Filed Under: Promotion
There are two types of successful linkbaiters:
Hustlers are successful because they can mobilise a lot of resources to get the necessary social votes required to get their linkbait to the front page. They will spend money, use leverage, call in favors and generally ask, ask, ask for social votes until they get them and get to the top. These are the people who lead the herd, so to speak, through leverage.
Spin Doctors are successful because they know - either by experience or intuition - how to tap into basic emotions on a mass level. They pull at heart strings, challenge your mind and provoke / evoke action. These are the people who can take the most boring content and give it a fresh and interesting twist.
Which one are you?
It’s not a choice, it’s self-discovery. Are you better at understanding how people tick (not yourself, OTHER people) or are you better at gaining leverage and authority in social circles (online and offline)?
There is no good or bad, it just IS. This is how the linkbaiting game - and on a broader spectrum, the marketing game - works. Accept it, find out what you’re good at and work on polishing it till you’re in the top 5%.
Or outsource it, because if you’re not in the top 5%, you’re wasting more resources than you’re going to be making back from your efforts.
How To Gain Leverage And Authority
Learning How People Tick
It Takes Two…
Whether you’re a master hustler or the best spin doctor on the planet, you’re not going to be as successful by yourself as you’ll be in partnership with someone who complements your qualities perfectly.
Sometimes linkbait can take off by itself - but having someone get it more votes will help give it a bigger push, hence the extra exposure. Most of the time hustling votes with mediocre content is enough to get exposure, but quality content will have a life of its own AND will generate more links.
If your strength is in managing votes, find the best linkbait writers and partner up with them. Vice versa. This counts especially when you’re outsourcing - make sure both sides of the deal (quality and promotion) are handled.
To Summarise:
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I am definitely a Spin Doctor, but I do a bit of hustling when I need to. I find it easier to improve the content of my linkbait than going out and building a network.
But, what I have found is that if you produce quality stuff you naturally attract a network of like minded people.
What I like about this post is it outlines that none of this can be done overnight, it requires hard graft and long hours. And even, may I say, an obsessive nature.
A bit of natural talent helps as well
July 4th, 2008 at 17:55