How to write a link baiting article that will get you a massive amount of links and traffic

by David Callan

Even as many webmasters go into all sorts of trouble to accumulate valuable links to their sites, some creative bloggers are using only carefully crafted posts and articles to attract more than enough high traffic and valuable links pointing at their blogs.

Actually they have clearly demonstrated that writing link-baiting articles and posts is a special skill of great value. The good news is that it is nevertheless a skill that can easily be learnt.

You Must First Find A Hook For Your Link Baiting Article

This sort of content or article is really a bait designed so that “the fish” that you are after do not think twice about “biting”. So the first thing that you must do is find a good “hook”.

Current news, especially if it is proving to be controversial, can help create a good hook for a link-baiting article. This is probably one of the easiest link baiting articles anybody can do. Just to give you a recent example. There was an interesting piece of news that was exclusively written by website that requires readers to sign in to read any articles. I badly needed to refer to it in one of my posts and I knew that if I linked to it my readers who were not members of this site would not be able to view the contents of the link. So I used the information to re-write my own version of the same story, linked to it from my article and forgot all about it.

Some weeks later when there was a new development on the story another high traffic blog linked to it and it resulted in a massive injection of extra traffic to my blog. It also ultimately dramatically boosted my rankings with all the search engines.

News, and controversial current news at that, can be quite an effective bait in creating link baiting content at your site

News From The Blogosphere And The Leading Blogger Can Even Be More Effective In Creating Your Link Baiting Content

Every particular industry tends to have its’ own particular “conversation” going on at any given time in the blogosphere and related discussion groups and forums. It could be a planned new law or a controversial development in the industry. It will basically be something that is being talked about a lot. So talked about that the leading and most influential bloggers on the subject will have already said a lot about the subject.

All you do is familiarize yourself as much as possible and then write content that disagrees with what the leading blogger has said. This is very similar to the offline situation where some minor expert comes out of the blue and disagrees with another leading expert on a controversial issue that has been in the news recently. There is a high chance that such a stunt will really stir up things. And that is exactly what a link baiting blogger is looking for.

The attack should not be personal but should be carried out in good taste, and do be sure that you really do have something to say.

When executed well some blog comments of this nature have been known to attract several hundred links within a few short hours.

Do Not Expect To Hit A Home Run With All Your Link-Baiting Articles

It is advisable that you set a timetable for attempting your link baiting articles or content. Once a week is ideal. It is important to remember that nobody really has a 100 per cent record in these things. Meaning that you will not always succeed in attracting links. And even when you are successful, home runs where you attract dozens of links at a time will be rare. What will be more common is content that attracts a handful of links. Still these regular handfuls of links will gradually accumulate and will tend to add up quickly so much so that within a relatively short period of time, there will be a dramatic effect on the ranking of your site. This is naturally the whole objective of the exercise.

In Conclusion

Link baiting content can be a very powerful SEO strategy and technique that can work relatively quickly in getting any blogger a good number of one way links pointed at their site and thus lifting a blog dramatically and quickly upwards in the rankings at search engines.

The Top 10 List of the Best Affiliate Networks
Titus Hoskins Self SEO > Affiliate Marketing Articles

First, if you're new to affiliate marketing, some preliminary explanations may prove helpful in your quest for becoming a part-time or full-time affiliate marketer.

preliminary explanations may prove helpful in your quest for becoming a part-time or full-time affiliate marketer.

What is Affiliate Marketing?

Affiliate marketing is quite simple to explain: you promote and market a product or company in return for a commission if a sale or lead is made from your marketing efforts. With online affiliate marketing you simply place your affiliate ID embedded links on your web pages and if a customer clicks
your link and proceeds to that designated company's site and makes a purchase or signs up for a service, you earn a commission.

Affiliate marketing, if done right, can prove to be a very lucrative venture. Commissions can run anywhere from a few pennies to thousands of dollars for just one click or sale. Professional marketers develop affiliate relationships with hundreds of companies and build sites to promote these companies and products.

Needless to say, the advent of the Internet has been a golden opportunity for affiliate marketers to really expand their promotions and marketing. As more as more customers choose to buy online, advertising and purchases keep increasing at a maddening pace.

To accommodate all this online ecommerce we have seen the birth of large affiliate networks, operated by large corporations. Make no mistake, affiliate marketing is big business, accounting for billions in sales and commissions.

What is an Affiliate Network?

An affiliate network is a third party facilitator which brings affiliates and companies together. It connects Advertisers (companies with products or services to sell) together with Publishers (those who display and promote these products or services) so they can do business. The affiliate network does all the tracking, accounting and payment of commissions.

The following Top 10 list of the best Affiliate Networks is compiled by an actual full-time affiliate marketer who has worked these programs for over five years. This list is subjective and based on first-hand experience. It should be seen in this light and every marketer probably will have a different list or have these in a different picking order depending on the type and nature of their marketing.

But this list of the 10 Best Affiliate Networks will give you a general rundown on these affiliate networks and how they operate.

1. Commission Junction (www.cj.com)

Now owned by ValueClick, Commission Junction was one of the first affiliate networks. It is also one of the most important with many of the Top Fortune 500 companies listed here.

CJ is an international network with excellent stats and tracking (some of the best you will find), along with regular monthly payments makes this the obvious first choice for anyone wishing to try affiliate marketing.
For those new or old at affiliate marketing, CJ also holds regular seminars and training sessions.

Most merchants offer pay-per-lead or pay-per-sale, one of the best features is the performance bonuses and incentives. As most experienced marketers will know, selling 50k to 100k each month for merchants will bring in the big incentives or bonuses.

Commissions run as high as 50% but most are in 3% to 15% range. You have the option of direct deposit for your payments. One major plus, CJ will tell you which merchants
and ads are earning the most revenue for affiliates so you can easily choose which merchants are worth promoting.

2. ClickBank (www.clickbank.com)

ClickBank is another professional affiliate network with
excellent stats and tracking. Easy to use and pays every two weeks.

ClickBank is slightly different from the other networks in that it deals mainly with digital download products. The commissions from ClickBank are usually much higher than the other networks, around 40% to 50% or more.

ClickBank has over 10,000 products but keep in mind, info-marketing products will have stiff competition from all the savvy and well established Internet marketers promoting these same products. Consider youself warned!

The most successful marketing tactic here is to first dominate your targeted niche with your blogs and sites, then find affiliate products to match your content or niche subject matter, whether it be gardening equipment, gaming laptops or Mediterranean cruises!.

3. LinkShare (www.linkshare.com)

LinkShare is another excellent affiliate network. It is one of the oldest affiliate networks on the web. LinkShare was recently acquired by the Japanese Portal Rakuten, with a price tag of $425 million.

Very good stats and reporting with their Synergy Analytics system. Many Top Fortune 500 companies are presented here so you will no trouble finding products and services to romote.
LinkShare pays commissions as they receive them from merchants - monthly checks.

4. Affiliate Window (www.affiliatewindow.com)

Affiliate Window is an UK based affiliate network which offers top brand companies and good commission rates. Pays once a month and has excellent stats.

Savvy affiliate marketers know promoting in other countries can be much easier than promoting in the American market place. Mainly because these other countries haven't become saturated with online marketers, little competition means more sales.

5. Amazon (www.amazon.com)

Amazon is another excellent affiliate network to join if you want to sell products from your site or blog. Amazon has excellent stats and the links are very easy to create and place on your web pages.

You also have the option of creating your own store with Amazon aStores. Amazon also now has context link ads and Widgets!

Commission rates are somewhat lower than the other networks but making sales thru Amazon is much, much easier. You will make more sales mainly because Amazon is a well known and trusted online company. Amazon now pays monthly.

6. Shareasale (www.shareasale.com)

Shareasale is yet another easy system to work with good stats and simple to create links. With 1,700+ merchants to choose from, Shareasale is another good affiliate network to promote.

The control panel is easy to use and the reporting is very good. Usually pays the month following your sales.

7. Google (www.google.com/adsense/)

Many won't think of Google as an Affiliate network but it does run affiliate products thru its Adsense program. Very few products but like everything from Google it is professionally run and top caliber all the way.

Please note, top marketers know affiliate links/products on their content pages will return 10 times what Google Adsense will give them. However, these marketers will also know using Google Adsense on less targeted pages throughout your sites or blogs will give you a healthy return.

Besides receiving that monthly check from a multi-billion dollar company like Google will put a smile on your face every time.

8. LinkConnector (www.linkconnector.com)

LinkConnector is a relatively new affiliate network which launched in 2004. It has Pay Per Click, Pay Per Sale and Pay Per Lead. Good stats and reporting. Worth checking out for their different types of new affiliate technology such as Direct Linking which passes pagerank along to the merchant's site.

9. CPA Empire (www.cpaempire.com)

Great CPA (Cost Per Action) network especially if you do a lot of email marketing and promotions. Geared towards acquiring leads and sign-ups but does offer other merchants as well. Good stats and reporting.

10. Independents

Individual affiliate deals with different companies which may or may not be listed with the major networks above. Your independent affiliate deals will be some of your most lucrative since you can sometimes work out separate private commission rates and bonuses. Aim for residual income here. Don't ignore this aspect of affiliate marketing as it will pay the highest dividends.

Keep in mind, all the above affiliate networks are middlemen,
they come between you and the merchant you're promoting. For affiliates with a proven track record, who have shown they can deliver the customers and sales, a private deal cutting out the middleman/fees can prove very beneficial for both parties. If you're fortunate enough to become known as a super affiliate, these private deals will become more common and more profitable.

Professional affiliate marketers use all of the above networks to create multiple income streams from their marketing efforts. In the process, they build a healthy monthly income for themselves and their families. There is no reason why you can't do the same.

The author is a full-time online marketer who has numerous websites, including two sites on Internet marketing.

Copyright © 2007 Titus Hoskins.

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