Everyone knows it. I know it, you know it, your visitors know it, my pet lemon tree knows it. Link baiting is one of the most rewarding, well proven, cost effective marketing techniques at a webmasters disposal and allowing an opportunity to caste out some bait slip by, is definitely something you’ll be kicking yourself about later down the track. Link baiting has the ability to easily turn you into an overnight success. It can completely transform your SEO ranking, and even dramatically increase the value of your website.

For those new to all this, link baiting is practically supercharged link building. Instead, link baiting is the art of generating something so unique, significant and outstanding, that it spreads virally consequently generating links to your website. Here’s nine ideas that can be used to encourage link baiting;

Organizing a contest designed to encourage users to interact more can often generate massive amounts of buzz - especially when an exciting prize lies await. Give away products or services relevant to your niche and remember to let generosity shed it’s colours - the more you give away, the more exciting the competition as a whole is. Offering an iPod to the publisher of the most interesting five posts on a technological forum for example, would be extremely effective if handled correctly. The bigger the contest, the bigger the feedback from outside sources.

Organizing a massive give away is also extremely effective, and in my experience has yielded much better responses than contest. A perfect example for a blog would be to offer $50 to a random four individuals who subscriber to your RSS feed.

Shoemoney tried this by deeming the seemingly unpopular US President George Bush as the greatest president in the history of the United States. This generated a mega amount of buzz both on and off the website, with back links cropping up left, right and center

Humans are naturally curious beings, and using phrases such as ‘change is on its way…’ or ‘it’s coming’ can assist you in using that curiosity to your advantage. Make sure that ‘the change’ is worthwhile and lives up to the hype, or this can very well backfire.

Finding fault in what the bigger websites say can often be extremely challenging but yet very very rewarding, especially if you can bring up some evidence to support your claim. This can add credibility to you, and shift some of their viewers onto your website, especially if word gets out.

Make sure you post something unique and compelling to read, as this is your opportunity to lure some of the host blogs readers onto yours. Remember to make sure you’re allowed to include a by line in your post.

Darren posted a list of blog posts comparing blogging to alcohol, dating, golf and fishing, among a series of other things. Definitely a very amusing read, and something that can generate links for both him and the writers. This can also easily be applied to websites.

Exposing an ill-dealing in your industry by conducting your own investigation and being the first in on the scoop can yield absolutely explosive results. Make sure what you’re saying is genuine, and doesn’t defame anybody.

I know it’s much easier said than done, but arranging an interview with a renowned and a well respected industry figure can on its own yield traffic and results. Placing them on the spot by projecting unexpected questions at them is what really spices things up. Be creative, but also ensure that they do not take offense to these questions.