In my last post “Is Linkbaiting Shortsighted?” Rand made an interesting point in response. He noted that linkbaiting is best when it is not “entirely fire-and-forget” and goes on to explain that “[f]ollowing up on linkbait with more great, related content is a must, as is continuing the process of creating new viral-worthy content.” Thus, linkbaiting is not a short term exercise that will enable a site to enjoy prominence in a certain niche forever.
Arguably the hardest part of linkbaiting is not the creativity that is required to create viral material or ensuring that a site can handle a large spike in traffic, but continually offering quality and interesting content over the long run is the most challenging.
I took Rand’s comment as a challenge to come up with an actual example of how a site has continually bolstered its linkbait efforts over time, and authors of popular books that blog came to mind.
Specifically, I thought of the blog for the popular book Freakonomics — by Steven D. Leavitt and Stephen J. Dubner — that is an off-line example of linkbait, if you will. It has sexy title and premise that helped people understand the rather esoteric field of economics. The book used economics to determine how and why sumo wrestlers cheated, the perpetual cycle of popular names, and other interesting day-to-day or just plain compelling occurrences. Journalists had a hard time not covering it while normal folk who read brought it up at the water cooler and at cocktail parties.
To continue the success of the book, Leavitt and Dubner launched the Freakonomics blog on the book’s site. The blog continues to ask fascinating questions like: “Why Aren’t U.S. Sports Fans More Violent?” and “Why Don’t People Have Urinals in Their Homes?” The site has an active community that tries to answer these questions or comment on other posts.
Authors who blog like Leavitt and Dubner are really smart since blogging enables them to remain relevant even after all those who are really interested have already read their book. Further, the blog provides a forum where fans of books can congregate and remain connected to the subject matter of a certain book. Besides, blogging should help writers continue compiling material for future book versions and new books entirely. It seems like a win-win scenario.
I am not a book publishing expert. However, findings that the Freakonomics blog does not boost readership or sells and will not bolster sells of either of these authors’ next book would surprise me. The blog helps the book, Leavitt, and Dubner remain relevant, and they show any site or idea which relies on linkbaiting principles must also remain relevant to sustain success.
My question in this example is why don’t sites like Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Borders, and even publishers host author blogs? This seems like a great way to build a community and attract solid traffic to a site that sells books. If some do, I’m not aware of more than a hand full. It only makes sense for them to milk the viral juice of catchy, spiffy, and otherwise captivating books and authors as much as they possibly can — especially since blogging is such requires little investment compared to other marketing and advertising efforts.
What are other examples of sites (or whatever) that have successfully followed up linkbait campaigns with solid content?
Photo credit: “Flower Urinals” from tjintbay‘s flickr account.
