Link Bait

Link Baiting - Oh, it sounds somewhat sinister…

The term just reeks of something less than ethical yet it is one of the best tactics new and seasoned bloggers alike can use to build up the page rank and visibility of a blog.

What is link baiting?

Our friend and client, Keith Bloemendaal, has just given the world a perfect example on his newly finished blog website Raleigh Fence Contractors LLC.

Keith’s latest post is titled Friday Blog Link.

In this post Keith mentions he plans on using this tactic every Friday, what tactic you say? Link Baiting is the artful and somewhat creative method of bringing attention to yourself and your blog by linking to respected blogs and bloggers. When writing a link bait article the intention is to be complimentary to peers in your niche and o slightly out of your niche in an effort to get these same bloggers to either write about or link to you and your blog in return.

In his article Keith has linked to no less than 6 blogs and bloggers he respects and he continues the link parade with no less than 7 additional links to other pages and articles within sites owned by these bloggers.

See the example paragraph below

Darren Rowse’s ProBlogger, Chris Brogan, Connie Benson, and numerous SEO and marketing blogs, I always keep a close eye on my mentor, and close friend Scott Pooler and his writings on iBusinessLogic and Trading Assistant Journal. I want to focus every week on Fridays to the blogs I read and discover. We will cover many topics over the coming weeks, this week we will focus on a home improvement blog I subscribe to called Helpful Advice for Home Construction Improvement:

For a guy who is relatively new to the blogging world, I must say that Keith never ceases to amaze me with the grasp he has on social networking. This link bait article of his was done with style and with real respect for the people he is hoping will return the link love he has extended.

Obviously in my case it has worked - this article is my way to return the favor to Keith and the Raleigh Fence Contractors Blog. I am sure I will not be the only one returning the favor.

This is really the point… exchanging links is a primary goal for most bloggers, this endeavor is something traditional website owners do not have as much of a grasp upon. Without inbound links to your site, from relevant sites, you will not climb in page rank. Search engines love to find new links and they love you more if those links end up on your site somewhere.

The best part of link baiting within blogs is it is almost completely automatic. This is because when you place a link to a blog on your blog, the blog platform (Wordpress, Movable Type, Blogger etc) automatically sends a message to the other blog called a trackback. This informs the other blog you are mentioning them in your blog. That’s how I found out Keith had mentioned me in his blog, from a trackback. In essence, it is really bait… You send out the link bait into the blogosphere and just sit back and wait for the fish to come back and read what you said about them.

So go ahead, Link Bait Away… Its really not sinister or rude… Just a way to say hello… look at me, I like your blog, do you like mine?

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Learning Social Media Techniques

iBusinessLogic.com offers training in social media optimization and basic blog management to all of our clients. One of our clients, Keith Bloemendaal of Raleigh, North Carolina has taken his training seriously.

Keith is the sales manager at Carolina Custom Fences LLC and has been put in charge of the company’s website redevelopment.  Keith in turn hired Scott Pooler of iBusinessLogic.com to create a new website/blog for the company.  Keith understood the power of blogging and social media content creation almost from the first moment of class.  We set Keith up with a Wordpress.com blog so he could get familiar with how the company website would work when it was completed.  Keith has taken this temporary site and made it his own.

Training Blog Took Off

The Fence Post is an informational blog centering on educational articles and DIY information regarding proper fence construction and how to choose the right fence contractor based in Raleigh, North Carolina.  The site has gained national attention from homeowners and industry insiders alike.

Now it has gained International attention… because Keith Bloemendaal has taken the time to learn many facets of the social media marketing revolution in just a few short months and because he asked a good question, in the right place at the right time.

Darren Rowse Notices

Keith’s fence post blog has been featured on the home page of http://ProBlogger.net. This is an accomplishment simply because he caught the eye of one of the most influential bloggers in the world today,  Darren Rowse.

Keith joined Darren’s Problogger Friendfeed room on Friendfeed.com and asked what he thought would be a simple question…

If you have a blog post that clearly outperforms all other posts (more than double the traffic in my case), do you capitalize on it by writing more posts on the same topic?”

Read Mr. Rowse’s reply here: Problogger

Congratulations to our student!

I want to personally congratulate Keith Bloemendaal and his Fence Post Blog for finding his way through the social networking blogosphere and onto one of the most highly trafficked websites in the world.

Great Job Keith!  Maybe someday you will mention iBusinessLogic as your inspiration from the great height of success.

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