Link baiting is not something new. It has been around for years, and the concept of having a catchy title has been around even longer. Link baiting is creating content that will naturally attract a large audience. The concept is to create a simple title that will attract readers, for example: this article’s heading “How to Link bait.”

Within the article place links to your site and then submit the piece. Other bloggers will link to your site, or your article will be distributed with the links in place. The more the writing is distributed, the more links will be pointing back to you.

There are five types categories of generating link-bait content. The first is the humour hook. Content that uses this theme generally have titles such as: “10 Things I hate about…” or “You know you are a when…”

The alternative is to search the web for a funny/bizarre photo and use that as your foundation. You could also create your own photo or video for this. Once you have your photo/video create content around it, such as: “Find 10 things Wrong with this Picture.”

A slightly duller approach is the resource hook. Simply compile a list of stories, blog topics, or theme article links together. Add an introduction and a conclusion and you are done. Bonus points if you add a bit of analysis in between.

A variation of the resource hook is the news hook. If you can get hold of a story first, or reasonably first, then run with it. Otherwise compile a list of related news stories and give your view on the subject.

The contrary hook and attack hook are dangerous ones to attempt. They can either make you famous overnight or ruin you for life. The contrary version is milder than the attack. Write a topic on “Why you think is wrong” or give a critical review on a product.

The attack hook is more extreme. Here you can just let it all out and ventilate on a subject. Most the time people won’t agree with your ranting and you will be guaranteed of some pretty negative comments. However, for those who agree with you, you will become their hero as long as you’re in the spotlight.

There are other versions of link baiting to keep your readers entertained. Quizzes, surveys and tests have also been a popular way to generate some links. Another option is end of the year topics such as “The best of 2007″ or “The Top Sites of the Year”. Beginning of the year topics such as “What to watch for 2008″ are also a hit.

Link baiting is simply creating popular content. It must be interesting, useful, entertaining or opinionated. Link baiting articles might not work all the time and it isn’t recommended that you write only for link baiting. The best recommendation is to take your article, or while you write an article, ask yourself how can I optimise it to its full potential. The link baiting will fall into place if you keep this in mind.

Celeste writes for MediaVision Searchthat specializes in SEO.