The Year of the Linkbait
Linkbait is a buzzword I tend not to like. However that didnt stop me from going out and buying lots of domain names related to linkbait in order to some day write a book about linkbait. See in my mind there are two motivations to link to someone. The first being an emotional motivation, someone provides a resource that inspires you. Secondarily there is also the ego motivation. This is usually driven from some controversy. I was once a king of the ego based motivational linkbait. Crushing others egos is an easy way to get links but it can be a bit weighty on the soul. The better kind of linkbait is by creating great resources and helping folks.
In order to write good content that would qualify as ‘linkbait’ you first have to set aside the goal of writing linkbait and write something you are either passionate about or extremely knowledgeable about. The greatest articles on the planet all start with powerful headlines. Usually content that lands on the front page of digg comes from professional marketers, and search engine optimizers, and social optimizers who are getting paid thousands of dollars to market their clients’ sites.
But is this really why we are here? To have to go surf through all the crap on digg that usually comes canned from a professional marketer. I could ‘out’ atleast 10 SEO and Web Developers getting paid thousands of dollars to feed Digg full of crap they don’t even believe in. Of course I guess they have to make money. And well this shit just works. So I don’t blame these guys.
2006 was the year of the linkbait. We can only expect more of the same in 2007. I continue to tell bloggers who do this for a living to not try and compete on the Digg Marketplace but to just write passionately and honestly because if you do that you are sure to succeed eventually.
Anyone who wants to can always ping me in the comments and I’m more than willing to help coach you on increasing your traffic, developing powerful headlines, and monetizing your sites. Thanks for a great 2006.
This is a hopeful read for someone like me who just started a news site. I’d gladly take any advice you could give me. Take a look at http://www.laternerdz.com
Just read an article about it on the official Google blog, seems to be a real hype, this linkbaiting ^^
Hey — Just came across this on Digg — like millions of others, I’m sure — and I’m really interested in any coaching you can offer me that will help me write headlines, monetize my blog and increase traffic.
Ultimately in the end to tell you the truth it all comes down to common sense.
Cover your bases , write honest content and do not foolish stupid things.
In the end it all works out.
I’d like any suggestions as well!
Well the key thing is keep it simple avoid a bunch of ads and build a solid readership with solid headlines. Keep everything consistent.
“could out at least 10″…
put up or shut up
Original Geek,
I notice you weren’t ballsy enough to even use your own email address. Nice: )
What did you say?
Thankfully there are less popular sections of digg (interesting to me, boring to others) that still remain somewhat free of the usual spam.