Can all those who wants to teach others how to blog successfully have some mercy on an old, ignorant and foolish blogger like me? I have had almost enough and I think I am never, ever going to be tricked into going to blogs with baited titles again. Please stop titling your post with titles like “The Ultimate Guide to XXX” or “10 Ways to Make your Blog XXX” or anything along that vein.
Please, I have nothing against Linkbaiting. Title your post the best way you can to lure people to your blogs. CornswellSeo does magnificent Linkbaits and I willingly take the bait laid out by him simply because when I take the bait, I know there is something bigger at the end of the string. I am happy to be reeled in even when he list out 10 silly top ten list that has nothing to do with his “top ten list” I mean, at least it is original and I had a good laugh.
BUT, for the sake of my beer induced belly, please don’t title your post “Top Ten List xxx” and then list out 10 links to other blogs where the “list” that was supposedly yours could be found. I don’t like to be baited in such a manner. It is like being lured into a vice den where ultimate pleasure is promised but on entering, you have to go and look for them yourself in different rooms. I expect to enter the den with all the heavenly pleasures waiting as promised, not an empty hall with 10 different rooms.
I think those guys have been reading too many of copyblogger’s tips. They have confused themselves with a good bait to a cheat bait. What copyblogger is trying to teach is writing a top class article with a title that will attract people to read that article. Once the bait is taken, and the reader reads a kickarse article, he will be back for more. That is what a good bait is all about. Not like what so many are doing these days. They have totally abused the whole idea of linkbaiting and good copywriting, providing their readers with shits so plain that it doesn’t even smells after getting them to their blogs.
I know a lot of savvy people in the seo and blogging world are bemoaning the spate of top ten lists.
All I say to that, is stop thinking you are an seo or a blogger and think of yourself as a publisher. Then waddle down the the newstand and see if lists are used on magazines.
Of course they are used. They are used because they work. They work so they will be used.
Paddy, I don’t sell any products on my site. I sell my linkbait skills to people.
Although I am going to be selling a linkbait e-book, but I’m only going to sell 500 as I don’t want a lot of competition.
well not everyone’s like that. at least im not. LOL =)
I think the best way would be take away the pongs counts, then there will be no desperate attempts by bloggers to title their sensationally and neither will there be any encouragement for bloggers to inflate their pongs counts illegally thereby causing misunderstandings when other legitimate bloggers are accused of doing there…
The pongs counts are evil….
i simply don’t understand how can a ‘blog’ be a blog when it simply links readers to another ‘blog’?????
It’s not unusual for bloggers to spread the word about another blogger’s post occasionally, and there’s nothing wrong with it… it’s just a natural part of participating effectively in the blogosphere.
As to how they’re titled, if that’s the information you’ll ultimately get, there’s nothing wrong with that either. Just because someone uses an enticing title doesn’t mean they’re trying to create linkbait.
There’s a simple solution though… if you don’t like it, don’t click the link. Leave the blog. It takes less than a minute out of your life to just leave. And if the post really does lead you to something informative and worthwhile that you may otherwise have not found, then there’s really no reason to whine about it, now is there?