Posted 6/11/08 - Kellex
I used to consider myself the king of NBA linkbaiting pieces while I was writing up whacky lists and covering other fun topics that would get picked up by the big dog sports sites. My BallHype NBA ranking had cracked the top 20 within a month, Extra Mustard was my buddy, my readership was growing exponentially, and then one day my brain went "blah!" and it all started to slip away! I wasn't creative any longer, I hated writing about actual games, there were no controversies, and my linkbait dominating days were over.
Was the end near? Actually, this was probably the greatest wake up call I could have asked for. Linkbaiting, if done correctly can take a brand new blog and make it an instant power which is what happened with Le Basketbawl.
The problem? I was essentially a one trick pony that was only good at writing goofy top 10 lists and pushing out what I thought was "breaking news." There was no depth to my writing and you could tell that my brain was wrecked in trying to come up with the next great list or news blurb. You could also tell that my readers were a little bored and had moved on from my cheesy wannabe contests and "forced" material.
Why was this good? It forced me to write. It forced me to concentrate on a style and stick to it. Once you leave the linkbaiting phase of the blog life cycle, it can become difficult to continue to write on a regular basis when you aren't seeing the dramatic numbers steadily flowing in. There is nothing more disheartening than taking a few hours to write what you thought was a deep and well researched piece only to see it flutter out of sight and grab little response.
But Le Basketbawl is fine now isn't it? I ended up taking a long break to figure out what the hell I was going to do and what approach I was going to take. During the break, I started this site (which I freakin' love) and soon after my life as an NBA writer was renewed, the NBA Finals kicked in, BlogBurst, Ball Don't Lie and Stumble Upon showed me some basketball love and now I've got the smile back.
The meaning? If your blog is rising in an early stage, make sure to dabble in the linkbaiting game, but please do not make it your only outlet. Write one to two linkbait pieces a month and use the time in between to really define your style as a writer. Remember to shoot for the long haul rather than the quick fix.
I'd love to hear your stories! Has your blog hit rock bottom after some major linkbaiting pieces? Has your brain cramped with linkbait-itis? How did you recover or did you recover?
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Glad to hear you got your hoops groove back. It can be hard to juggle 2 blogs but it seems like you are doing it.
I notice the yo yo that is my readership all the time and it is just cause of what you said. Probably too many linkbaiters and not enough written posts.
But to be honest I am less and less concerned with the long and well written posts because the people who read the blog have the attention span of a fly.
Quick hitters for now is doing the trick for me and guest posting helps me get my actual writing out there.
So when it comes to link baiting, did you submit your stuff to bigger sites like Extra Mustard or were they finding you? Did you focus on just a few sites that were targeted towards your article or use a shotgun approach just to see how many sites would pick it up? Might be a good topic of a future post on how to write and submit quality link bait that gets picked up.
Cuzzy- I'm not really into the long drawn out posts either, but I've just moved into shorter higher quality posts with more thought and insight rather than just linkbaited lists. Although, I am due for some good quality linkbait! Need to build up some buzz back to both blogs. :)
Dave-I basically used Digg and BallHype. From there, the big sites like Extra Mustard, Big Lead, SportsbyBrooks, and Ball Don't Lie were pulling my pieces.
The thing that really needs to be pointed out is that once you hit one of these sites, their people tend to browse you more often which increases your chances of appearing multiple times.
I was on Extra Mustard twice in the same week and 3 times in the same month. You're right though, this could be post-worthy. :)
yeah Jimmy from Extra Mustard gets 500-1000 emails each day for links so if you get into his head that you always have good stuff, he uses you more.
I was in there 3 times in a week.
same with Ball Don't Like.
I am infamous on Ballhype for my "top 100" linkbaits. I've done top 100 bloggers, top 25 blog stories, top 20 athlete-bloggers, and just a few weeks ago, top 100 most valuable blogs, which got me 4,000 uniques 3 straight days.