Definition straight from good old Wikipedia:

Link bait is any content or feature within a website that somehow baits viewers to place links to it from other websites.

Linkbait is something that creates buzz to your website… this can be an amazing post you’ve just written (although you’ll have to market it) or even just a writeup on breaking news in the industry. Learning how to do it is key to getting yourself a profitable blog.

The thing is, good content doesn’t take you far… it’s often controversy that will always win out. Keep plugging away pumping out decent posts for ages and no one will notice; call John Chow an idiot and you’ll get thousands of views with the right amount of pressing.

The key to writing an amazing controversial post?

Don’t swear, but be aggressive. It’s hard to be controversial without being aggressive, and for some it’s hard to be aggressive without insults. Don’t insult people, as well… it just makes you look bad, and they’ll take less notice of your posts if there are just a lot of F’s and B’s.

Disagree with a common view. Everyone in the blogosphere (well, 2000 of them at least) love Entrecard. Call it crap, and you’ll get notice. Similarly, disagree with a common view and people will be flocking to your website to see what you said.

Piss someone off. I don’t recommend this if you want to maintain a good relationship with the bigger bloggers (truly, who cares about them anyways) but if you irritate a big blogger enough, he’ll send you traffic should he post about it. Anyone remember Shoemoney’s post comparing all SEO practioneers to used cars salesmen? That was because another blog pissed him off, and he sent them a stream of traffic for that.

Good luck with linkbait… for a first hand example, you can check out my second post, which received over 15 comments. Not bad for a new blog!

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