Link Baiting
Marketing
Link Building in a competitive niche is one of the most difficult marketing tasks I’m asked
to do. Not only do I have to work in link-saturated industries, but more times than not I have to
find a way to out-rank a “complaint site” and/or Wikipedia. If you’ve ever tried to do this you
know how difficult it can be and how it’s necessary to think outside the box in order to net the
links you need.
Successful link building in competitive markets takes both traditional as well as Web 2.0 linking
tactics to make an impact. How do you avoid being buried in the search results or move above
the complaint/Wikipedia site? One way is to work on developing reputation link bait.
What is reputation link bait?
Reputation link bait is the combination of two marketing strategies: pitching the media with an
interesting story, and developing link bait. Traditionally, media pitches involve floating story
ideas to journalists in conjunction with an upcoming event, while link bait is written to attract
links from a wider audience by using controversial content. Reputation link bait uses each tactic,
but with a twistinstead of promoting events and controversy, it focuses on promoting a
company’s overall image through positive buzz. In a nutshell, reputation link bait is a tactic used
to promote a company using newsworthy and trendy angles to build a positive corporate
reputation.
As a linking tactic, reputation link bait makes sense. Done well, it offers the potential to generate
a lot of quality links in a Google friendly manner while establishing your company as an industry
leader.
Developing a reputation link bait angle
Spinning a positive corporate image isn’t something new, but unlike traditional marketing,
reputation link bait doesn’t wait for opportunities to come around. Instead, reputation link bait is
a process of creating high profile “angles” to pitch. Let’s look at two angles you can use to attract
links using reputation link bait:
Capitalizing on current trends. There’s a lot of support and publicity behind the “buy local, go
green” movement. Take advantage of this hot trend by turning some of your products green and
developing a full publicity and link bait campaign to promote the changes.
Marketing
Link Building in a competitive niche is one of the most difficult marketing tasks I’m asked
to do. Not only do I have to work in link-saturated industries, but more times than not I have to
find a way to out-rank a “complaint site” and/or Wikipedia. If you’ve ever tried to do this you
know how difficult it can be and how it’s necessary to think outside the box in order to net the
links you need.
Successful link building in competitive markets takes both traditional as well as Web 2.0 linking
tactics to make an impact. How do you avoid being buried in the search results or move above
the complaint/Wikipedia site? One way is to work on developing reputation link bait.
What is reputation link bait?
Reputation link bait is the combination of two marketing strategies: pitching the media with an
interesting story, and developing link bait. Traditionally, media pitches involve floating story
ideas to journalists in conjunction with an upcoming event, while link bait is written to attract
links from a wider audience by using controversial content. Reputation link bait uses each tactic,
but with a twistinstead of promoting events and controversy, it focuses on promoting a
company’s overall image through positive buzz. In a nutshell, reputation link bait is a tactic used
to promote a company using newsworthy and trendy angles to build a positive corporate
reputation.
As a linking tactic, reputation link bait makes sense. Done well, it offers the potential to generate
a lot of quality links in a Google friendly manner while establishing your company as an industry
leader.
Developing a reputation link bait angle
Spinning a positive corporate image isn’t something new, but unlike traditional marketing,
reputation link bait doesn’t wait for opportunities to come around. Instead, reputation link bait is
a process of creating high profile “angles” to pitch. Let’s look at two angles you can use to attract
links using reputation link bait:
Capitalizing on current trends. There’s a lot of support and publicity behind the “buy local, go
green” movement. Take advantage of this hot trend by turning some of your products green and
developing a full publicity and link bait campaign to promote the changes.
