Important update 11/18/2010:  BloomSEO cannot accept any new clients.

In ancient web history (5 years ago) you had to use Silicon Valley firms for internet marketing.  Not so any longer.  Even in a small city like Richmond you can find talented SEO Companies capable of ranking competitive keywords at the top of the search engine rankings.

BloomSEO is a search engine optimization specialist.  To stand out among the top seo firms in Richmond, BloomSEO offers unique services few other companies can handle.  You may be able to find SEO companies in Richmond with the skill and knowledge required to place your site in the top 10 on Google for your most valuable keywords.  BloomSEO does that of course, but you shouldn’t settle for rankings alone.  After all, you want visitors.  It doesn’t matter if your business is located in Richmond.  If you are interested in dominating the search engine rankings and generating valuable traffic to your website, BloomSEO delivers.

For an example of one of the unique services, take a look at the Link Bait Case Study.  If this is a service you are interested in, make sure your server can handle 10,000 to 20,000 visitors in a single day!  If you are looking for search engine optimization in Richmond, or anywhere – click that link for our recommendation for a company capable of helping you acheive your ranking goals.

When you use link baiting, you bring a lot of short term traffic to your site. That can be good in a lot of ways, but most of that traffic is much different from the traffic that you really want to attract to your site in the long term. At that rate it can actually work against you, and that means that you’ll have more trouble from your link baiting than you’ll have benefits.

Naturally, that’s something that you really want to avoid. Too much short term traffic that you really don’t want could give you some negative publicity and harm the long term prospects that you would rather have. That’s a bad choice, and one that you’ll want to carefully consider before you decide whether to use link baiting.

Another thing you can do is to use a celebrity – even a minor one or a local one – to generate interest. If those things don’t work for you, try being funny and doing something that no one else has done before. Be unique and creative.

Other good ideas are to be the underdog (everyone wants to help the underdog) and to be controversial. Be careful just how controversial you are, because you don’t want to get yourself in trouble. You’re entitled to your views, though, even if they are against the mainstream, so don’t be afraid to show them.

Another great way to build links is to have a section on industry news. If a person wants to know what’s going on in your given industry, they’ll know that they can turn to your site for the latest information.

You have to keep it updated, though, and you have to be honest with the reporting. Keeping it unbiased and fair can be difficult, but you won’t get good linkbacks if you take too strong of a position because not everyone will agree.

Linkbait describes various practices used to generate links to your site. To help you understand how effective it can be, we have listed 7 secrets to successful linkbaiting.

#1 – User interaction – quizzes, surveys and contests are a great way to reel in visitors and boost your marketing campaign.

#2 – News – be the first to provide visitors with the latest breaking news in your niche. They will view you as a credible source and be more willing join up with your campaign.

#3 – Humor - some of the best linkbait carries a humorous appeal. This could be a funny story, photo or catchy title visitors are willing to pass along.

#4 – Controversy – its an old saying that controversy creates cash. If anything, it piques interests, prompts reactions and builds links.

# 5 – Community factor – everyone wants to be a part of something. Create linkbait that directs visitors to a blog or message board.

#6 – Shock factor – this all depends on your niche of course, but appalling content can certainly help you acquire links

#7 – Keep it simple - linkbait that’s merely informative can be just effective as all the above. Successful marketing begins with base content and informative linkbait fits right in.

Linkbait refers to content on a web page that is specifically designed to attract inbound links from other sites. Some view the term as if it performs a malicious action while others agree that it actively reflects its purpose. Several websites currently participate in linkbaiting as it proves quite beneficial in building traffic and better search engine optimization.

There are essentially two types of linkbait: positive linkbait and negative linkbait. Positive linkbait could offer incentives for your audience such as a contest or something merely intriguing or informative. This type of linkbait normally redirects visitors to interactive applications. Negative linkbait tends to deal with contentious content that is both controversial and informative. This can be a highly effective strategy though it is often looked down upon by some.

The use of linkbait can be quite advantageous over the long run. It’s an efficient tool that can help you move up in the rankings and turn conversions on your site. At the same time, you must take caution whenever attempting to increase your links. Search engines examine popularity and authority so in their eyes, not all links are good links.

The following is a day-by-day example of the promotion in action. I’ve skipped the ‘creation of content’ step and moved directly to publishing and promoting.

	Day 1 Content published by 6 pm. Promotion through contacts begins. Pushing the content requires constant attention. It’s impossible to guarantee success but hard work and valuable contacts always help. It’s a long sleepless night with lots of caffeine.

	Day 2 Promotion of content through network continues until the early afternoon. By 3 pm all resources have been exhausted and the buzz / link baiting nature of the content is left to stand on it’s own. Visitors are compounding hourly. Finally time to take a break!

	Day 3 The content has been republished on social networks by complete strangers. Visitors per hour peaks around 5 pm. The campaign is a huge success. It’s not possible to predict how much traffic a campaign like this will generate, but we are always happy with anything over 5000 visitors. This campaign has already resulted in 30,000 visitors.

	Day 4 Direct visitors and search engine traffic now account for a large portion of the traffic. The site is ranking page 1 for all searches associated with the content.

	Day 5 Traffic is trending slightly up again. Mostly due to direct visitors. Likely cause: email to friends. Usually traffic tapers off by Day 5.

The traffic and links generated rarely have instant sales potential. For a concept to “go viral” it must appeal to a large audience and particularly to opinion makers and trendsetters. Trendsetters do not usually “buzz” about commercial products. The concept here is to give something away, and gain an audience.

The true value comes from attracting people and links to your site. Success results in a lasting flow of traffic and recognition from the search engines. It’s also been our experience that the search engines like to ‘follow a leader’ – once you’ve had a successful viral-buzz-baiting event, your content from that point forward gets unique attention.

What does it cost? From start to finish this internet marketing technique often requires close to 80 hours of work. In addition it is necessary to enlist the help of other internet marketers that will call in the favors in the future. Pricing will vary depending on the nature of the site being promoted and the ideal content for that site. At a minimum you’ll need a marketing budget of a few thousand dollars to implement this strategy.

The long term lasting effects of a successful viral-buzz-baiting campaign are a competitive advantage to your business. Once you have the ability to command an audience to your site, the web becomes a much friendlier place.

This technique is one of the many powerful SEO strategies the Bloom SEO Company can use to benefit your online marketing campaign.