Still typing one-handed, but I had a very interesting conversation today about the future of linkbait and the advantages/disadvantages of being one of the only companies in the world offering the service as part of consultancy. As of now, a good AJAX programmer, a clever idea and a talented PR person are all that's required to make a piece of content that can draw thousands of links and visitors.
Although linkbait isn't one of those SEO trends/trcks like directories, blog comment links or PageRank manipulation that the search engines will eventually catch up to and discount, as a service, it has a limited lifespan of effectiveness (at the current cost/labor efforts). What we'll see over time is a trend that marks linkbait as manipulative by the communities that currently help to promote it. Thus, only the truly extraordinary projects will grab the attention of the "linkerati" and gain the notoriety necessary to affect the search engine rankings.
Seeing all this in advance and taking into account the lessons of the past, it may be wise to jump ahead 24-30 months and simply offer linkbait services only to those who are ready and financially/organizationally ready to make this leap. My initial thoughts are that services would cost from $75-$150K and we'd only take 3-4 projects like this per year.
Questions:
- What's your opinion of linkbait as a paid service (feel free to be honest, no offense taken)?
- Do you know of any other firms that currently offer the service?
- How do you think saturation can/will/might affect the "topical phenomenon" link landscape?
I think the most brilliant thing you can do is create this service and call it like you have "linkbaiting" and tout it as a first. There are plenty of clever minds out there and great ideas, but you always have to couple them with a good dog and pony show.
Take a look at AJAX - the components have been around for a long time, but Garrett is THE name because he named it something and other people caught on. Now he's the "authority".
I'd say package it better/differently than anyone and ride the wave.
I agree Link Bait is just another term for viral marketing. It does not need to be expensive or involve technology. Sometimes the simplest things work the best. This is especially true if you are looking for the long term benefit of links, traffic and branding.
I wrote a short article last month about using viral marketing to gain links and what subjects works best. https://www.justilien.com/link-building/viral-...
I call it "viral link building"
Tell me again what your definition of linkbait is...
I think it might be helpful to frame the service as New Media Public Relations.
With a very LOOSE definition of public relations, that extends into social games like second life, and actual content creation (video, gag sites, clever services, industry-related tools, articles, blogs) that reaches key publics where they're already interacting with each other.
The key WRITING piece would look like blogs + articles + other industry participation (coaching here, not the work itself. Kind of an editorial service for enthusiastic clients rather than actual writing for people who don't have anything to actually add to their industries).
In addition, I think SEMs should be encouraging larger companies to leverage employee generated content for PR purposes (whether it's got links in it or not). Employee generated content includes stuff from MySpace, LinkedIn, and the blogs and forums employees are participating in. (I wrote a long article on leveraging this... search for "employee generated content")
Linkbait still frames what SHOULD be a branding conversation as an SEO conversation. Calling it linkbait sells rankings.
Calling it New Media Public Relations helps us (SEMs) and CMOs begins to look beyond the SERPs at a more holistic and participatory online presence campaign, rather than the continued quest for more top tens.
SERP placement is a result of New Media Public Relations, but not the main goal, which is reaching key publics where they're interacting and having conversations online.
I present the concept for further refinement through conversation - also I'm not so sure about the name ;)
The concept of link bait has been around for ages, coining the phrase and putting it in the box is always a good thing. If its boxed it can be improved on in a structured manner.
i think stating that writing quality content to act as link bait is a shame, all content should be quality and relevent.
Link bait shoud be as creative, original and fresh, either in media age or method of use.
new media public relations is a fantastic phrase and far outways the concept of link bait as a whole, they are however two different things.
Link bait is certainly part of NMPR, with the latter being the bigger picture
With viral programs, what you are really selling is your ideas, creativity, and perhaps project management services. Not all great viral marketing ideas require significant IT develeopment.
A great linkbait or viral marketing idea, with minimal IT development requirements, could be generated and refined in a day. What is that worth to a client, particularly if you highlight ROI?
Think about the opportunity that exists for SEOmoz to develop Guerilla Viral Marketing campaign ideas and perhaps project management services for implementation. The client receives nice bang-for-their-buck, and SEOmoz makes a nice profit off of what comes easily... great ideas.
Why limit yourself to high implementation cost projects?
The first thing I do when starting a consultancy project is look at whether the client's website is worth linking to or not. If its a great site then its going to be far easier to create natural links and the long term results will be much stronger.
A poor site will never amount to much in the long term even with good offsite promotion. Whether its called linkbait or not an seo should include detailed recomendations for a site redesign if its needed.
IMO, a clever mind is more important than AJAX.
I agree with egol. If the idea is bad or timing is bad, then there is nothing for implementation to rescue.
If I wanted to go towards big time linkbaits I would ask myself "how to create a classic?" And I would study heavily few examples available.
I think there's a lot of firms that offer linkbaiting services. They may not advertise it or even call it linkbait but I know you're not the only one doing it. IMO 'linkbaiting' is nothing more than putting up good content that will attract a plethora of links. You don't need an AJAX programmer nor does the idea have to do anything with web 2.0, it just needs to be good enough that others will link it. I'll admit there's a lot of clever things you can do with AJAX for linkbait, but it's not the only way.
Again, IMO, any SEO/PR Firm worth their weight can do this and already has been doing this for years. Maybe it's not always on the scale that you do, but it's definitely not a new concept. It's is easier now though, with sites like digg, slashdot, delcious, etc.
So how do I feel about it as a paid service? It's perfectly fine. It takes time, effort, and produces results so why shouldn't a person charge for it.
How do I think saturation will affect the link landscape? I don't really think it will do anything. Linkbait on a level you're talking about isn't something that's easily done, and I don't think it's really possible to abuse it. Link building is one of the things that sets the good SEOs apart from the bad. Anyone can reciprocate or buy links, but only folks with real talent can effectivly build a large number of natural links.
Totally agree with Cameron on this one.
Every firm essentially offers linkbait services, whether it's a great web design or some great content - anything worth linking to is linkbait.
AJAX is a quick way to grab some links now, but good content will always attract links. (Note: content does not have to be text)
As for a paid service, I think it makes sense as long as you ad real value - which you do.
Linkbait is another buzzword that I think is being overused lately.
Linkbait company?? Hmmm... Yeah, it "sounds" cool, just like Web 2.0 sounds cool to many people. What every company needs to succeed online is to provide something truly unique, be the first to provide it, and respect their customers.
You don't really need thousands of dollars to get people to link to you. There's still a lot of things that people need on the Web, so the ones who are able to fill the gap before the others are the ones who will succeed.
In my view, Link Bait is essentially a niche of Viral Marketing.
Viral Marketing Definition: Any marketing technique that induces Web sites or users to pass on a marketing message to other sites or users, creating a potentially exponential growth in the message's visibility and effect.
I suggest you look at existing business models for the sale of Viral Marketing services.
Yeah - good call, Lindsay. I found a few: https://www.webadvantage.net/market_viralmktin... https://www.media.co.uk/viral-marketing/index.... https://www.quirk.biz/emarketing/viral https://www.houckassociates.com/mk-viral.asp None of those look impressive to me at all - I doubt I'd give them a call. These guys on the other hand, seem to have a very good grasp - https://www.dmc.co.uk/index.php?cD0
I think it's a great idea, however I'm not sure how you could run 'link bait' as a business model. How do you do know something will be successful enough to be worth the price?
It is something of a gamble (though we've yet to have a complete failure). It's not something that can/will work for everyone, but it is similar to link building or ranking campaigns, in that we are attempting to influence (but rather than search engines, it's people). It's also very similar in nature to offline public relations campaigns - which also can't guarantee success.