Comments on: Smash a Brick into the face Link building

By: Social Maximizer

Social Maximizer — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 14:43:15 +0000

Great post! I think that apart from just getting a fancy headline and writing good content, you should also encourage readers to save/share/vote for your story by having the bookmarking buttons easily accessible on your site – they can also eventually get you links.

Why don’t you have a ShareThis kind of tool or bookmarking buttons on your posts? It’d make my life of saving your post easier, since I’m quite used to using it.

By: Anna Green

Anna Green — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 15:54:29 +0000

You touch on a issue here that is close to my heart, I have some experience with adverts, of a static nature, and i doesn’t matter what information you put in your advert, you could have the answers to the universe in there, nobody is going to read it unless you have a punchy headline that draws them in… What gets me is that this isn’t new information, this is the stuff you learn on day one of a design course and surely common sense!

By: Jeet

Jeet — Wed, 27 May 2009 17:25:36 +0000

Came here from Gary’s blog and I do agree that sensational, important, and highly informative titles must be used to grab people’s attention.

I try to include magic words like ‘free’, ‘easy’ etc. in my titles on social media sites and post titles. But there are only so many of them :))

By: Aloysius Carl

Aloysius Carl — Thu, 21 May 2009 12:21:13 +0000

Very good post.

Regarding the time to make an impression, there were a series of studies done, which indicated that you have .5 seconds to make an overall impression on someone with your website. At first, this seemed to short, but after thinking about it and working through my immediate impressions of various websites, I feel it is pretty accurate. If speed is of the essence with websites, then it would stand to be so with everything digital.

By: Dee

Dee — Thu, 21 May 2009 09:12:44 +0000

@ Lyndoman. If that’s the case, I don’t ever remember receiving a good headline in my inbox. I’m very trigger happy with the delete button though, so maybe I just need to lighten up.

Marketers tend to lean more towards penls spam titles rather than creative newspaper type titles, which is why I think 99% fail.

By: Barry Welford

Barry Welford — Wed, 20 May 2009 13:11:08 +0000

Obvious but absolutely on target. I’ve found in applying much stricter time management that I only look at titles in my feed reader now.

That means that even from people I respect I may not see any more than that title. So there is a secondary consideration here. Even if you don’t throw a brick at them, make sure they can quickly guess what that ‘lump of stuff’ is. :)

By: Shark

Shark — Wed, 20 May 2009 12:34:45 +0000

“We have to research the people who we want to get links from.”

It’s hard to express how important that line is. Great article

By: Lyndoman

Lyndoman — Wed, 20 May 2009 12:13:22 +0000

@Dee No one is immune to a good headline. Because, if it fails to connect then it’s a bad headline. A brick in the face is the metaphor for a good headline, not for for kind of garbage spammers send.

A good headline works, what you are describing are not good headlines.

By: Todd Bertsch

Todd Bertsch — Wed, 20 May 2009 11:36:42 +0000

Well put! I agree. It just takes time.

By: Richard Dewick - makakman

Richard Dewick - makakman — Wed, 20 May 2009 09:12:14 +0000

This is something that I regularly need reminding of! The basis of good content begins with the headline, I might get a tattoo on my forehead so I see it everyday ;o)

By: Paul Anthony

Paul Anthony — Wed, 20 May 2009 08:49:39 +0000

A thought provoking piece Lyndon, and obviously – a great title!

:o)

By: Ben Potter

Ben Potter — Wed, 20 May 2009 08:12:58 +0000

Good article and one of the reasons why link building, in the traditional sense, is a dying art. If you contact me asking for a link with no compelling reason other than ‘it will help my Google rankings’, forget it.

Make your site a great resource full of useful information, relevant to my target audience, and I will quite happily link to you on the basis of wanting to direct my website visitors towards great content.

By: seo consultancy nut

seo consultancy nut — Wed, 20 May 2009 08:03:05 +0000

It’s always going to be hard when link building for commercial organisations. secret is to make your link request

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~JUMP OUT AT YOU!~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

BOO! =]

By: Dee

Dee — Wed, 20 May 2009 00:37:29 +0000

The problem is that everyone already smashes bricks in the face of potential linkers. We’re already immune to it. I usually delete emails with Amazing titles as spammers have taught me to ignore them.

By: Writer Dad

Writer Dad — Tue, 19 May 2009 18:51:00 +0000

Well said. Now I need to go out and gather some bricks.