jane copland's linkbait presentation - smx london 07
TRANSCRIPT
Jane Copland, SEOmoz
Linkbait and the
Real World
Conservative Industries and
Viral Content
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Linkbait and the Real World | Conservative Industries and Viral Content
Linkbait Is:
Linkbait Isn’t (necessarily):
Web-based content created for the purpose of attracting attention and links. It can be presented
in a variety of forms, from text to video, images, tools and badges. However, its goal is always
somewhat the same.
Inappropriate, Scandalous or Unethical
Viral Content and Linkbait suffer from
misconceptions
Linkbait and the Real World | Conservative Industries and Viral Content
Social Networks spread Viral Content
MySpace has its bulletin feature, Bebo has widgets and Facebook has posted
and shared links.
Linkbait and the Real World | Conservative Industries and Viral Content
Blogging communities read and link to each
other’s content
Livejournal is designed to develop relationships between bloggers.
Linkbait and the Real World | Conservative Industries and Viral Content
Forums, both niche and general, are a great
place to promote linkbait
Linkbait and the Real World | Conservative Industries and Viral Content
Niche and General Social News sites are also
exceedingly useful
Industry-specific social news sites aren’t as common as specific forums.
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Linkbait and the Real World | Conservative Industries and Viral Content
“Traditional” Linkbait is quite easy to produce...
but it’s not so useful for conservative clients.
Linkbait and the Real World | Conservative Industries and Viral Content
Everything on Cracked.com Goes Viral…
And this is the reaction Cracked’s content will get
from your customers, head of PR, Sales Manager
and CEO.
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Linkbait and the Real World | Conservative Industries and Viral Content
It is possible to create linkbaitfor conservative companies…
… but creating relevant content can be tough
Linkbait and the Real World | Conservative Industries and Viral Content
Tactics for Creating Relevant Bait
1. Envision potential industry oddities.
Linkbait and the Real World | Conservative Industries and Viral Content
2. Consider the issues faced by your potential customers
Tactics for Creating Relevant Bait
Student Loans: people who are looking for student loans
are concerned about money and about going to university.
Linkbait and the Real World | Conservative Industries and Viral Content
3. Subtly encourage the use of keywords...
... and people will link to you with the
“right” anchor text.
Tactics for Creating Relevant Bait
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Linkbait and the Real World | Conservative Industries and Viral Content
Tactics for Creating Relevant Bait
4. Present your regular content, but in a creative, unique way.
http://producten.hema.nl/
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Linkbait and the Real World | Conservative Industries and Viral Content
Want to “hide” your linkbait from regular users but
still reap its benefits?
You don’t need to link to the bait from the site’s homepage, but make sure to
link to the homepage from the bait! One “danger”: your bait becoming an
indented result in the SERPs.
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Linkbait and the Real World | Conservative Industries and Viral Content
And now for a real-life example
WeddingPaperDivas.com got smart with this
linkbait, featuring 9 “geeky” weddings. The site
sells a range of wedding invitations, and everyone
linking to this page will want to use the words
“wedding” or “weddings.”
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Linkbait and the Real World | Conservative Industries and Viral Content
Another example… that could have been ever
better than it wasAlphaDictionary.com’s “Are you a Rebel or a
Yankee?” speech test should have included a
results badge that people could display. Instead,
they opted for the very 1.0 “Send to Friend” option.
Linkbait and the Real World | Conservative Industries and Viral Content
Classic example of the “Bait and Switch”
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Linkbait and the Real World | Conservative Industries and Viral Content
And before I go, you should know…
1. Linkbait’s goal is to attract attention and not all attention is
positive.
2. Of my dozen “real life” examples, seven of them were found by
surfing Reddit and StumbleUpon.
3. Great linkbait will usually get the attention it deserves, but if it
doesn’t, it still serves as fresh, unique content!