Like my evil twin brother, Machu Picchu is on my bucket list of places to see before I die. It’s this mystical spiritual place up in the mountains of Peru. It’s made up of ancient Inca buildings and terraced plateaus. It takes at least 3 days to get there and back, and the views from it are simply breathtaking (click any of the pics below to enlarge).

I came across an article from the LA Times “100 facts for 100 years of Machu Picchu“. Great! I love Machu Picchu, and I may know some things about it, but with 100 facts, I’m sure there will be at least one or two new things I’ll learn. When I clicked through, I was presented with exactly one fact … seriously!  The site is running a series with 100 different posts–each with 1 fact. While I have gone on record as saying that creating a series is an effective strategy for building loyal readers, that post ignored the need people have for instant gratification.

As Michael Strong of Blueglass recently wrote about in “Linkbait Fulfilling Your Titles Promise“, if you set my expectation for 100 facts but only give me 1, I’m going to feel cheated/depressed/let-down. The chances that I’m going to “share” your content across Email, Twitter, Facebook, Reddit, or Stumbleupon just dropped to near zero. I wrote about something similar a few years ago, “When Your Title is Linkbait But Your Post Isn’t“. Writing a title creates “a deal” with the user. They should never have a “Don’t Make Me Think Moment” and wonder what your post is about, and they should find whatever your title “promises”.

Some simple concepts I try to share with anyone I talk with about creating great linkbait:

• Make a strong impression right off the bat. It can be with words, video, or pictures (see using images for Linkbait), but you need to “hook” people in the first few seconds. Saving the best for last only works when people know who you are, like Steven Spielberg.
• Your content needs to be exceptional if you want me to share it and do your content marketing for you. Everyday people have hundreds of things, all competing for their attention. If you want to “catch someone’s eye,” you need to be aware of that competition. Hat tip to Gabe Rivera.
• While it may be very important to you that I like/upvote/share your content, you need to make it important to me. Don’t ever confuse your love of something with the need for Google Traffic . You need to create the “you know who would really like this …” or “I really have to share this with …” type of experience/feeling.

You should think of creating and marketing linkbait as an Olympic Level competition for content creation. Stand out with a catchy, funny, witty, shocking, or otherwise compelling title. Your content should be captivating and grab my attention in my first few seconds on the page. You needs to deliver on the promise your title makes. You need to do it in an interesting and direct manner. Don’t bury the punchline at the end of a 40 minute video or 2000 word block of text. Make it easy for me to do what you want me to do with your content. Want me to “like” it on Facebook? There better be a Facebook button at the end of the post. The same goes for email, Twitter, Stumbleupon, or any other sharing service.

Originally published on Graywolf’s SEO Blog

Billy Ray Cyrus and I are from the same place, a little area tucked away in the northeast corner of Kentucky—the same place that produced the Judds and Chuck Woolery, you’re welcome—but I can’t speak for him. I’m not sure where Destiny Hope lives these days, or if she ever hangs out in Flatwoods at all. Destiny Hope is Miley’s real name, just so it’s clear Dad and Disney sold her out from the beginning. The hearing to legally change her name, according Wikipedia, is today, actually.

When the now infamous Annie Leibovitz photo of Destiny Hope appeared in Vanity Fair, the world lost its mind. I was hipped to the controversy because the Today show insisted on showing me what was, by the way it was described, something nearly pornographic.

And gasp, they even showed it unedited right there on national television in broad Eastern Time zone daylight: a 15 year-old girl’s back. I blinked and went about my morning business, thinking it the latest in network "news," and pausing only to wonder how that was different from every trip to a beach or swimming pool growing up, or how it was different from seeing my stepson’s prom date in her backless prom dress on Saturday. She was only 16. Does that make it okay to see someone’s back?

But Destiny was covered by a sheet, not a bikini top or chiffon (or whatever fabric they wear to prom). And that means…what, exactly?

Something dirty, it would seem, even if that dirtiness never crossed my mind (heck, I barely noticed) until every news website, entertainment blog, splog, and "news" channel in the world dubbed the photo a "topless" one of Miley Cyrus. It was dirty because the media sold it as dirty.

And the audience bit, big time, and swooped in for the feast. Rewind the clock at Google Hot Trends to Monday’s top gainers and you’ll notice a theme—a saturation of search query variants for the photos. I’m not sure when the photo was posted online, but the spike seems to correlate with television coverage, which is the norm for search query bursts. By Tuesday and Wednesday, searchers had forgotten about it and had refocused their swarming around American Idol and a rumored Jimi Hendrix sex tape.

Hitwise reports today that VanityFair.com traffic spiked by a factor of 20, that searches for the Leibovitz photos doubled the searches for Lindsay Lohan’s for-real topless pics in New York Magazine. Hitwise Director of Research Heather Dougherty says 98% of Vanity Fair’s traffic was comprised of visitors who had never visited the site before.

From a publicist’s standpoint, from the standpoint of anybody in the business of creating pop starlets or selling magazines, the photo shoot, through some nice manufactured outrage, was a smash success. TV ratings, web traffic, and buzz were all up, up, up. And one day, when the seemingly insatiable public is actually satiated, they’ll pick another girl to use up, up, up.

Just like they told us on South Park.

Destiny Miley said she was embarrassed in the aftermath. Of course she was. What teenage girl wouldn’t be embarrassed about everybody making such a fuss about pictures she thought the day before were "pretty, natural and artsy?" If anybody should be embarrassed, it’s Billy Ray for allowing his daughter to be the next Hollywood virgin to be sacrificed, and the media for creating smut where previously there was none.

Sometimes the word "billions" can cloud your judgment, I guess.

Though undoubtedly good for the franchise in the long term, Disney joined in with feigned shock. It’s the appropriate PR move in this situation, and unfortunate timing given certain billboards popping up in Beijing.

But in the end I have to ask you which is dirtier: a teenage girl’s back or cashing in on it?

To be fair, Paul Boutin was well ahead of the curve, writing on Friday, "On Gawker, Nick Denton’s mirror post of Tom Cruise’s Scientology promo video is closing on 1.5 million views – comparable traffic to all of Valleywag so far this month."  But of course, Boutin operates under the same Gawker Media umbrella, so Hitwise’s follow-up is still worth seeing.

Heather Dougherty states, "After posting a copy of the video, the market share of visits to Gawker.com increased 178% on Tuesday, January 15th from the previous day.  Traffic also increased another 72% on the next day (from Tuesday), where traffic peaked surrounding the event . . . .  The Scientology website also experienced a spike in traffic, where the market share increased 450% on Tuesday, January 15th from the previous day."

So how can the average eBusiness site duplicate these numbers?  Well, aside from pissing off rich religions and carrying celebrity news, there may not be any easy way.  Still, blogs can take a shot, and it seems likely that staying up on current events and tossing in references when possible will make any site look a more flexible and modern.

• Unofficialseoblog
• Coverage by other SEM communities
• Images

Below is an alphabetical index of our coverage:

• A Marketer’s Guide to Social Bookmarking & Tagging
• Effectively Leveraging Social networking
• Evangelist – The Marketer’s Role in SMM
  
• Extra! Extra! The Social News Sites
  
• Keynote Q&A: Joshua Schachter of del.icio.us & Garrett Camp of StumbleUpon
• Linkbait – Chumming for Traffic on Social Media Sites
• Micro Communities
• Social Media Marketing Essentials
• Wikipedia, Yahoo Answers & Answer Sharing

Coverage by other SEM communities:

• Affiliate Tip
• Aim Clear Blog
• Alt Search Engines
• Bruce Clay
• Search Engine Land
• SEO Round Table
• Search Engine Journal
• Search Marketing Gurus
• Square Oak
• Tamar.com
• Tannerhobin.com
• Top Rank Blog
• WebProNews

Images:

• Top Rank Blog

• Dennis Goedegebuure


• Hilarious pictures of Mr. Moderator

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Moderator: Danny Sullivan, Editor-in-Chief, Search Engine Land

Speakers:

Brent Csutoras, Online Marketing Specialist, BrentCsutoras.com

Rebecca Kelley, Search Marketing Consultant, SEOmoz

Cameron Olthuis, CEO, Factive Media

Danny Sullivan introduces Rebecca Kelley of SEOmoz who gets started on linkbaiting. According to Rebecca Linkbaiting creates a Domino effect which means that:

• You receive a ton of incoming links
• Makes Google see your page faster
• Traffic stickiness- Initially traffic may spiral up and down, but after a while it shows an overall increase.
• A single page can beef up your entire domain.

The question you should be asking is what you are targeting/aiming at? Well the answer in Linkerati. For eg: Bloggers, web researchers, journalists. Some of them may not use it on a daily basis but there are more chances of them linking back to you. This is because they like to share what they find online with their friends. All in all, they like to know the latest of what is happening to keep themselves on the cutting edge.

However, Rebecca states that before you begin you should do your homework and do a bit of research on your niche. Visit social networking sites and find out your worthiness i.e. how worthy your subject matter is. Focus on the ones that are friendly to to your niche. Learn from others linkbaiting campaigns. See what worked for them and what didn’t and learn from their mistakes and success stories. Accordingly, make changes and improve your site. Update yourself on current industry trends. Find out what’s popular and also find out which site considers what subjects as hot. Attach your link bait to topics that has most users. Is it possible for you to add more juice to your campaign?

Keep a check on your very own interest group. Go through popular blogs and forums and befriend people there. Why not do a Google blogsearch and then associate yourself with bloggers.

Next, Rebecca says to brainstorm. Think of all the things you find interesting and intriguing. If you do not get enough ideas, ask around-friends, family, colleagues etc. Make a note and work on them.

What would you find interesting?

Ask coworkers and friends

Write everything down

Linkbaiting can be as simple or complex as you want it to be. It could only be an image with a caption. Other options include articles, widgets etc. Its crucial to also the cons of linkbaiting. There is a difference between being brave and being a fool. Yes, controversial matter can incite a lot of opinion (meaning many users) but it all the mud-slinging can affect your brand and give it a bad reputation. Ask yourself ‘Do the ends justify the means?’ If the answer is no, you know what to do.

Look before your leap. Before your launch, contact people in your industry, involve them and do some PR wherein you can get some feedback to know whether you are doing well or headed downhill. Keep an eye on your traffic. Ensure your server is strong enough to handle all the overload, incase your campaign becomes a roaring success. Another point Rebecca stated was to take advantage of the incoming traffic and post it fresh and interesting content to keep the visitors riveted and coming back for more. Linkbaiting does not always prove to be successful. Its similar to gambling. Remember that Linkbaiting is not the final procedure but one kick-ass strategy.

Next up is Brent Csutoras an Online Marketing Specialist, BrentCsutoras.com who gave a list of successful linkbait ideas.

These are:

• Top 10 lists: Brent insists that op 10 lists are still one of the most effective tools of linkbaiting. According to Brent, he feels that Digg receives most of his focus as all the rest is equivalent to Digg front page hit. Numbers should be mixed up and they don’t always have to be 10. These lists should also include negative lists to make it fun and different for the reader.
• ‘How To’ Baits: These how to guides, foremost have to be helpful. It should be easy to read so that its easy to work. The how-to-guide should offer value and should be appealing to the eyes. Visual candy always works, so include images, video, bullets, and headings.
• Current events: Making use of current events can prove advantageous. Foremost, you have to act fast, do some research on the subject and make sure everything is accurate. Do more than copy paste, add value by giving your own flavor. Do not misspell and use only the right jargon and terms.
• Offbeat or Extreme: As risky as this may be, if you know what you are doing it can be very successful. Most of the time, clients are wary of taking such steps and this can have many pitfalls. In the end of the day, for a few more links, you do not want to harm your brand’s reputation. Remember to not violate Terms of Service with your content, no matter which social networking site you are on.
• Humor
• Tools
• Image Campaigns: Campaigns that have images are more likely to do better than campaigns without images. The picture should be integrated into a post and have great content along with it. If you submit the post URL rather than that of the image URL, there are less chances of people stealing it.
• Research: Before you begin, do research on the subject. Include RSS Feeds and set up alerts about your subject matter. Go through social networking sites and find out what works best for your interest group/community/niche.
• Title & Description: Pay attention while creating the title and description. The title you create should be simple and strong to have an impact. It should focus on what the content is all about. On the other hand, the description should express the title well. With this, even if your website does not open, all because of a good title, users might vote for you in social networking sites. Simple things like using an upper case for the initials in your title, goes a long way in grabbing attention of the reader. Also, include numerics in your description.
• Interact & Share: After posting your article, get people to vote and comment on it. Ask friends and people of your network to comment and vote your post. Based on what they say, up or down votes. On social news, try and avoid the negative feedback.

Brent’s Social Media Tips-

• Your content should be relevant to the community.
• Integrate images.
• Restrict ads. For those that come from Digg, avoid ads.
• Offer a summary to those who want to link to you.
• Proofread your content and make sure that you do not have typos or mistakes of any kind tat your competitors can highlight.
• Is it Duplicate? If the answer is yes, then avoid submitting it. On the other hand, older posts can work.
• Check What Worked Before as this can work again for you.
• Digg Effect- Check whether your server can handle high traffic as a lot of incoming traffic can bring down server.
• Be link worthy.
• Submit at the right time. Stick to weekdays and stay away from weekends, holidays and evenings.

Digg users do not like

• Poker Subjects
• Self Promotion
• Announcement Pages

Next up Is Cameron Olthius of CEO, Factive Media. According to him, Linkbaiting is content or a feature on a website that compels others to link to it from their website. The first thing that Cameron stresses on is a server that is capable of linkbaiting.

Cameron reminds us that linkbaits include:

• Information
• Controversy
• Humor
• News
• Tools: Such as calculators, widgets, quizzes and quizzes.

Linkbaiting has tonnes of benefits. It creates a potent Link Profile; boosts incoming traffic; bookmarks and provides necessary media publicity. Cameron has with him 3 case studies:

First Case Study: Drug Rehab Center

Cameron sought social news sites (he searched De.licio.us) to find out what worked previously. Even though the most popular ones were pro-drug articles and he knew they would bring in a lot of links, he did not attempt those as he knew that it would hurt the brand’s image. Finally, Cameron suggests keeping the post simple but with relevant images and lists. After you submit the story, you have to ‘seed’ the sites and promote it in social bookmarking sites like Stumble, Digg, De.licio.us, Sphinn, etc. Ensure it is a popular account. It would also benefit if you made a power account as these come with many friends and have lots of people who are very absorbed by these. Correct category and tags are really important. In the end, always have good titles and descriptions and post them in relevant sites.

Second Case Study: Search Engine Smackdown

His second example is a game called “Search Engine Smackdown.” this looked at those who were present at the game, and it would be easier to link to those who were all part of it. Apparently, due to this technique, it gathered around 859 links at 2-3 bucks apiece.

Third Case Study: LifeInsurance.com

For this, he wrote content on something called 19 things you didn’t know about Death(Very clever). This garnered more than a 1000 Diggs and is the 4th ranking post for life insurance.

Fourth Case Study: Laptop batteries

For this, Cameron wrote a post called 20 tips to get more juice from your laptop battery. This one brought in 913 Diggs and 631 links.

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It’s all about traffic, and even the temporary after-glow of a server-melting influx of visitors will help in the long run. Rebecca believes traffic from that rush, though temporary, should help boost long-term traffic afterwards.

Getting the attention of the social media audience means being clued in to what is current. Rebecca suggested looking at Digg, Google Trends, and industry peers as potentially solid resources. Delving into authoritative, related blogs could be a gold mine of ideas too.

Brent Csutoras suggested the ever-popular idea of lists as an avenue to attract the social media crowd. They don’t always have to be a top ten, and they don’t always have to be positive lists, either.

Lists should be numbered, with simple, strong, focused points for each item. The viewer should benefit from the titles of the list just as much as the descriptions.

The how-to article has proven popular too. It shouldn’t be a massive, lengthy block of text, and in a time where images, audio, and video can be placed online easily, people expect more out of a how-to than an endless stream of words.

Cameron Olthuis of Factive Media reiterated the importance of categorizing one’s linkbait; tagging accurately helps here, too.

When reaching out to the social media crowd with a submission, it’s important to target it to a receptive crowd. The offbeat approach can work, as Cameron referenced the online game he helped make, Search Engine Smackdown, where the player could pummel search geeks like Google’s or Yahoo’s co-founders.

The referee will look familiar to SMX Social Media attendees, as it is none other than conference organizer and panel moderator Danny Sullivan.

WebProNews Video anchor Kara Ratliff contributed to this report.

The word “linkbait” implies that someone would not have linked to you unless they were tricked into doing so. But in recommending that people develop content for users, without thought to the link benefit, the definition does not fit the word. Here is my concept of Organic Link Building:

Networking

Yes, good old fashioned face-to-face networking. Developing those connections and contacts that you already have is the best source of both business and links. You can’t beat it for effectiveness, and it is what most business owners tend to do naturally. Unfortunately, this lost ability can also be one of the greatest assets to link building. The concept of networking was to build relationships in markets that are similar and different, but to find people that you like and trust enough to do business.

After a good networking event, you typically come away with a handful of business cards, a few names and faces in your memory, but you also have a few specific people that you know that you need to call and follow-up. This is where blogging has been such a boon to the networking and linking practices. Summarizing your experiences in networking is link building. It may be making a link in the personal sense, but it can be easily translated into website links.

I would suspect that many SEO professionals who preach linkbaiting can look at their incoming links increase after they speak at an event or even talk with people in a bar. I see this as well, most of the links that I receive after an event that I attended are based on conversations that I had with people. They recount those events and conversations in their blogs. I usually watch this with a little bit of smugness, as the links were results of our conversations, and not any sort of baiting. Conversation is an interesting and natural thing . . .and highly underrated.

Joining the Conversation

The guys at ClearSaleing understand this. New to the blogging world, they have posted some great content about PPC strategies. They’ve jumped into the conversation with both feet. In commenting on link building strategies, they focused on networking (online and offline), joining the conversation, and developing your own network through blogging and press releases. Especially interesting was the comment that the best link opportunities are usually from existing contacts. “These contacts will normally be the people who know you the best.” Sounds simple enough, but it does imply that one is out networking in the industry, making contacts and developing a network. Links don’t come to you if you aren’t active in the conversation.

Unless people know who you are and what you bring to the party, they won’t talk about you, ergo = no links. Bringing new data, a twist in something that is previously accepted, or a new perspective will go far in getting attention and engaging your peers in conversation.

Especially in the web marketing industry, the best conversations to get involved in are not in the boardroom. Most times, they aren’t even official. They usally take place in the hotel bars of conferences, impromptu (or barely formal) get-togethers, via IM or email, or coordinating travel schedules. Casual, relaxed conversations can be the greatest source of information, content and making contacts.

A great example of this was making a road trip to Philadelphia a few months ago (I happened to be in town while working with a client) and a great meeting of SEO’s took place. I got to meet new people and reconnect with old friends. The conversations that took place were more stimulating than most panel presentations at a conference.

Content

The second concept is content.
Yes, I know, everyone preaches content in linkbaiting. However, content is organic – it grows when it connects with the right audience.

People always stress the “good” in content, as content is generic, but good content takes creative and skilled work to present. Good content is what makes people listen or read and stay attentive. However, good content can still be good, but not meet the needs of the audience. If the audience finds no need for the content at that time, or no personal benefit, then the content has little value.

This is where adding to the conversation can get you noticed. People notice good content, they pay attention to it because it is a new perspective, new data, or something interesting. When real content is brought to the market, people take notice.

Context

The value of content is in the relevance and context of presentation to the reader. The site visitor determines if the content relevant to them. The visitor’s perception of value is based on the expectations they have coming to the website. If your site satisfies their expectations, you have engaged that visitor, hopefully to a level of action, such as a conversion or a link. Most times, however, you have a visitor that is satisfied with the answer to their question or makes them think.

The Best Link Building?

This part is purely my opinion based on my own data:

In reviewing my site analytics, I have found that the best visitors have come from contacts that I have made face-to-face, and resulted in an online link to my site. Sure, I have links that send a lot of visitors, but the most effective links have been from people that I met either as a result of networking or joining a conversation.

However, more than just links, I’ve developed some very good friendships that started out as an email exchange which then developed into a very reliable and fulfilling friendship. I didn’t intend to get a link, but when people know that you are more interested in them rather than the link, they tend to be much more responsive.

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