Linkbait is the social web term for the kind of content that regularly gets linked from social bookmarking and news-sharing sites. Think Digg, Reddit, Delicious, Metafilter, Yahoo Buzz, and even just plain blogs. The best link-bait is something that appeals to the lazy nature in all of us. After watching the social web for a few years now, here are the kinds of things you might post to your blog to more frequently get visitors from social sites:
Video – Number one with a bullet. Video content is extremely popular, especially if it’s under five minutes. Consider it for your next tutorial of handy tips.
Images – Especially a funny one. Even a vaguely amusing one. Heck, any picture at all. I’ve followed links to a picture of somebody’s shoes – regular ordinary shoes. But I had to click, because I just couldn’t believe that somebody would just post a picture of their shoes!
Anything funny – Humor goes over big with the web audience, and then they have to share it with everyone they know. Have you gotten the requisite 25 forwarded jokes from your co-workers in your inbox today?
“Breaking” news – You really have to have the scoop on this one. Anything that happens in your local area, and hence gets to you first through local media, and which you think might have world impact, could go here. But this is all luck.
Numbered lists – It got you here, didn’t it? Numbered lists work for the same reason that images and videos do – they’re easy to scan.
