The most important and perhaps the most difficult part of website optimization is link building. Website promoters try to discover the thriving valleys of premium quality links to find some juicy links there. However, this is not so easy and often all efforts are in vain.
But as the saying goes: “If the mountain doesn’t come to Mohammed, Mohammed must go to the mountain!” If you can’t get links from established sites, you can encourage them to link to you themselves! One of the ways you can build tons of links is by producing premium quality content that can potentially go viral. Such an SEO technique is commonly referred to as linkbaiting. In general, it’s all about enticing website visitors to promote your website using links from their own websites.
Here are the highlights of linkbaiting techniques that can encourage anyone (be it a well-known blogger or the average person) to link to your site:
Write about the “Big Guys” in the industry
You can secure a huge piece of the link pie by writing about the authorities in your particular niche. If you tell a story about the executives who have influenced your niche or post an interview with them, you are sure to gain reputation and attract more visitors. But you have to make sure that the story or interview you publish is really remarkable and useful for the readers.
Review popular products or services
The online market is full of similar offers, so people often get confused when making their choice. Therefore, before making their final decision, they search the Internet for reviews to compare products or services. So if you manage to write a detailed, informative, and authoritative review, chances are it will go viral and be reposted with the link to the main source (your website or blog). Also, not only can this allow you to get quality links, but you can also win some bonuses from the companies whose products and services you have reviewed (such as a free version of their products or.
Hand out some freebies
Just enter the number of times you’ve typed the word “free” into Google when searching for something. People are easily attracted by free offers, so if you offer some quality products or services on your website, it can greatly increase website traffic flow. They can offer free software, free video or music downloads, e-books or tutorials, etc. Providing free services like web hosting, free search tools, etc. can also attract visitors to your website and help you get more backlinks. Alongside this, you can also promote your own products and services over time.
Be the first to write about a problem
News spreads like fire. Keep your finger on the pulse of your industry and be the first to hear the latest news. This can significantly increase your website traffic and bring lots of valuable backlinks. And note that not only news itself, but also analysis of news or your comments can attract more website visitors.
Stir up some controversy
Creating content that goes against a popular idea or criticizes some popular belief or practice can increase public interest and as a result, many people will link to your site. But you have to be careful with this link bait technique and make sure all your arguments are weighty and convincing enough. Otherwise, you run the risk of gaining reputation as a flamer and even losing valuable linkjuice.
As you can see, linkbait is a great link building technique, but it’s impossible to predict if it will work or not. Because of this, you should not forget about other link building techniques like directory submission, link exchange, etc. There are many link building tools that can help you accomplish these link building tasks.
Among the most widely used in the field of SEO are Yahoo! Site Explorer and SEO SpyGlass.
Yahoo! Site Explorer is the grandfather of all link building tools. It’s free and easy to use. Users just need to enter the URL of the website and it will show the list of webpages that link to your website.
SEO SpyGlass is another link building tool. SEO SpyGlass evaluates each link according to 26 criteria, such as Google Page Rank, Alexa Rank, inclusion in Yahoo! or DMOZ directories, exact anchor texts and URLs of each link, domain age, exact link value and dozens more.
