It really isn’t all that hard to develop content which your readers will want to link to, but it does take a little effort on your part to brainstorm and come up with new ideas that will work in your favour.
Let your mind roam free, and write down anything that comes to mind that may work. Do not bother censoring yourself during this phase of the process. Don’t worry as you won’t be using everything you write down. What seems like a stupid idea may in fact, in time lead you to a perfect idea. No matter how strange, far off, or simple the ideas may seem, write them down!
After spending some time putting together a large collection of notes, and having completely tapped your flow of creative juices, filter through the ideas. Break everything down into its own content and concept components. Consider what the delivery format of the idea will be for the link bait. This is your concept component. Is it going to be a blog post, a newsletter mailing, widget, top ten lists or even a video? Then review the subject matter. This is your content component. What are you going to write about? Separate all these details into two lists.
Now move forward with your content list and evaluate the subjects critically. Are any of the ideas time sensitive? Can they wait for a relevant news story to come around which would compliment them? Do you have ideas in the list which you really want to write about immediately? Is there anything in the list which is not of immediate importance, yet can be saved for a dry spell where fresh content and ideas may be hard to come by?
Once your content and subject matter have been prioritized you can begin a virtual jigsaw puzzle of mixing and matching your ideas against your concept list. Is your content something which will potentially make it on to social bookmarking or tagging sites? Take the time to study bookmarking and tagging sites and make notes of what type of content is successful. Does your content have the potential to be interactive? Maybe a poll or other interactive concept can be brought into play.
By attaching your priority content to the right concept, you can accelerate the effectiveness of your link bait by playing to the novelty of your intended audience. By sticking to this process, you will find that matching content and concept to one another may become second nature, and that you can create link bait quickly from any little idea that you have.
Don’t be afraid of failure. If at first you don’t succeed then try and try again!
