Ego Bait Link Building: How does it Work?
If you feel like you’ve tried every link building trick in the book, think again. There are countless ways to get people to give you backlinks. Some of them—evergreen content—are classic tactics.Other tactics require some creativity. Think of ego bait link building. Also known as clickbait or share bait—it is one of the most unconventional ways to build your website’s link profile.
What is Ego Bait Link Building?
Ego bait link building is a marketing technique that involves stroking the ego of a website owner, social media influencer, or celebrity so that they can share your content or give you a link from their websites.
Ego bait link building aims to achieve three results:
- Sharing your Content with a larger audience
- Acquiring a backlink
- Networking
Google says you need links from authoritative websites to rank better on its search engine result pages (SERPs). The problem: acquiring these links can be difficult. Stroking the ego of a famous blogger in your niche is a great way to earn a backlink from them. It’s also great for networking because it could make it easier to get a guest post published on their website. In many cases, they will also share your post praising them to their audience.
Ego Bait Content: What does it Involve?
There are many ways to get someone’s attention. But if you want them to share your content and give you a backlink, you have to make them the focus of your content. Mentioning a celebrity once or twice in your article isn’t good enough to get their attention. You must make them your primary focus. Below are some of the best approaches:
Interviews
Interviews are a huge ego boost. Think about it. An interview shows you appreciate and recognize a person’s skills, achievements, and contributions in a specific industry. Now, getting a famous person to accept your interview can be difficult. So, you need to target people who may be willing to get interviewed by you. Start by targeting website owners in your niche. Then create a list of questions you want your interviewee to answer. Ensure the questions are short and precise. People are more likely to participate in your interview if it does not involve a lot of time.
A Mention in your Post
Sometimes you can get someone’s attention by simply mentioning them in your blog posts. But more often than not, they will only share your content if you dedicate a big chunk of your article to them. In other words, you can try your luck by mentioning an influencer or website owner a couple of times in your blog post. But if you want to increase your chances of success, dedicate a few paragraphs or the entire post to talking about the person.
Create a Round-up List
A round-up list is a post featuring insights from different experts in your niche. Let’s say you own a website that teaches people how to succeed in web design. You could create a round-up list featuring tips from 10 successful web designers. Of course, this means you’ll have to contact them for tips or research to discover what they’ve said about this topic. After you’ve finished your article, the next step is to share your content with the experts. A few of the experts may like your content for honoring them with a mention. In turn, they could share your content with their fans and even give you a backlink.
Publish a Listicle
A listicle is exactly what it sounds like. It’s a list of products, people, services, resources, and tools. Listicles are highly popular with readers because they are easy to read and skim. From a backlinking perspective, you want to create a listicle that will bait website owners or influencers into sharing your content or linking to it. That means your content needs to be valuable and irresistible.Research comprehensively to discover what the people you are targeting are best at. Then personalize your content in a way that will make your targets feel honored. Afterward, reach out to them to find out if they can share your content with their audience.
Create a Directory
A business directory helps people find business providers in a specific area. Simple, right? What you may not know, though, is that a business directory can help you network with tons of website owners. In doing so, you can increase your chances of backlinks from their websites.Now, you have to be careful about the businesses you list in your directory. Don’t list direct competitors. Instead, focus on websites that can help you get business leads. Businesses that would also benefit by appearing on your directory.
Give out Awards
Everyone wants to get awarded for doing an amazing job. Unfortunately, not many people recognize small business owners and influencers. Creating an award is an excellent way to network with members of your industry. Research extensively to discover the best bloggers, the best business tools, or consultants in a specific area. Create content to highlight their services. Then send awards to the best three companies or people. In many cases, an award is a great way to attract industry leaders. And because they will feel flattered, they will most likely tell their fans about the award and where they got it from.
Publish a Guest Post
When you think about it, guest posting is a form of ego-baiting. You approach a website owner; say how much you love their website and content. Next, you offer a chance to write a post on the website. If the owner likes your blog idea, they will usually allow you to write a post in exchange for a backlink. Some websites don’t even ask for a pitch. They have a webpage with instructions on what you must do to get an article published on their website. Guest posting is highly popular because it works. Additionally, you can publish posts on tons of websites in exchange for links. If you publish content on authoritative websites, you can be certain you will get quality links.
Ego Bait Link Building: Best Tips
If you want to succeed in earning links by stroking people’s egos, follow these tips:
Target Websites in your niche
Target the right website owners if you want to get a response leave alone a backlink. Focus on websites in your niche or a niche that is closely related to your website’s content. Websites are more likely to pay attention to your content if it is relevant to what they do.
Target Authoritative websites
Every niche has authoritative and new websites. Authoritative websites have bigger audiences and high domain scores. This means their links mean more to Google than links from unknown sites.
Create an Enticing Article
Research comprehensively to know everything you should about your target. Are you targeting an expert in a certain topic? Ensure you have enough content to flatter them with. People will only share your content if they like it or feel it could be helpful to their fans.
Reach Out and Follow up
After you publish a content piece targeting someone positively, reach out to them. If you don’t get a response, follow up. If they respond to you, pay attention to their response. They might say they love your content but you missed out on specific details. Update your content and ask your target if they are willing to share it with their audience.
Conclusion
Everyone has an ego. But you only want to target people that can help your website grow. Research to find out the best people to target. Write content that highlights their achievements and skills positively. Then reach out to let them know about your content. They may not give you a link. But they could share it with their fans—helping drive traffic to your website.
