I am not going to waste your time with a review of 2008, nor with predictions for 2009. There’s too much that can go wrong with predictions.
Instead, I’ll waste your time with a Wired peice on how to “linkbait” your blog.
Modern Life tells us “Linkbait is essentially a piece of content placed on a web page – whether it’s an article, blog post, picture, or any other section of cyberspace – that is designed for the specific intention of gathering links from as many different sources as possible.” The object is not merely getting the links, but getting traffic from people who click on those links.
But back to what Wired has to say:
Network with bigger bloggers—comment regularly. Email them your best stuff, then follow their tips. Link to them often, and they’ll likely start linking back. The day that Boing Boing links to you, you’re gold.
Network and comment. Be willing to take advice from people who are more successful than you Wow, as if none of us thought about that.
Request to get in the Blogroll on other people’s sites. You never know who will get picked up by somebody big and lo, there you are in the linkfest. Join groups of similar bloggers. Take time to say “I agree with Joe in his post, XYZ,” or “I think Sam doesn’t know what he’s talking about in his post ABC.” Follow up each with at least a paragraph of “Because…” Consider being active in online communities, as long as your site is linked in your profile. I think I just doubled their content.
But BoingBoing? People still read that?
Let’s continue:
Scan the tabloid rack for headlines that make you want to shout, “Hey Martha, come see!” Try to create the same “must share this” effect in your own headlines.
For example, “Linkbait Your Blog”.
Seriously, who doesn’t want more links? But just like a really good newspaper headline, the title needs to tell you just enough to make you want to read more. Such as Tuesday’s elderly woman fights off nude attacker story. Frankly, some blogosphere versions of the story were better than the serious version.
But back to the story:
You may not be able to break a juicy story (“britney shaves head—again!”) but you can pontificate on it (“inside britney’s shaved head”). Your post will show up in searches for the story, and you’ll hoover up the hits.
Why not just say “Write about whatever is on top over at Technorati“?
I’d say to go on, but that’s it.
Meanwhile, the folks who gave us our definition for “linkbait” tell us we can get linked by having “timely, current content,” defending a “controversial viewpoint,” writing “Interesting and well-written articles,” or tap into our “ongoing obsession with all that is funny, crazy, cool, or just plain odd.” As it turns out, I have been doing this entirely organically for over 5 years now.
Seriously, if you want to learn more about how to really linkbait — rather than 3 half-baked ideas from somebody who is trying to sell you his book — here’s 21 ideas, thoughts for linkbait sucess, and the art of linkbaiting.
And now, because I have written about the Wired article, this post will show up as linking to it. If enough people link to the article, it will climb the rankings on sites that follow such things. People who want to know what is being said about the article will end up here, and on other sites that discuss it. Not only will I have successfully linkbaited, there is the possibility that one of those new readers will become a regular reader.
In closing: our new Commander in Chief will hold an honest-to-goodness military ball; once he’s actually on the job he wants to do something about the fact that “Nearly half the principals in primary and secondary schools said deteriorating conditions are interfering with learning“; for your next Fun With Creationists event here’s 12 Examples of Evolution that don’t involve flu shots; next time you play 6 Degrees, be sure to use the fact that Kevin Bacon lost money with Bernie Madoff; and last, a company that re-examined their monthly expenses to save almost $500 per month. Now there’s news you can use.