Swiping through my reader this morning on the train, and I was just shaking my head over the legal blog after legal blog after legal blog going on and on about Justin Bieber’s deposition.

It’s just link bait.

link·bait
ˈliNGkˌbāt/
noun
noun: link bait
  1. (on a website) content designed to attract attention and encourage those viewing it to create hyperlinks to the site, with the aim of improving the site’s position on the list of results returned by a search engine.
    “at first, he tried creating linkbait to get his site noticed”

 

Sure, I expect to see it on TMZ or Above the Law. But some of the bloggers blogging on JB are legitimate legal bloggers, not a legal gossip site (which I read, along with TMZ, every day, so not a slam at the ATL folks at all).

Other than link bait, I cannot see the connection.

I’m not bashing link baiting. I do it all the time. I have one post that many years later still gets hits because of the link bait.

I also have no regrets about link baiting to a story to gain the attention of the author or publication.

However, when I do link bait, I do so with a purpose, but hopefully with some integrity. I am usually linking to a:

  • legitimate story of the day.
  • story that fits within the theme of my blog.
  • topic that my readers will actually want to read.

I will admit, that when I am link baiting, I try to be honest about it with my readers (unlike Ellen’s product placement selfie during the Oscars). I figure I owe all of you reading this just that.

And, there are times, that I want to link to a popular story of the day, but I have to find the perfect story angle so that I can do so with integrity. I need to make the story part of my voice and the voice of this blog, my brand, so to speak. And, thereby, not insult my readers.

So, yeah. This post is a prime example of how I use link bait so that I can bring myself and my blog into a story of the day, without compromising myself, or you.

Photo courtesy of Flickr | Anita Pratanti