The idea of generating traffic to your website seems daunting for many; people often use not too clever ideas, sometimes learning about the Google death penalty as a result.

You don’t want that.  If people can’t find your site, they won’t come to your site; if they don’t come to your site – no surprise - your product or service can not sell.

Q: So how do you generate traffic to your site?

A: You encourage new links!  Think Link Bait!

Eric Ward sums it up neatly and accurately:

“Link Bait has been around longer than I have.  It’s what we used to call ‘content’.”

Matt Cutts describes it as “Anything interesting enough to catch people’s attention.”

Although it has an unfortunate name, the ideas are tried and true; just ask any journalist, PR or marketing person – you need to ‘hook’ the reader.

Types of hooks:

Informational Hook:

Provide information users find useful in the form of a report.  Make sure you work with subjects you either know well, or want to learn about.

For instance: If you have a thing for Bill Gates, look through his speeches for a common link; let’s say, predictions he has made about technology.  Then find out how many have actually played out, how many are on their way to reality and how many seemingly have no chance of ever working out.  Talk to others in the field and get good quotes.  Then write your report.  Title it “Bill Gates sees the future 90% of the time.”  Cite your sources, link to them and summarize your findings.

News Hook:

Write about breaking news if you have it or set up a site that is a reliable news source for a specific subject.  If you have an interest in aromatherapy for instance, put together a site that has latest findings, information about different oils, uses etc.  Become the expert.

Debate hook:

Find a story that someone in your industry has told recently, then retell from the opposing view.  This works best if you strongly disagree with what the person has said your voice will carry the passion.  It becomes much like a debate, however it does not mean you should be nasty or malicious, just give the flip side of an argument. 

Attack hook:

Being mean or talking about someone in a derogatory sense will bring you attention.  Be ready for backlash if you choose to use this one – unless of course your complaint is valid.

Humor hook: 

Tell a funny story, share a funny picture or video.  If you’ve been around an industry long enough, you should have enough anecdotal arsenals.  People like to laugh, or at least smile a lot.

If you are involved in the media industry, look for amusing stories in the industry rags, include weird and wonderful ads or stories you see in the papers, find or take silly photos, use funny stories from your past (no names of course) and don’t confuse this hook with the attack hook.  They are very different.

Tool hook: 

Create a tool useful enough to get people talking about it online.  Use an invention of yours and show people a way they can benefit from using it.  Then, and this is the bit you may not like, give it away.  Describe how someone can do/make something in detail, write a Google gadget and submit it.  Write about something that benefits readers and you have your hook.

Fear Hook:

If you do a great job writing your title and lead, scare tactics bring people in.  This hook needs great care too; you don’t want unhappy readers, you want to use link baiting effectively, and unhappy readers don’t come back.  Take care with your words and be prepared to back everything up.

I guess by now you have realized you need to tap into an emotion if you want people to come to your site.  Journalists have been doing this for a long time.  Take a look at any story and if it’s good you will see the author has reached out on an emotive level.  People respond to emotions, they cannot help it, it’s intrinsic.

If you want tips from a brilliant marketing mind – check out Seth Godin’s blog.

And finally, three lessons from a master baiter at seoblackhat.

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