Linkbait – Stinkbait

Catfish love stink! The stinkier the better.

Linkbait can stink as well. Is that bad? Depends who you’re fishing for.

Those of you who grew up in more pastoral settings (a.k.a. The Country) may have spent some time on a river bank or lake shore trying to catch the whiskered hogs. If so, you’ve probably seen, heard of, or used about every bait imaginable to try and get their olfactory attention. What you learned over time was that stink = deliciousness to the finicky underwater feline. (Check out this stink bait recipe.)

Stink isn’t the bait of choice for all fish, and that’s one of the keys to being an expert angler. What bait works for the fish you’re after? Link bait tactics are similar. Know your target.

Some object to the imagery, since being “hooked” may seem a bit cruel, whether you’re talking about a fish or potential customer. But let’s face it people are searching because they’re hungry. They want or need what you have. If they don’t, you’re selling the wrong thing. By hooking them, you’ve done them a favor.

Occasionally, a fisherman will inadvertently hook a fish he wasn’t intending to catch. It happens. Perhaps a nice largemouth bass decides that the big ball of dough you were reeling in suddenly reminds him of his favorite dish. There’s an off chance this fish will be worth mounting on the wall of his basement or den but most likely he’ll simply release the accidental catch or maybe the fish will wise up on his way in and spit the bait out, saving all parties a little time and hassle.

Link bait ought is effective if it attracts searchers who are most likely to be interested in the first place.

Which Keywords To Use

SEOmoz has a helpful post on their blog about using conversations with clients and potential customers to do keyword research.

Who knew your receptionist might be the most valuable keyword research tool you have?

There are a variety of tools and techniques recommended for SEO keyword research, from the free to the expensive, from the well-known to those that are almost kept a secret. However, there's one source of keyword ideas which is often overlooked: the customers (and potential customers) served on a daily basis.

SEO isn't always complicated. However, it is easy at times to overlook some of the most obviously helpful tactics. Check out their blog post and get the people in your office taking notes.

Organic Search Engine Marketing for Small Business

Small business owners have to take advantage of every low cost (but effective) marketing opportunity they can get their hands on. Now they have an even better chance to increase search engine rankings for their business with Google Caffeine.

This significant change in the dominant search engine's methods for delivering organic search results, also known as SERP's, favors specialization. Long tail keywords go hand-in-hand with that specialization.

An obvious example of this sort of keyword is "organic search marketing for small business." This phrase is made up of five separate words but is, nevertheless, referred to in the singular as a keyword. Because it does consist of more than one or two words it can be called a long tail keyword Chris Anderson popularized the "long tail" concept is in his book by the same name. (See Wikipedia article.)

A few years ago it would have been enough to focus on "marketing" or "small business" but as searchers become more and more sophisticated they are learning to add additional modifiers. These extra modifiers make it easier for Google to offer more relevant search results thus making searchers much happier.

What this means is that a small business who is willing to make the extra effort can compete with much larger businesses by being more strategic with their copy writing. Smart use of these long tail keywords in the content on their website, blogs, and other social media sites will greatly increase the liklihood of a steady stream of visitors. Of course, do the research to insure that you aren't using completely irrelevant keywords to begin with. Doesn't do much good to rank #1 for something no one is searching.