| Link building sessions at Search Engine Strategies | | | | says it was about "making a brand cool." Sheasserts |
| shows arealways popular and draw some of the | | | | that this video resulted in a new demographic of |
| most substantial crowdsfrom the ranks of | | | | websavvy, mostly young visitors becoming newly |
| webmasters and corporate SEO's | | | | interested in |
| attendingconferences. But only one extreme form of | | | | Burger King. |
| link building,called "linkbaiting" can reel in the big fish and | | | | Lack of Brand Control is an issue she suggests is on |
| attractindustry-wide attention or land whale sized | | | | the downside of viral marketing. Laycock warns that |
| national mediafor massive linking on the scale site | | | | there is nocontrol over who gets your message or |
| owners fantasize about. | | | | how it is sent. |
| The Linkbaiting session at SES 2006 in San Jose | | | | Unbridled growth of a viral message and complete |
| offeredbucket loads of link bait to hopeful link anglers. | | | | lack ofcontol over how quickly or even where you |
| Rand Fishkin (appropriate name for LinkBaiting) of | | | | grow. Thepopularity is often hard to measure. |
| SEOmoz.orgwas first of a panel of experienced link | | | | Laycock gave tips for creating the idea by suggesting |
| bait fishermen topresent on the topic at the Search | | | | thatyou ask yourself, "What sparks passion in my |
| Engine Strategies 2006show. Fishkin recently landed a | | | | customers? Whathasn't been done before? How will |
| shark with excellent baitoffered at his site he named | | | | your idea benefit yourusers? Will your audience risk |
| the "Page Strength Tool," whichhelps webmasters | | | | their own reputation on it? |
| determine the overall quality score, and candetermine | | | | Ideas spread because they are important to the |
| ranking factors for their web site beyond simple | | | | spreader notthe originator. A good viral marketing idea |
| "PageRank." The tool magically reviews dozens of | | | | is one thatbuilds and works through relationships. |
| factorscontributing to high ranking of sites and reports | | | | She emphasized that the point of linkbaiting is to |
| towebmasters where they're strong and what needs | | | | "attracteyeballs." Successful link bait makes it easy to |
| work. | | | | spread theword by providing tools or simple methods |
| Fishkin started by outlining the elements that lead | | | | of sharing. This isone key to the success of videos |
| tosuccess. Step one to link baiting is in researching a | | | | that can be linked through |
| sectorlink "worthiness" by doing some discovery of | | | | YouTube. |
| "big" players inyour field. Check del.icio.us tags and | | | | Laycock recommends scalability be considered before |
| technorati tags onyour topic. Can your web site | | | | launchingand that you must be poised to act if things |
| content be tweaked to appeal topundits in this field? | | | | take off. Sheurges that it is critical to get beyond the |
| He suggested "online viral public relations" as another | | | | idea itself toexploit motivators. She insists that "people |
| namefor linkbaiting, since the "baiting" term seems to | | | | want to be cool,so give them the chance" to do that |
| carrynegative connotations. He recommends selecting | | | | with your link bait. |
| a contentfocus to meld branding and viral elements | | | | She gave the example of Gmail invites as one great |
| and to do keywordresearch to find popular phrases in | | | | method ofallowing early existing Gmail users to be |
| your area. aswell as del.icio.us offer "most popular" | | | | cool, by having theability to invite their friends to the |
| areas showing whatis currently hot. Fishkin also | | | | service (when it wasby invitation only) via a simple link |
| recommends asan undervalued resource to research | | | | in the mail interface. |
| areas of online buzz andinterest. Look for elements | | | | She proposes that linkbaiters "use existing networks |
| that encourage linking. | | | | and takeadvantage of other peoples resources." |
| Fishkin was followed by Cameron Olthuis of | | | | Laycock had her own success in lainkbaiting through |
| Advantage | | | | afundraising site she began called "Lactivist," which |
| Consulting Services with a presentation titled, | | | | wasintended to raise money for a (mother's) "Milk |
| "Trackingyour buzz - Because your reputation | | | | Bank" byselling t-shirts and seeking donations to |
| depends on it" | | | | supportbreastfeeding instead of feeding formula to |
| Olthuis emphasized how critical it is to monitor | | | | newborn babies. |
| perceptionsof buzz. Track your buzz using blog search | | | | She used that site to next emphasize that "People are |
| engines andconversation tracking at popular message | | | | Talkingand Linking" so that we need to pay attention to |
| boards to followpublic conversation about your site. | | | | the impactof blogs. She recommends that everyone |
| Track the right terms tomonitor how people perceive | | | | doing linkbaitingshould "Understand the Impact of a |
| your buzz, Subscribe to RSS feedsusing company | | | | good Post." and just asimportantly, "Understand the |
| name, company URL, competitors or industryrelated | | | | impact of a Bad Post." Shesuggests that the way to |
| sites. He recommends that you figure out how best | | | | "get people to do what you want isby arousing their |
| toleverage your buzz once it starts by watching what | | | | desires." |
| peoplesay. If you have no knowledge of what is being | | | | People wanted to participate in the series and spread |
| said, the buzzyou do gain could end up being nothing | | | | theword about Lactivist (Short for "Lactation Activist"). |
| more than chumming forfish - You may attract them, | | | | Sheemphasized the importance of being intersted in |
| but you'll never catch them without hooking them after | | | | others,learning their names, visiting their sites and doing |
| they show up. | | | | activelink building. |
| Join any conversations you do find by commenting on | | | | Did the linkbaiting for Lactivisit work? Laycock claimed |
| blogs,respond to emails and by posting in forums, | | | | thesite produced $2500 in profit and $1000 in donations |
| answeringquestions, because it keeps your buzz going | | | | for the |
| and can lead tomany more links. If buzz is negative, be | | | | Milk Bank. More than 1,000 incoming links make up 75% |
| sure to turn it intogood any way you can. Take focus | | | | of thetraffic to the site. Total unique visitors 36,500 in a |
| off of negative buzz if ithappens by creating a | | | | veryshort period. She says the project also produced |
| different controversy. ClaimID is apersonal reputation | | | | a |
| management company he recommended usingto | | | | SearchEngineGuide ebook for promotional purposes. |
| track online buzz. | | | | The final presentation was titled, "Gaining Visibility in the |
| The Mentos & Diet Coke fountain video was | | | | Golden Age of Links". Given by Chris Boggs of |
| discussed by | | | | G3Group. Herecommended what he called "Linkbaiting |
| Olthuis as an example of taking control of any buzz | | | | in a search enginefriendly fashion" by contacting |
| thatstarts spontaneously. For those unfamiliar with it, | | | | bloggers specific to yourindustry. |
| the videoinvolves putting the candy into Diet Coke to | | | | He said, "You can't just put the worm on the hook, you |
| create afountain of soda. (Fizz in this case, rather than | | | | haveto throw the hook out and do link building first," |
| buzz). | | | | becauselink baiting has become the holy grail of search |
| Mentos took advantage or the buzz created by the | | | | marketing. |
| video phenomand funneled the traffic to a newly | | | | Many hooks are baited, but are cast in shallow waters |
| created contest to | | | | withoutbig fish to notice or take the bait. You can't |
| "Create your own Mentos Fountain." The most popular | | | | catch a marlinwith worms cast on wimpy hooks |
| video,linked to by the home page of the Mentos web | | | | bobbing into a back countrypond. |
| site, has beenviewed over 6 million times. The Mentos | | | | He noted a bad example of reputation issues created |
| site is at: | | | | by linksgained from negative publicity, pointing to the |
| The video can be viewed at: | | | | Comcastcustomer service fuss by a blogger that had |
| Embrace your buzz, regardless of good, bad or ugly. | | | | bad experiencewaiting for Comcast service rep to |
| Measureit with backlinks, brand image, trends, new | | | | show up and then caughthim sleeping on video during |
| customers byusing Yahoo Site Explorer, blog search | | | | the visit. That bad PR has thevideo complainer ranked |
| engines Google Trends, | | | | at number 5 in a google search for |
| Opinmind and Google Analytics. Boggs wrapped up | | | | "Comcast customer service". |
| with the quip | | | | Boggs spent much of his presentation giving a long list |
| "Learn rinse, repeat." | | | | oflink baiting site examples from past few months. |
| The next presentation was by Jennifer Laycock, editor | | | | Notableamong them was the "Church of the flying |
| of | | | | spaghetti monster"and the Air Force One graffitti story |
| SearchEngineGuide. Her advice is "Give them | | | | (a faked creation thatimitated the presidential plane |
| something to Talk | | | | with graffiti spray paintedacross the wing mounted |
| About" Why use link baiting and viral marketing? The | | | | engine, supposedly done at Andrews |
| cost isthe in the idea, not the marketing. Any idea won't | | | | Air Force Base.) |
| do, mustbe something worth talking about. Once you | | | | Flying Spaghetti Monster: |
| get that idea,there is almost no cost involved. The | | | | Air Force One Graffiti: |
| technique creates brandevangelists and gives people a | | | | Each of the examples given in this story produced |
| reason to talk about yourproduct. Because it is driven | | | | extremeamounts of controversy or publicity and |
| by passion, it creates a betterconversion at a rapid | | | | gained mainstreampress coverage. Those sites that |
| response rate. | | | | successfully create linkbait are those that produce |
| She gave the example of the "Subservient Chicken" | | | | positive buzz and lead to massivelinking and great PR |
| game on theweb site from Burger King - did it sell any | | | | for sites that do it well. Each of thespeakers gave |
| chicken? Sheemphatically claims that it is "Not about | | | | great advice regarding link bait developmentthat, if |
| selling chicken,it's about branding and awareness." She | | | | followed, may lead to landing the big fish ofnational |
| observed that it hadresulted in hundreds of millions of | | | | media attention and many thousands of links withjust a |
| visits, with an averagetime on the site of over 7 | | | | big idea and not necessarily big budgets. |
| minutes - unheard of for most webpages. Laycock | | | | |