The words Valentines Day bring thoughts of dread and fear into the minds of many. Valentines Day splits the nation in half, half the population embrace the 14th February with warmth in their heart and flowers in their hand and the other half of the population take to the social networking sites to express their pure hatred for the day that was thought up by greetings card companies to coerce us out of our hard earned money.
But how does Valentines Day relate to SEO I hear you ask. Last year Google implemented Panda and Penguin updates which caused a shift in the approach us Off-Page SEO Executives had to take in our day to day quest to gain links. The updates placed emphasis on content creation. Writing content for people not SEO purposes, writing for an actual audience not for a Google spider, content that someone actually wants to read and share.
Link bait is the idea of creating a piece of content that will produce multiple links. This is the ideal way for an SEO Executives to have an influence on search engine results, whilst also creating a piece of content that adheres to Google guidelines.
Planning the perfect link bait is not dissimilar to planning the perfect Valentines Day.
Picking the Perfect Gift
Giving a gift on Valentines Day just for the sake of giving a gift is not going to get you any brownie points. Something that has been picked up in the corner shop on the way home from work is often worse than no gift at all. If you are going to buy your loved one a present for Valentines Day, make sure it is thoughtful and something she/he wants or needs and will use.
When planning a link bait idea, it is vital that you spend time thinking about what the audience wants or needs. What questions are people looking for answers to? Researching what has already been done before, what was successful and how we can do it differently and better this time round, are all questions we need to ask when deciding what to give to the audience.
Planning where to go
Planning the perfect Valentines Day takes time and effort. Many ideas need to be thrown around; you might ask advice from friends and colleagues to see what has worked for them in the past. Dinner? Cinema? Drinks? A night in? The options are endless.
Planning a link bait idea follows a similar approach. What is going to work best for my client? What does my audience want? Where should the link bait be hosted in order to reach the audience? How am I going to achieve the desired result? Just to clarify: the result we are looking for is multiple natural links.
The best link bait idea in the world is not going to achieve natural links through shares unless it is reaching the correct audience. This part of the link bait development involves time and must be done right.
Focus
A night out or in with your loved one on Valentines Day is never going to end well if you spend your evening with one eye on the TV and the other scrolling through the news feed on your phone. For a successful Valentines Day you must focus your attention on your partner. Listen to him/her, be attentive to their needs, and ask about their day.
When coming up with a successful link bait idea, the idea must focus on the audience you are trying to engage with and the client which you are working for. Without focusing on these two areas, the link bait idea will not have a clear direction and is unlikely to be successful. A great idea that does not relate to the client is not a successful link bait idea. A great idea that isnt of interest to your specific audience is not a success link bait idea. A great idea that is not seen by your target audience is not successful link bait. A great idea that does not receive multiple links is also not successful link bait.
Delivery
Dress to impress, its the only way to deliver the message. The message you want to deliver on Valentines Day is usually “I love you” or at the very least “I like you and enjoy your company”. So make an effort, if you are going out to a nice restaurant try wearing a pair of shoes that aren’t trainers and if you are staying in, take out the bins and light a candle, make an effort.
A successful link bait idea must be delivered perfectly. Timing is very important when delivering a link bait idea. There is little point spending six months researching a topic, designing it, coming up with the correct media and host location only to send out a post about Valentines Day in September. Make sure your message is relevant to current events and audience needs.
To sum it up, treat your link bait idea like you would treat your Valentine.
Insights
