Link Building | Divide and Conquer | Link Baiting | Golden Rules

Kandle Web Design Link Building

"A chain is no stronger than its weakest link, and life is after all a chain." — William James

Linking Page

BUILDING A LINK STRATEGY

Establishing links is a critical part of creating a successful and potentially profitable web site. Besides having a well constructed site, a means is necessary for that site to be found on the internet. There are literally millions of sites covering a countless number of topics. There are many ways of doing this, paid advertising (Google, Yahoo, Bing or Amazon), purchasing a links package from a links farm or hiring a firm to do your link building. Any of these that can cost you hundreds of dollars a month and you are no better off than if you had done absolutely nothing.

First and foremost is a well constructed site that meets the W3C Standards, is well thought out and has an easily usable navigation (not only through the the obvious navigation of the menu bar but also internal linking between pages or within an individual page). Let me repeat site construction can and will trump all!!!

This page is intended as a starting point to assist you in establishing a successful Link Campaign. Sit back and relax then start reading and then plan your strategy.

LINK BUILDING

Hyperlinks

A hyperlink can be a graphic or a piece of text in an Internet document that can connect readers to another webpage, or another portion of a document. Web users will usually find at least one hyperlink on every webpage. The simplest form of hyperlinks is called embedded text or an embedded link.

In this instance, a hyperlink will show up as a single word or group of words that will usually be marked as underlined, and are frequently blue in color. Clicking on the hyperlink may take one to another part of the page, or it may open another Internet page.

An Internal Hyperlink is one that moves you up and down within a page (as on a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) page or to another document within the website.
An External Hyperlink will take you to an external website. This is usually to the new sites home page, but can be assigned to any page within a particular site.

Most indexing search engines (Google, Yahoo, Bing) look for Internal Hyperlinks as an important component for establishing a linkage process that can easily move a viewer from one page of a web site to another page or section of a page.

Also most indexing search engines (Google, Yahoo, Bing) also look for External Hyperlinks, that connect the current web site to another web site. These links can be one-way – that is they only go from your site to the other. Or they can be a two-way link – that is they not only point to another site, but you had to request permission from the site owner to exchange a link. This in effective gives you a vote of confidence that your site has relevancy.

There are a few caveats that must be addressed when establishing two-way links:

They must be germane to your web site – that is if you are providing or selling Widgets then the other site needs to be associated in some manner to Widgets. Example: You are selling hunting knives then the association could be through sites that deal with hunting, hunting lodges, maintaining hunting knives, etc.
There are many sites that offer to create a links page for you, but they are what are called Link Farms and they will establish links with anyone and therefore these links are not considered relevant to your site – this could even hurt your search engine rankings. Avoid these like the plague.
There are websites that are offer setting up links, perform research and then provide quality links for your site, just be aware that for performing this task it could well cost you many dollars.

A viable alternative is conducting your own linking campaign by doing the search, requesting a two-way link and then let us do the coding to place those links on a page. Updating of the links page should be done on a monthly basis, for at least the first year that your site is up. You can then reduce the updates to a 3 month period.

How To Create A Link Building Campaign?

Do you need to create an affordable link building program from scratch? Not sure how to begin? Find exactly what you need here, now.

Link Building

Quality, relevant inbound links are an important part of any campaign to increase attention and traffic to a site. That's because Google sees each link as a vote or recommendation for a site. As you get increasingly larger numbers of quality links, this helps to improve your rankings in the search engine results pages. And, as you move up in rankings, then your site is more easily found; if you're selling something at your site, then your site will be more easily found by people wanting to buy your products and/or services – which can boost your sales, return on investment and profit.

Whenever there is an inbound link to your site, there are hyperlinked words included; these words are known as the anchor text. Whenever possible, try to get key phrases that are important to your site in the anchor text. Don't use the same anchor text in each link; instead, create new variations each time.

For your link building campaign, don't rely on just one strategy to find success. Instead, mix and match from the strategies provided below to create a layered link building program that will help stand the test of time.

When creating your own unique link building strategy, follow these proven steps:

Even though you are just starting to actively seek links, some sites are probably already linking to you. So, first, review your current link profile to see how many inbound links your site has and where the links are coming from; this will allow you to document your baseline link profile and also allow you to monitor how much you advance in your link building campaign. To do this, type your URL into Yahoo! SiteExplorer and also check your Google Webmaster Tools account, if you have one (and if you don't, you should!).
Toss out any offers to submit your site to hundreds or thousands of directories. A one-size-fits-all link building campaign isn't tailored for your site and won't produce the results you want and need. It's also likely that those directories aren't highly regarded by Google, anyhow.
Submit your site to top-level directories, using relevant key words or phrases in the descriptions and anchor text, wherever allowed; these top directories include:

Once you have submitted your site to the foundation directories listed above, search for websites that are relevant to your online space; these are sometimes called niche sites. To find niche sites, search on keywords that are relevant to your site that have a links or resources page. Contact them to request a link to your site.
Mine your competitors. What inbound links do they have? Pursue those links yourself if they are of quality and are relevant to your site. (Yahoo! SiteExplorer is an excellent tool to use for this function.)
While you are pursuing directories and niche sites for your link building strategy, also be creating content that would naturally interest bloggers and webmasters.
This is known as creating link bait and is an integral part of your link building campaign. Each of the strategies above requires you to individually pursue a link; this is a vital part of creating a foundation for your link building strategy, but one that also takes time. The beauty of link bait is that you can create it; post it; share news about it through social media venues; and continue to receive new links to it for days, months – or even years – after the content is first written.

To create content for your link building program:

Brainstorm your areas of unique expertise and create articles and blog posts that aren't easily found elsewhere online. Although there is no magic number for the word count, ensure that each piece is at least 250 to 400 words long – or longer, if the topic warrants more text.
If you have or have access to technological expertise, create a tool or widget that would be appreciated by your target audience. Don't just place it on a page, though; also include copy on the page describing the tool and its benefits, using key words or phrases that are relevant to your site.
Add fun quizzes to your site. People enjoy taking them and frequently link to them so others can have fun with them, too.

As another important step in your link building strategy, spread the news about the great content available on your site.

Share links (using relevant key words or phrases) on Facebook and Twitter. Blog about the new quizzes and tools that your site has to offer. Guest blog on quality relevant sites and ask for a link in your bio at the end of your blog post that leads readers to the tools/quizzes/content on your site.

Yahoo has a wealth of social communities that you could join and the pose a question such as "I have been looking for blank blank knife and I was wondering if any of you have an opinion on it or where I can purchase one". Then at little while later you can go back (using a different identity and e-mail address) and answer that question yourself and sighting your website as a source. Be careful how you do this, or you could be banned from the site and your entries deleted. The nice thing is that Yahoo takes years to remove or archive these items – and the search engines will keep finding your entry.

Although a link building campaign is never over and although you will want to eventually add even more strategies to your campaign, if you follow these steps, you will have crafted an excellent core link building strategy for your site.

DIVIDE AND CONQUER: Creating and Managing Your Link Campaign

Having been in the trenches of the SEO war (for myself and most recently, in-house), I've learned a lot over the years when it comes to link campaigning. Although I am completely FOR generating content that will get linked to naturally, often time this is easier said than done. If you're not a link baiting aficionado or if you're limited by what you're able to do, then you'll need to get links the old fashioned way and simply ask for them.

Do I want this link? How can I get this link? What anchor text should I target for this link? Is this link actually attainable? Does this link have value? These are all questions I ask myself when looking for suitable link candidates. Answering these questions helps me decide which approach I'll take (if any) and how far I'll go to get the link.

Everyone's best advice is to start by doing an in-depth analysis of your competitors' backlinks. This is exactly where I start my digging, but it's important to keep track of everything within an excel or word doc; otherwise, what's the point? Not only will this keep you organized, but you'll be creating a link map of your entire industry as you go along. Soon enough, you'll have collected a large list of related websites. These will be your link prospects.

As you visit the sites your competition is linked from, keep a sharp eye out for "add url" or "recommend a site" links. Sometimes it's as easy as filling out a form and clicking send. Other times, you'll have to do some creative digging. For example, there was an educational research page I wanted to get my site listed on but there wasn't any contact info or an "add url" sort of link…that I could readily see, that is. As it turned out, the "add url" link was buried within the list of research links on the page. I was only able to locate it after utilizing "find:addurl." This approach also works on some online contact forms. Rather than using the form to send your link request, you can search for an email address by "viewing source" and then using the "find:@" command.

Organization is Key

Once you've got a healthy list going, stay organized by grouping your list of link prospects into different sections.

These can include:

Authority links (.edu, .gov, etc)
Directory links
Blog links
Newsgroup links
Social Media links
Forum links
Etc.

Depending on the industry, your list can even be further categorized. For example, if you're an "knife" related site (like me!) you can have headings such as:

Hunting Equipment
Hunting Knives
Camping Equipment
Fishing Knives
Knife Forums
Etc.

Organizing your list this way helps determine which anchor text you'll be targeting. Presumably, you'll be using your "knives, folding knives, hunting knives" keywords for the knife related sites, your "filet knives" keywords for the fishing site, your "knife forums" keywords for the forum sites, etc. This also helps you determine which page you'd like them to link to. Perhaps you have an inner page that is more suited to their specific content than your homepage. Having back-links that point to your inner pages are just as important and often are harder to get. Keep your eyes open for opportunities to do so.

Once you're organized, you're ready to roll.

But wait! The biggest mistake you could make at this stage is to contact every single site on your list all at once. It's important to first come up with an approach and try it out a couple of times before you decide it's a keeper. If you email 5 sites and get less than a glowing response, you'll know that your approach could be better. In that case, you can brainstorm something else and email another 5 prospects. Doing it this way, you'll eventually generate an approach that works and you won't have wasted your entire list of link prospects on one bad pitch. Keep in mind that what works for some, won't work for all. An approach that works for ecommerce sites won't necessarily work for blogs, and an approach that works for .edu sites won't necessarily work for obtaining .gov links, etc.

Being "Sneaky" is Sometimes Required

Once I'm ready to begin actively campaigning, one of the most common problems I run into is lack of contact information. This can make opening up the lines of communication extremely difficult. For this reason, sneaky tactics are sometimes (often?) necessary, both in finding the info you need AND getting that link.

For example, there is a prominent blog that I was salivating for a link from. Unfortunately, I couldn't locate a single shred of contact info…anywhere. Since the blog owner's name is published after each post, I Googled it and found him on LinkedIn. From there I invited him to join my network, telling him I was a big fan. (A fan of getting a link, that is! Shhhh!) It took roughly 2 weeks, but he finally obliged. After a few emails back and forth, he included my site within a related blog post. Mission accomplished! Even better is that I now have the ear (and personal email) of someone who is an icon within an industry. He's actually emailed me a few times requesting verification about information he was about to post!

Another time, I was tracking a blog and patiently waiting for my chance when the blog owner posted about basically "disliking" my entire industry (news/media). She felt very strongly that the news wasn't worth watching anymore because it all had a negative spin. Where most would see a lost cause, I immediately saw opportunity. My approach included contacting her regarding her thoughts and, for the most part, agreeing with her opinions. I then asked if she might have a look at our site and offer a review of how we could improve our coverage. I didn't ask her to post the review to her blog, but she did anyway (everyone needs fresh content). Once again, mission accomplished.

The point is, if you're comfortable with being somewhat sneaky and sometimes having to "stretch" the truth, do it, as long as no one's getting hurt in the process.

Keep track of your progress.

Once you start getting responses, try color coding your results (such as green for "link obtained," red for "no such luck," purple for "email was returned," blue for "no response," etc) as you record them. Keeping impeccable track of your linking progress not only helps you determine your rate of success and helps with tactics it also serves as something tangible for you to show for yourself!

Be sure and record the date you contacted the link prospect, how you contacted them (email, online contact form, comments post, etc), what approach you used, and any other relevant info you can think of.

When establishing a link campaign for your site, there are a few things you should do first:

Establish categories for the proposed linkages:

Hunting

Hunting Equipment

Hunting Camps

Fishing

Fishing Tackle

Fishing Camps

Camping

Camp Cooking

Camping Equipment

Government

State Fish and Game Departments

Manufacturers Links

Cold Steel

Kershaw

Create a list of possible sites:

There are several ways to do this:

Search the internet using your keyword phrases.
Search the internet using keyword mining techniques for related sites.

Search sites like DMOZ for sites and check their links pages for possible link opportunities.

Use Alexa for related sites and check their links pages for possible link opportunities.

Purchase link mining software that will find sites for you, manage the links, and send e-mails. This can be done for $250.00 or less. (I use currently use two programs Zeus and Link Assistant. They are a time saver and will do most of the leg work for you.)

Organize the lists as demonstrated below (you need to do this no matter what you method you use – do-it-yourself or with a purchased program (an great choice is Microsoft's Excel spreadsheet or any other spreadsheet that you are familiar with.

After a few days your list/s will presumably look something like below (this is only a portion of a link campaign):

Knife Related Sites:

Industry	Name	URL	E-mailed	Linked	No Response
HUNTING
TENTS	Whitetails	www.advanced-whitetail-hunting.com/	3/27/2009	X
	Ammunition Store	www.ammunitionstore.com/	5/31/2010		X

Knife Related Organizations:

Type	Name	URL	E-mailed	Contact Name	Linked	Rejected	No Response
FORUM
	Culter's Cove	cutlerscove.com/links/knifeforums.html	5/22/2007		X

An actual list of link prospects can run anywhere from 1 to hundreds of pages long and the success rate, although may not be stellar, but should definitely improve. Also add to the list whenever you come across a page or site that's related to yours. Pretty soon, You could be able to publish your very own directory!

There are plenty of different ways to embark on a link campaign, and everyone has their own style. I realize, to some of you, this may seem a little like a "Link Campaigning 101," but I sincerely hope a few of you find the opinions and strategies expressed within this post to be of some use. Best of luck in your linking endeavors!

LINK BAIT

Link baiting (or linkbaiting) is the latest buzz word in the SEO world and has come to be the preferred way to natural link building.

It means to create something that naturally attract backlinks for your web page by getting people to talk about it, discussing it on forums, blogging about i, posting it on del.icio.us/Furl/Digg/Shoutwire and linking to it from their sites. It also attracts a lot of visitors.

Here is a list of ideas:

Make a valuable resource (lists, special reports, history of, how to, etc.)
Interview (e-mail/phone) prominent people and publish it.
Build a useful tool
Write an interesting article
Run a newsworthy 'event' such as a contest
Test something new that has not been done before
Be the first in doing something on the internet
Write something controversial
Be the first to write the latest news in your niche
Be the first to expose a scammer
Disagree with an authority
Write some funny humor
Make an interesting picture
Be the first to research and document something
Make a theme, plugin or piece of software
Make a tool that others can put on their sites but that links to you
Make a joke about a known person
Make a resource that is just in time for a major event
Write an outrageous theory and back it up with logics
Write useful comments on something that is happening
Give something valuable for free
Coin a new acronym in your niche and get people to talk about it
Become an expert in your niche and write valuable information

GOLDEN RULES OF LINKBAITING

This is a copy of a post Golden Rules of Linkbaiting – It has been slightly redacted to remove broken links. The advice given here is worth considering and repeating. I strongly suggest that you visit Smashing Magazine for more information regarding linking and link baiting

Link baiting is not evil. Although some bloggers tend to go beyond any ethical considerations in their attempts to enforce as many reciprocal links as possible, the term itself stands for a completely organic nature of the Web – actually, something that has already been here for a while. Traditional link building, used to be bounded with Search Engine Optimization, is now being extended with the aspect of so-called Social Media Optimization – with Digg, StumbleUpon, Netscape/AOL, Del.icio.us & Co. on the bandwagon. Driving traffic to your site has become easier, but requires through-out strategies and understanding some basic rules of useful content and effective content marketing.

The term linkbaiting doesn't necessarily reflect this aspect of organic growth on the Web; in fact, as suggested by Darren Rowse, its negative connotations rather expose the idea of clever tricks, traps, deceptions or even frauds, which are supposed to manipulate content editors in linking, even if they don't really want to.

Mostly that's not what link baiting is really about. Instead, Linkbaiting is about gaining reputation, finding your niche, writing useful and creative content, presenting your ideas, publishing them on the Web and finding people who might actually use them. You won't find your readers if you concentrate on building links; you will be able to build links organically if you concentrate on your readers. Moreover, you can gain reputation if and only if you focus on your readers. This is one of the basic principles of successful blogging.

Over the last months we've received many e-mails, in which you've asked us to dig into the issue of linkbaiting and examine the most successful techniques, strategies and rules of effective link building. Perfectly aware that some techniques may lay in the grey zone or even behind it, we've selected only those that aren't based upon some dubious methods of generating links, but on smart, fair and sincere strategies to find the audience and present your ideas effectively.

Furthermore, we've selected only those rules we would actually apply according to our philosophy. Still, we don't necessarily endorse all of the presented ideas listed below, and some of them can be used in both appropriate and inappropriate ways. Using them, make sure you keep the Web clean, offer something valuable rather than the content written purely for the sake of link building.

We care about the quality of content in the Web; be aware that you carry the full responsbility for every article and post you publish online – handle your ideas and the time of your visitors with respect.

Let's take a look at non-trivial and most effective rules, principles, techniques, strategies, methods, examples and resources related to link baiting. Among other things this overview will cover the aspect of effective copy writing as well. Golden rules of linkbaiting — in a comprehensive overview.

What is Linkbaiting?

"Linkbait is essentially a piece of content placed on a web page – whether it's an article, blog post, picture, or any other section of cyberspace – that is designed for the specific intention of gathering links from as many different sources as possible." []

"Linkbait describes a variety of practices — all of which seek to generate incoming links to a website or blog from other sites." [Problogger]

Linkbaiting refers to content, videos, images or anything on the web that is created with the intention of increasing links to a website.

"Linkbait focuses on creating unique, useful and provocative content that people respond to by linking to it and sharing with others." [SEJ]

"Linkbait is the website content that targets link-friendly audiences. Its goals include high levels of traffic, visibility, branding, numerous links. Linkbait combines the practices of viral marketing with popular tech brands." [SeoMoz]

"Linkbait is not manipulation. If a blogger links to your content, it should be because their audience benefits directly from that link — they learn something new, have access to a fantastic tool, get a hearty laugh or discover something that provokes discussion." [Arguing with Link Moses]

"Linkbait is based on the fact how people evaluate your content. The post will be linked to if it is being worthy of attention (based on overall and subject related credibility and authority), being worthy of a subscription (generally being worth visiting again, or adding your feed) or being worthy of a recommendation (via link, instant message, or email)." [SEO Book]

"The linkbait way of link building is a mindset. To do it well, you need to put thoughts of manipulating the system to one side and focus entirely on providing value to your clients users and making that value easy to link to." [2007 Guide to Linkbaiting]

Linkbaiting follows the scheme a) Linkbait Launch, b) The Long Tail of Links, c) Residual Traffic, d) Search Engine Rankings. "The content is released, shared with prominent bloggers, and submitted to portals like Digg, del.icio.us, Reddit and Netscape. If the content gains traction and visibility at widely-read sites, medium and smaller outlets, [..] content will spread across the Web. Even after the initial buzz from your successful linkbait campaign dies down, your site's traffic may stay on a slight increase due to a "linkbait bump" that keeps users circling back to your site. The massive influx of links will cause a direct boost of the link popularity of the content piece, as well as an overall boost in global site popularity—and search engines tend to reward links with rankings." [Leveraging Linkbait]

"In most cases Linkbaiting is facilitated by writing good content, doing something controversial or performing some sort of act that causes others to want to link to you." []

"Once a great site, great application or trendy post is written about somewhere, it gets picked up and dragged across the web. Social tagging and popularity ranking sites (like the aforementioned Digg & del.icio.us) help to give the document massive visibility to hundreds of sheep-like content creators, who'll happily link to you." [Linkbaiting for Fun and Profit]

"Linkbait has limitations. It's no good for: CTR-based ads, conversions, supportive, emotionally sensitive comments and instant subscribers. It's great for Inbound links (if you have an effective piece), search engine rankings (if you can achieve the aforementioned links), publicity (people will start to know who you are and remember your brand after seeing your site several times through social media), branding (growing awareness and a reputation), getting the attention of Influencers." [Social Media Traffic]

"Link bait rarely makes much money or directly pays for itself from the direct traffic. However, it has amazing indirect value. Even if people do not link to your link bait idea right away you still gain mindshare and brand recognition amongst a group of people who have significant authority. Many search engines, such as Google, use authority centric relevancy algorithms. Editorial links are seen as votes or signs of trust. In Google, getting a link to any part of your site will help make all pages on your site more authoritative." [Link Baiting Strategies?]

Rules of Linkbaiting

Create original, unique, creative content. Choose topics that other people wouldn't like to touch and do it wisely. If you are making a claim or a counter-claim then back it up with substantiated data. "The Cambrian House decided to buy 1000 pizzas to feed the Googlers. They video taped their process and placed it on the web. This video resulted in over 400 links and thousands of visitors in a period of days." [, Getting Links]

Create remarkable content. "At the end of the day, it boils down to this one thing. Your content needs to be amazing. If you can hit that sweet spot for your audience then the links will roll in, and in, and in, and in." [2007 Guide to Linkbaiting]

Create useful content. "When Aaron Wall released his SEO Firefox tool it brought in over 2000 links as well as thousands of visitors in just a few days. Because so many people linked to the tool with the word "SEO" in the anchor text, the SEO for Firefox web page is now ranked on Google for the term SEO." [Getting Links]

But useful content is not enough. "Link baiting [..] encapsulates a fundamental truth – in any crowded market, popularity counts. There is a nonsense often perpetrated by some SEOs — "producing quality content will attract links". It doesn't. Not by itself, anyway. Quality content needs to be placed somewhere where people will see it, and shaped in such a way as to encourage viral take-up. [..] The web is a popularity contest, thus the demand for marketers and marketing strategy." [v7n]

Make your content universally valuable, memorable and compelling. "The higher quality the content you create and the more targeted you make it, the better your chances for keeping a percentage of the traffic you initially attract and getting a higher number of links from your effort." [SeoMoz]

But useful content is not enough. "Link baiting [..] encapsulates a fundamental truth — in any crowded market, popularity counts. There is a nonsense often perpetrated by some SEOs — "producing quality content will attract links". It doesn't. Not by itself, anyway. Quality content needs to be placed somewhere where people will see it, and shaped in such a way as to encourage viral take-up. [..] The web is a popularity contest, thus the demand for marketers and marketing strategy." [blog.v7n.com/2007/01/18/write-interesting-stuff-that-people-will-link-to-in-places-they-will-see-it/" title="v7n" id="v7n" target="_blank">v7n]

Exploit the law of value. "Your blog must provide value to the reader by addressing a problem, concern, desire, or need that the reader already has. Fresh, original content is critical." [The 5 Immutable Laws of Persuasive Blogging]

Offer viral ideas. "A key dynamic in the spread of the idea is the capsule that contains it. If it's well visualized, easy to swallow, tempting and complete, it's a lot more likely to get a good start. No one gets an idea unless: a) the first impression demands further investigation, b) they already understand the foundation ideas necessary to get the new idea and c) they trust or respect the sender enough to invest the time. [What makes an idea viral?]

Don't sell products. Offer useful content. "Useful content gets linked. Products don't. Publishing your posts, consider, why people should link to you." []

Don't spam. "You might have to try linkbaiting several times before you get good at the process; in the meantime, make sure that you don't burn bridges by spamming bloggers with email requests to cover your piece." []

Understanding what content, features, and subjects are "in" is essential. "It is a subjective, but important piece of the linkbait creation puzzle. Right now, for example, one could search through Del.icio.us and Digg to find examples of sites and pages that are getting lots of press. Blogs like Lifehacker, Threadwatch, Gizmodo, and others can also serve as inspiration when you're searching for the latest crazes. My current experience shows that there are two big fields getting attention — web 2.0 applications and trend-announcing posts (or articles) that present new data or talk about how existing trends are affecting industries. Both of these get hundreds of links from bloggers who can't seem to resist pointing to something their cohorts will later reference them for." [Linkbaiting for Fun and Profit]

Tell stories. "One of the most effective direct-response techniques is storytelling, mixed in with various psychological triggers and all polished with basic copywriting techniques. But the real magic happens well before a word is written — in the formulation of the story itself." [Trading Words For Traffic].

Understand your audience. "Normally, you're building content targeted to your site's visitors — people who want your products, services or content. But for linkbait, you need to also appeal to an entirely different audience—one that can help your site achieve mass appeal in the niche that you select. I advise reviewing the coverage you see for other links in your area; using del.icio.us tags and blog archives can help with this process." [Leveraging Linkbait]

Keep connected to your readers. Appreciate their feedback. "At least once per year, ask your visitors what do they think about your website's content. What would they want to read more? What new facilities should you offer them?" [101 Web Marketing Ideas]

Writing-related Principles of Successful Linkbaiting

Be appealing. "Creating some room for controversy or discussion can inspire more links." [7 Steps to Linkbait]

Be laser focused. "Make sure that you are primarily focusing on a particular topic, and the more specialized that topic is, the better you'll do. It's also key to step back and evaluate whether there are enough prospective readers in your chosen niche. It's better to be brutally honest with yourself than to toil away and end up disappointed." [10 Effective Ways to Get More Blog Subscribers]

Be the first to do something. "To expose a scammer, to research and document something, to review something, wo propose something, to create a resource that is just in time for a major event." [Link Bait]

Be generous. "If you respect your network, and work hard to be part of the community surounding your topic, the rewards can really pay of — never abuse it, it tends ot backfire in all kinds of horrible ways." "Share your expertise generously so people recognize it and depend on you." [3 Ways to Increase Traffic], [Seth Godin]

Be accurate. "Rather than aiming for bland objectivity, it is easy to be remarkable by being more biased and more personable, especially on your feature articles." If you've made a mistake, apologize for it. [SEO Book]

Be curious and information-possessed. Get as much information as you can. "Use and abuse vertical search, social bookmarking, and meta news sites as the resources that they are. The less accessible a piece of information is the easier it is to sound remarkable by citing it." [SEO Book]

Be inventive and creative. Offer fresh ideas and creative approaches.

Be an expert. "Write about what you really know. Let people profit from your expertise and wisdom and let others do the job of writing about the things you are not completely comfortable with." [12 Dirty Suggestions]

Be humble. "Don't forget your roots, be humble: sometimes it can be easy to get carried away being a BlogStar or industry talking head. Remember those who helped you along the way, and that respect will help all involved." [13 Rules of SMO]

Be timeless. "Write posts that will be readable in a year. Assume that every day is the beginning, because you always have new readers." [Seth Godin]

Be transparent. Have open-minded conversations with your readers. Be real, honest and sincere.

Be clever. "Discover big players in your field. Create a list and identify the format, features and successful tactics each of the sources employ." Use these techniques to both draw their attention to your site and imrpove the quality of your content. [SeoMoz]

Be patient. Do not try to achieve some tremendous results immediately – it simply won't work.

Be passionate. "There is something about a well written, well argued and passionate rant that is very link worthy. People get stirred up when you get passionate and the links will often flow as a result." [ProBlogger]

Be determined. Select a content focus. "Brainstorm 2-3 dozen ideas, select some of them that are completely unique and incredibly appealing. Decide based on what you feel what would be most effective with your audience or industry. Invest enough time in writing quality material." []

Be future-oriented. "Make use of phrases, concepts and ideas that will become popular in the future." [Catch Better Rankings]

Be investigative. "Target offline media. Reach media through Online Exposure." [SeoMoz]

Be critical to yourself. "Edit yourself. Ruthlessly." [Seth Godin]

Be honest to yourself. Quote your sources. Give credit to the people who inspired and helped you. Mentioning them, you strenghten your reputation.

Select a magnetic headline. Use appealing, provoking, magnetic headline. "When beginning a link bait piece, clear your mind and focus on title ideas. I like to brainstorm three or four different titles, then have a friend help me pick the best one, and then, right before posting, give it a final tweak (if necessary) for maximum effect. You can use the Copyblogger Cheat Sheet as well."

Open your blog post with a Bang. "Opening must carry the momentum. [...] The headline, the opening paragraph and closing are extremely imporant. You can "ask the question, share an anecode or quote, invoke the mind's eye, cite a shocking statistics, use an analogy, metaphor or simile." [Copyblogger] Closing your post, you can write a brief summary of the article, speak directly to the reader, provoke with a funny or controversal remark.

Make it easier to link to you. In every post provide a short, precise description and/or summary of the article.

Help your content travel. "When you have content that can be portable (such as PDFs, video files and audio files), submitting them to relevant sites will help your content travel further, and ultimately drive links back to your site." [5 Rules of SMO]

Write efficiently. Use short sentences. Use short first paragraphs. Use vigorous English. Be positive, not negative. Never have only 4 rules." [Ernest Hemingway's Top 5 Tips]

Find a fresh angle. Consider a subject from your personal professional point of view. Argue with your readers, strengthen your position, deliver your message. Let your readers see an idea in a different light. Take pieces of seemingly unrelated topics and link them to their mantra." [ProBlogger]

Use striking images. The image of the post can help to visualize the topic you're writing about and give an article a vivid, fresh look.

Cover topics that need attention. "In every niche, there are certain topics and questions that are frequently asked or pondered, but rarely have definitive answers. While this recommendation applies to nearly every content-based site, it's particularly easy to leverage with a blog." [21 Tactics]

Link intelligently. "When you link out in your blog posts, use convention where applicable and creativity when warranted, but be aware of how the links you serve are part of the content you provide. Not every issue you discuss or site you mention needs a link, but there's a fine line between overlinking and underlinking." [21 Tactics To Increase Blog Traffic]

Make people think. "Posts that force you to think and that tickle your intellectual buds get linked to a lot." [Linkbaiting Explained]

Encourage your visitors to link to you. "Encourage readers to submit your posts to Digg and Del.icio.us, or more specific link sites depending on your subject matter. Those categories in del.icio.us for example, are exported by users to their own blogs (targeted, keyworded link text = good), and they often kick off a knock on effect [pdf] that can have wild implications for your Search traffic." [3 Ways to Increase Traffic]

Tactics and Strategies of Linkbaiting

Define your strategy and tactics wisely. Have a concrete plan for your blogging activities. Write down everything, breakdown your ideas, evaluate content, mix and match your content with your strategy and your concept list. [The Changing Face of Linkbait]

Gain a reputation. "Linkbait is difficult to launch the first few times if no one on the Web has heard of your brand. Once you've spent some time in the blogosphere and social media space, you may find that a lot of your content goes viral without any effort on your part. Thus, creating a reputation is an important part of making linkbait successful." "A strong profile at the social media profiles can make a huge difference." [Leveraging Linkbait], [7 Steps to Linkbait]

First gain respect, then advertise. "Whether personal or professional, you wait until your blog has achieved a level of success before you start advertising." [21 Tactics]

Maintain your good name. "Your reputation is at stake every time you link to another site. A link is an endorsement; don't get yourself in a sticky situation. Your readers will follow the links you bring them because they have confidence in your ability to sniff out the noteworthy material. Be certain that you will not regret the backing of another site." [Link Bait Success]

Share your knowledge. "Start at the beginning and take your readers through a months-long education." [Seth Godin]

Reveal as much as possible. "If you can offer content that's usually private – trade secrets, pricing, contract issues, and even the occassional harmless rumor, your blog can benefit." [21 Tactics]

Use a human voice. "Charisma is a valuable quality, both online and off. Through a blog, it's most often judged by the voice you present to your users. People like empathy, compassion, authority and honesty. Keep these in the forefront of your mind when writing and you'll be in a good position to succeed." [21 Tactics]

Appeal to the long tail. "Write about obscure stuff that appeals to an obsessed minority." [Seth Godin]

Widen the horizon of your subjects – permanently. "Try to diversify your posts within the many spheres of knowledge you have." [12 Suggestions]

Post regularly. "If you have a content website, try to keep your posting frequency regular. Just don't make your posting habit irregular. Today 1 post, tomorrow 5 posts, 1 week no posts etc. That disturbs visitors and that will hurt your RSS subscribers and newsletter subscribers numbers." [101 Web Marketing Ideas] Each post must be unique and have a high value.

Consider the best times and locations to launch your idea. Ensure your story has a title that is easy to vote for. Ensures your story is submitted at an appropriate time. If you do not do it soon after mentioning a story on your own site someone else may submit for you, using a dumb title or dumb post content." [Link Baiting Strategies]

Select best timing for your post. Analyzing the preferences and habits of your visitors, you can time your submission for maximum exposure. "Post on weekdays (especially monday in the morning), because there are more readers. Post on weekends, because there are fewer new posts."

Build a brand. "To be (successful), you need to be a brand that people want to associate themselves with and a brand that people feel they derive value from being a member." [21 Tactics]

Create your networks. Make friends. "Create your own network and work hard to help everyone in your network. When someone links to a post you have written or comments on your blog, they become part of your network. The idea is to take your network with you, to help them help you. There is no reason why everyone can't be a winner." [Linking Linkbait]

Use the power of networking. "The most overlooked strategy for gaining traffic. Don't badger other bloggers for links, because it rarely works anymore. Find a way to help them with something, and then eventually work that initial graciousness into a business relationship and even friendship. There are real people behind these blogs, and they respond to good will just like people do offline." [Copyblogger]

Become a guest blogger. "Contributing content to someone else's blog may seem crazy, but it's a solid strategy to gain exposure for your own blog and build your subscriber base. Just make it very clear to the blog owner that you require a very brief byline at the end of the post, with a link back to your site. And make sure it's original content, not something recycled off of your blog." [10 Effective Ways to Get More Blog Subscribers]

Make cross-promotional deals. "Find a blogger that publishes related, but non-competitive content. Work out a deal where you both promote each other in your RSS feeds, using Feedvertising. The smaller blog would promote the other blog continuously, while the larger blog would reserve one slot for the smaller blog, and use the other slots for other cross-promotion deals, affiliate links, or sponsor ads." [Copyblogger]

Request links wisely. "Write a truly personal letter, explain who you are, what your site is about, and why it's relevant to blogger's visitors." [How To Request Links]

Link to bloggers who have linked to you. "If someone links to your link bait, you link to them through third parties. Increasing the traffic and page rank of those that link to you will have a knock on effect of improving your own. If you are linked to regularly from the same site it will make sense to send them as much traffic as possible. [Linking Linkbait]

Leverage the mediums out there. "The [..] examples caused their creators to gain links at a rapid rate because they leveraged the mediums out there such as Digg, Del.icio.us, BlinkList, and YouTube. You need to leverage these social mediums; it will increase your chances of success." [Getting Links]

Grab Their Attention. "Writing the headlines and initial descriptions to submit to the social sites, emailing bloggers and appearing in search results is a critical part of linkbait. Many readers will see your headline, and in the early phase it's critical that they follow your link and help to spread your message." [Leveraging Linkbaiting]

Participate in discussions in your niche. "A good link building strategy is to comment or participate in discussions or content on other websites in your industry. It's not enough to have good articles/content. The world has to know about them. Make connections/relations with other jounalists/bloggers/entreprenours in your niche, comment their articles, and links will come by themselves, with time." "Read and participate in conversations related to your niche of expertise on other blogs. Be careful about what you write though – double check your facts and always write relevant and informative comments, using the occasion to leave your link through your name in the header of the comments you're posting." [101 Web Marketing Ideas], [12 Suggestions]

Ask people to quote you. "If there's a particularly strong site in your sector that you desperately want a link from, this tactic can be of occassional use. The idea is to write a news article with some legitimacy and request a quote from the company/individual you want a link from. Once they know you're writing about them, make sure to send them a copy of the press release or story once it hits and let them know they're welcome to copy portions of the article for their own site if they'd like to reference it (with a link of course)." [5 Rare and Valuable Techniques]

Respond to comments. "Always respond to comments on your blog and when you detect a mention of your blog on another blog, thank that blogger in the comments of the post." [25 Tips For Marketing Your Blog]

Mentioned without a link? Ask for a link! "Identify sites that already mention your site, but have failed to provide the direct HTML link. Write a pleasant, personal email to them and request the link – success rates can be very high. To find these willing linkers, you can use Yahoo!'s advanced search parameters, i.e. [5 Rare and Valuable Techniques]

Linkbaiting Hooks

Use hooks for unique and useful content. "Content is only crowned as king when it has focus. A hook can help you keep this content focused and tight, and to fulfill the promise you made in the title. The hook has the potential to be the burning sensation that makes the article "write itself".

News Hook. "Fast, up to date news on breaking topics with expert commentary on the topic. Selecting topics, use niches to write about." The news hook is when you are the first to scoop a story; everyone who carries the story will then (theoretically) link to you as the original source.

Contrary Hook. The contrary hook is when you refute a common myth in your niche. "Read throughout your blogosphere, and make sure to have an opinion on everything. Take someone's post, and become the counterpoint."

Resource Hook. The resource hook occurs when you make an extremely helpful piece of content that everyone will naturally want to bookmark. "Write an extensive guide to anything, and spend some time on the research, and delivery format of your research. There's opportunity for this everywhere." You'll increase general awareness of your blog, gain authority by association and you are likely to receive links and traffic if your resource is fairly comprehensive." E.g. create an (extensive) glossary of terms in your industry. That will set you apart and will make you an authority website in your niche. [101 Web Marketing Ideas]

Humor Hook. People love to laugh, especially at people in their industry or niche.

Giveaway Hook. Offer your users something they can take with them – e.g. free wallpapers, icon sets, themes, pdfs, templates, layouts.

Research/Statistic Hook. Sometimes just compiled numbers, or any kind of scientific survey, will get a lot of link love, especially in an under-studied area.

Invest your time in a research. "Danny Sullivan actually sat down and checked the spam filtering accuracy of SpamCop, Yahoo Mail, and Gmail. And not once or twice, but three different times. Personally, counting false positives in your Spam folder would annoy me to death, but putting in that work generates insights on the differences between the competing services. Admittedly, the results will vary by individual, but often some data is better than no data at all." [Matt Cutts: Linkbait]

The incentive hook. "If you give people a motive to talk about you they likely will. Contests have worked for ages."

The interviews hook. Interview people who are well-known in your field of interests.

The "How To" hook. "People don't want to know "what" you can do, they want to know "how" it's done. If you think you're giving away too much information, you're on the right track." [The 5 Immutable Laws of Persuasive Blogging]

The Story Hook. "Stories are the most persuasive blogging element of all, as they allow you to present a problem, the solution, and the results, all while the connotation of the story allows readers to sell themselves on what you have to offer." [The 5 Immutable Laws of Persuasive Blogging]

The Lists Hook. People don't read on the Web, they scan. Offer readable and scannable content which can be easily digested.

Copywriting: Improve Your Writing Skills

A Guide to Writing Well
A comprehensive tutorial on handling writing blocks and getting started for your next posts. The article also includes numerous techniques, tactics, strategies and writing ideas to improve the quality of your content.

Fifty (50!) Tools which can help you in Writing
50 tools that can help you when you do any kinds of writing. Use this quick list of Writing Tools as a handy reference. Copy it and keep it in your wallet or journal, or near your desk or keyboard.

Copywriting 101
and Good Copywriting – blogs about copywriting on the Web.

15 Must-read Blogs for Blog Writers
A list of 15 blogs you really should be reading if you want to be a good blog writer — at least, read them for awhile until you get the gist of their style. Read them entirely for style, not content. The information isn't as important as how they write.

Poynter Online — Writing Tools Column
Poynter Online publishes read-worthy articles about writing and editing on a regular basis and provides tools for your writing toolbox.

George Orwell's 5 Rules of Effective Writing This is a condensed version of George Orwell's essay on "Politics and the English Language", it does make for interesting reading.