Research

It’s also about identifying those who link, what kind of content do they link to. The market defines the content. You may have come up with a great idea, but the truth of the matter is that your readers will ultimately decide what exactly you publish and that your ideas will come from research. If you haven’t spent time researching the very niche you are going to publish, then in all honesty you will probably fail.

Distribution

You then need to ensure that the content is shown to as many potential linkers as is possible, and the nature of social media marketing can assist you with this but a powerful online network is vital. This is a brick wall to those who have no access. But it can be solved by taking the time to build a network, or buy the people who have built that network.
It’s important that when planning your linkbaiting strategy, you realise that there are specific skills involved when creating something worthwhile. Linkbait which works usually has an element of simplicity that makes creation seem easy. In reality, to create something which appears so very simple can be quite a difficult process.

When creating linkbait, this 3 step process should be adhered to

1. Find who links
2. Discover what they link to
3. Show the linkers the content

Successful linkbait must contain the following elements:

1. Attention grabbing
2.It’s important to entice the reader to consume the content
3. Instil a reason for the reader to share content

Linkbait is not a sales message whose intention is to get you to buy a particular product. The whole purpose of linkbaiting is simply to get you to link by using emotional triggers. It’s been said many times that we do not buy rationally, that we buy emotionally. Therefore we must not treat linking any differently, it has to serve the job of reaching the linker and in turn activate the right emotional triggers.

If you have defined your online marketing problem as too few links then employing linkbait as an element of your whole strategy may be the solution to your problem. It has to mesh with your other online marketing elements such as PPC, Search Engine Optimisation, link buying, blogging, article writing, social media, etc. Of course having a brilliant website in the first place will help and if you get your web design just right, it’s a good beginning.

It is very important that it should not in any way harm your branding strategy. The accent of the linkbait should not harm in any way the way you want your brand to be perceived. Imagine if you are a bank and you have come up with a piece entitled “Great Gadgets Bankers Buy with their Bonus”, then you may want to reconsider your plan. In the current climate it doesn’t sound like a good plan at the moment. Even though I am confident that this will get the banks links, linkbait should never really be about gaining links at any cost.