If you are stuck in an endless cycle of tutorial posts, product reviews and website observations on your blog, perhaps it’s time to mix things up! One thing readers enjoy is a bit of controversy, and nothing promises more traffic and interactivity than a good old fashioned rant post. Let’s figure out how to make an effective link bait post!

Why It Works

Writing a “link bait” post, or what you should think of as anything published on your blog that will carry some shock-value for discussion, is one of the top ways to for you to get an insane amount of traffic delivered straight to your blog with little work. By targeting a website or blog that is an authority in your niche, a well thought out rant post can command powerful debates and advantageous “top-down” linking from the authority site. Put simply, writing something a bit “off the wall” or controversial will naturally spark some debate if written well. Having a debate running on your blog, even if you appear slightly insane, is always a positive move for your rankings.

What Do You Need To Write an Effective Link Bait Post?
In order to accomplish the effect we are going for, which is essentially a massive overreaction that fires up a heated debate, you need to have two things: a killer idea, and a blog that is popular enough to command some authority. The plan here is simple: publish a post on your blog or website that differs from common opinion in such a way that certain people will agree with you, and certain people will be offended.

We need to offend people. If you write a controversial article that everybody agrees with, you aren’t going to find any traffic bump or interesting links back to your website in the near future. What is important is that things are not taken too far over the edge, so always remember to keep discussion as polite as possible. An effective link bait post is not a personal attack on someone you don’t necessarily like, it needs to be backed by legitimate and verifiable information (trends, numbers, percentages, history, etc.).  If you have a blog that has enough exposure that people will start to notice your post, a simple rant can potentially double/triple/quadruple your daily traffic flow.

Coming Up With A Killer Idea
The driving factor for the success or failure of your link bait post is the topic you are covering. I would recommend using a current event, such as a contest or promotion, though you can find just as much success turning to a program, company, website or even person. In my case study, I decided to exploit a blogging competition happening at DailyBlogTips called “Blogging Idol” because it had over 100 blogs entered, a lot of buzz around my market niche, and absolutely zero criticism.

If you have a great topic but someone has already attempted to present a controversial spin on things, you are better off looking elsewhere. Even if the blog isn’t so established, nobody likes a copycat. You might get lucky and have nobody bring it up, but you will look foolish if someone posts a link to the same discussion that took place a week ago on another website.

In addition to being a current topic, it should also be a “hot topic.” In the ideal case, you would have an event that has already gotten a large amount of press around the blogosphere. The more times mentioned, the better, as someone that has already written on the subject is a lot more likely to visit in order to see your spin on things than someone who hasn’t been involved. Hitting that “hot” issue doesn’t necessarily mean celebrity gossip or anything like that, just something current that has people talking.

Coming Up with a Title That Rocks
Again, in our ideal case, we want an overreaction to what you have posted… yet not to the point that you are belittling anyone. We want people to read the post and immediately take a side. Setting up the dominoes for an all-out debate is the best method to carry your website into the spotlight in a short period of time. One of the first steps to take, and arguably the most important, is writing your title. Even if the title doesn’t exactly match up with the views expressed in the post, we need things to sound outrageous from the get-go.

Let’s take a quick example. When I wrote about the Blogging Idol competition in a rant post to get some traffic, I didn’t really consider the contest to be a total flop. In fact, I still maintain that the competition is a great way to get people blogging more effectively, and it has a solid foundation. True, my belief is slanted toward the a negative view of the end-result of the contest, but I decided to write the blog post as if the blogging competition was a virtual cesspool for cheaters around the world. My title of choice was “Blogging Idol is a Joke“… so that if you had known about the contest and heard nothing but praise, you need to be thinking “I’m reading this one” at this point. Make the desire to read, and discussion/traffic will follow course.

Lay Down Some Effective Content
So now that we have a title destined to reek havoc on the blogosphere, we need that all important content. By this point, you might be considering an all-out warfare… but I actually advise against this. I believe strongly that the content is where you turn things down a notch and discuss your views in a controlled way with lots of evidence and logical arguments for your side of things. Again, if your rant is targeting a website, company or person, you need to make sure that you make things clear that you aren’t trying to enter into a war. I recommend some kind of peace offering, and maybe even plug the blog/person/company in a positive light before you turn the page. Nobody likes a jerk, and you don’t want to risk anything with legal consequences.

Other than forming your opinions in a non-offensive manner, you need to write effectively by using plenty of research, evidence and experience to pull readers to your side of the coin. You want to be able to convince enough people that you are indeed correct to spark a debate. There will always be those opposed to your view if you are writing something controversial, so the most important element is going to be your ability to convince your audience.

There’s not a lot of actual guideline as to what to write; however, it’s really essential that things are structured and fully explained. Make sure to first discuss what you are talking about (for example, I explained what Blogging Idol was) before proceeding with any sort of argument. Even if you think that everyone reading knows the subject you are referring to, it is necessary to refresh people on the topic before beginning.

The Powerful Results of a Well-Run Rant Post
As you know by now, I have tested this method before making this post by arguing the case that the Blogging Idol competition was poorly run. In less than 24 hours, I have over 50 comments (my average is  around 8-15 per post) and tons of page views. In fact, I had more returning visitors than ever before with 94 people checking out my blog more than once. 874 page views trounced my average, and I saw 573 unique visitors on the date of publication along. What’s better is that it seems to have caused a big debate, where I may see several links back to the post in the near future. It’s a win-win situation by all means!

Now that you have the know-how to create an effective rant post of your own, why not set out on forming one of your own? What should be clear from my traffic results is that people crave discussion every once and awhile, and will give your blog the attention it deserves if you throw a bone their way. Be creative, be smart and you’ll have a jump in rankings in no time!

-The Net Fool

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