Savvy Affiliate

Day 18 of The 100 Days To Webpage Excellence Guide

As a new blogger, you need to write some articles which get attention.  You need to create a couple of articles which spread like a virus through the blogosphere.  Many bloggers refer to these posts as “Link Bait”, as a good one will result in hundreds of new backlinks to your site.  Writing link bait is more of an art than a science, but there are still some tips to follow when you do it.

1) Your Title is everything - Your title is your best friend.  It is what everyone who comes to your site is going to see.  It will play a huge roll in people deciding whether or not to forward the it onto their friends, and whether to post it in social networking sites.   Some tips on writing great titles for linkbait

• Use Numbers - Numbers stand out in a sea of text.  Use number to increase the attention to your site and make it more likely to be clicked on in the first place
• Use Controversy - Don’t be afraid to make a stir.  You want to make people come to your site.  Whether they agree or disagree with you is beside the point
• Grab the readers attention - You need to lure the reader into coming.  Write soemthing that grabs their attention.  Focus your link bait on your likely readers.  If your readers are from Digg, focus on Digg.  If they are from StumbleUpon, focus on them

2) Time is of the essence - After your first hit on a social networking site, you have approximately 3 hours to make a splash.  After that it is too late.  If you don’t make a splash in the first 3 hours, you will be out of luck to try and make headlines with that article.  Time your most likely link bait posts for early morning (PST).   This is when they are most likely to be forwarded along

3) Go Step By Step - Lists and step by step instructions can be huge for generating interest.  They are very easy for other bloggers to link to and a good list can generate a lot of buzz.  The only downside is that good linkbait lists generally need to be long.  The longer the better.  A list of 25 has a better chance of being linked to than a list of 5.  A list of 103 is even better.

4) Pick an in demand Topic - Check out what is making a buzz and write about that.  If there is exciting news in your niche, and you can be one of the first people to pick it up, you can generate a lot of links

5) Pick a villian - Some of the greatest link baits are focused on you vs. the villian.  The villian can be a bank who overcharged you, it can be a scammer who you tricked, or it can be your Hosting company who screwed up your database backup.  No matter who it is, cast yourself as vs the villian and people will naturally want to side with you and show their support with links.

6) Ask for links - At the end of your post give your audience a way to show their support of you.  Say “If you believe …  then spread the word and link to this post”  Or “If you hate banks as much as I do, give this post a Digg”   Believe it or not, simply asking your readers to support you will greatly increase your chances of getting a boost of traffic

7) Get Your Friends Involved - If you have blogging friends who will be willing to help you, and you are releasing a big link bait article, ask them to link to your post and give you social networking hits as soon as you release your article.  Getting 10-20 Diggs or Thumbs up right away can often be the difference between success and failure.  Getting 15 Diggs will put you on the Hot in this Industry list, which can propel you to the front page of a topic, which can move you to the front page overall. 

When You Get A Hit, Modify Your Post - If you find that you get a hit specifically from Digg or Stumble or a different site, edit your post slightly to take the time to welcome the Diggers or others.  Makes them more likely to read your post, and forward it along, if you are writing specifically for them.

9) Be Original - You won’t get a hit by copycatting some one else.  At the very least figure out a way to put a new spin on an old topic.  Remember, the guy who invented the “Million Dollar Homepage” got rich.  The 1000 people who copycatted him lost $40 site fee + hours of unrewarded work

10) Keep trying - Experiment with different things to find out what works for you.  You are very unlikely to have a huge hit on your first try, but even a couple smaller hits can be a big boost to your site.  Develop your writing skills, develop your friendship base, and try again.