Link Bait or Link Worthy?

I hate the term link bait. It implies something deceptive, as in "bait and switch." In many link-building situations, that may be true, but in many other cases, it is definitely untrue.

I prefer the term "link worthy." As in, if you want a website to link to yours, do something "link worthy." I don't think there's any need to practice deception or trickery. Just be creative.

I write a blog in the entertainment field, and recently ran a contest for readers. Doesn't matter much what it was about. The point is, it was simply a fun contest that people enjoyed. Hardly rocket science. I kept the momentum going, the story got picked up by a major media website, and bingo, I got a nice interview from a top 1000 website. Link bait? I don't think so. Link worthy? Sure. Many people beat their heads on a table trying to come up with some way to "trick" the system (ie the search engines). Don't bother. Put all that brain power to work by coming up with something really "link worthy."

For more ideas on getting worthwhile links to your site, try the LinkSpiel blog. For an in-depth discussion of how Google may be determining what websites to trust for ranking purposes, check out Who Does Google Trust Now?


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online promotion, search engine optimization, website promotion, search marketing