be an opportunity to show your writing abilities.
Give Freebies – This is an awesome way to get free exposure as well as a way to build more natural links because if it is a really good freebie, some webmasters are most likely to write about it as well.
Web Templates – Due to the fashion of adding a backlink to the original creator of the web template in the footer, with enough people who use your template, you can receive a huge amount of quality links over time.
Conduct Studies - Once again, if you got valuable information that no one else has to offer, such as a small study you are conducting, it can receive viral attention quickly if it holds true to be valuable information.
Cover Popular Topics – Covering popular topics that are generally asked is a great way to build natural links because it appeals to a large number of people.
Write an Interesting Title Post – Just focusing on writing up a good interesting title post, can really intensify more webmasters to link back.

Anything that invokes a reader to do something is a good sign. While some may just comment to show their thoughts, some may write about the subject matter on popular forums, others may write about the matter on their own personal blogs. In the end, all what really matters is the exposure your website receives.