3 Examples of Timely Link Bait To Spur Your Creativity
With link bait, the first important thing is inspiration, then comes an idea. There is no way you can brainstorm something really good without being inspired. This quick post actually aims at inspiring you: I hope it works.
There are many types of link baiting content; they have one thing in common: none of them is 100% working. Even with some solid investment, brilliant idea and good implementation, you can never be sure it works as well as you expected.
This is why to get the feel of what a link bait actually is, I’d recommend to start with something rather simple but fun:
- Timely link bait is usually easier to promote;
- Timely link bait doesn’t have to be anything fancy to be well received.
Need an example to get inspired? I have three for you.
1. Get Rid of RipOffReport from the SERPS
Remember those endless discussions about how RipOffReport is unfairly ranked too high by Google, how it allows fake negative reports which spoil the reputation of good businesses?
It was a great time for Distilled to launch a campaign encouraging people to “to have Google do something about these shake-downs.”
They also had the set of pretty badges for people to show off their support:
Isn’t it genius?
2. Bring Back Links
Too much talking about how people “vote” by linking to other pages, how linking can bring your competitors above you in SERPs and how links “to bad neighborhoods” can get you into trouble has had one logical outcome: people no more want to link out at all.
Another reason why people don’t link any more is microblogging: “suddenly everyone stopped linking to each other and began sharing stuff on Twitter.”
What a perfect timing for someone to create a campaign to bring links back which is exactly what Danny Cooper did:
And yes, I joined 
3. SEMMY Awards NON-Nominee
SEMMY Awards honoring best content on various Internet Marketing topics have been a great success this year. Many were nominated, but most people weren’t.
So what a great idea to honor that “unlucky” majority by creating a fun badge for them?
None of the above examples is absolutely unique or has some never-heard-before concept behind it. But they are still cool because they reflect the thoughts of many people in the industry and thus are doomed to positive response.
Now, has this post inspired you to create some simple, topical and timely link bait? Share your ideas in the comments! I promise to help everyone who decided to have some link baiting fun after reading this post.
Img by Aaron_M
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9 Responses to “3 Examples of Timely Link Bait To Spur Your Creativity”
You hit the nail on the head, this kind of promotion is definitely “simple but fun”.
Thanks for the mention Ann, when I first created the post I didn’t have linkbait in mind, in fact the banners were made so people could wear them like a “badge of honour” to say you were a part of the tribe.
Since then I have learnt just how powerful a simple banner can be in link building, a testament to this is how you’ve used it on your profile
By Danny Cooper on Feb 25, 2010
Hi Ann,
Thank you so much for your SEO advice. Your posts are always current and original. Thanks Ann, you are a smarty.
But, I’m a dummy. I can’t seem to figure out how a content page that attracts links will help my landing page, which creates sales.
If I create an entertaining, informative and viral article – that article may rank well when people search for its topic, but how does that help me in a local market?
For example, let’s say I create a great bit of content on magicians and bunny rabbits. Great pictures, great content. Bunny bloggers link to it, and I rank #1 on G for “magic rabbits.”
But, I only want to rank # 1 for “Toledo Magician” and “magic shows in Toledo.”
I don’t care if bunny lovers in Boston visit my site, they can’t hire me. So, let’s say I corrupt my article and add “Toledo” in the content. A mom planning a birthday party in Toledo looks at the SERP and skips my article based on the irrelevant title.
So, how do I make the “great content” strategy work? Do I build up PR on my content and channel it to my sales page to help it rank?
To thank you for your help, I will gladly name my next bunny rabbit after you. Thanks Ann!
By Brian on Feb 25, 2010
Hey I totally agree, we should bring back linking to other sites… isn’t that the way it’s supposed to be anyways?
By Chris on Feb 28, 2010
I would like you to expatiate on this subject a little bit when you have time in the future! Why? Because I really enjoyed reading this post here today.
And I have just also signed up in your guess blog site about a few minutes ago. I like your style and the way you talk about personal branding online. Keep it up…
By Justice | Get Rich on Feb 28, 2010
@Brian, the most important thing you are missing is that link bait should be relevant or at least tackle the same niche/industry. Can you think of any link bait related to “magic shows in Toledo”?
@Justice, thanks so much for joining!
By Ann Smarty on Mar 1, 2010
I like the Bring backlinks idea. Although I have not joined, I think it is important to use relevant information from other resources. Sometimes they can say it better, but you have your own idea.
By Nile on Mar 4, 2010
Hi Smarty,
This was a great and logical post.
I have always heard of people using competitions for linkbait. If there was a particular way of generating around 200 good links with an investment of say $1k, even I’d definitely jump on to that. Link baits require expertise that i think you have.
I checked Bring back links and it seems quite interesting.
By Article on Mar 18, 2010
This continues to support that good link bait or link worthy content is worth investing the time and effort in. The payoff continues well after the content is created. Create engaging content with your target audience in mind, and you’ll see results. And don’t forget to promote the content as well! For us, our audience is fellow SEOs, and from there we created this piece: http://www.verticalmeasures.com/search-optimization/seo-celebrity-look-alikes
By PattyAZ23 on Jul 29, 2010