JNB Web Promotion Internet Marketing and SEO Newsletter

by Ramon Uy  October 30, 2007 edition:

The Anatomy of a 10-Step, 12-Month Link Baiting Campaign

Here was a guy who has been in SEO for almost ten years and remained a relative unknown. Sure, he made a few friends here and there and has been slowly building his reputation, but who would of thought 12 months ago that Carl would be able to snag an interview with one of the biggest names in the SEO. And that’s not Carl interviewing the big name, mind you… that’s the big name interviewing Carl.

Here we are, nearly twelve months later and I can hardly believe that yes, ladies and gentlemen, Carl has become a “name”. OK, you get the point. Carl has not become that much of a household name, but still I bet many of you hadn’t heard of him 12 months ago!

So here, for the pleasure of our wonderful JNB Web Promotion readers, is a historical record of one of the greatest, all time, 12-month-long link baiting campaigns:

Carl kicked things off with a bit of trash talk toward Steven of an SEO firm. They had recently written a post that Carl disagreed with, providing the perfect opportunity that he needed to launch his evil campaign. While Carl couched his remarks with the obligatory words citing his respect and admiration for Paul, he didn’t hesitate to throw down the gauntlet. In his post he said that Paul’s post was “ignorant” and then called him out as being an “SEO guy out of touch with the business of SEO”.

It’s not surprising that this got picked up by a few people in the SEO community, especially those that knew Carl would be sharing the stage with Paul at a conference in Portland the very next month. The foundation had been laid and the expectation of a brawl was quickly growing. In an attempt to keep the issue alive without looking like an @ss, Carl followed up on his post criticizing Paul by criticizing himself. But in order to do so without actually apologizing or appearing weak, he criticized himself from a third person perspective. Confused? Yeah, I was too. But still, it was nothing short of brilliant. It caused people wonder (perhaps about Carl’s mental health and stability) and I’m sure is spread fear into Paul knowing he’d be sharing a stage with someone that was near to being committed. If you’re ever looking for someone completely and totally skilled at playing dumb, Carl is your man. Honed through eleven years of marriage and five kids, Carl has perfected the play dumb head tilt, voice grunt and the “I don’t know what you’re talking about” facial expression.

On stage with Paul, you’d never have guessed that Carl had insulted Paul just a month before. When asked by Stewart at the pre-party if Carl planned on making fun of his boss again, Carl was almost successful at convincing her that no such event ever happened. His powers of persuasion are so Paul that he swears Stewart had broken down in tears apologizing for accusing him of such terrible things. Stewart, of course, denies these events to this day. Prepping for another mano y mano with Paul in Chicago, Carl and team created a resume and cover letter were then forwarded to Paul asking, nay demanding, that they consider him for a job. The stage was being set for the ultimate link bait payoff to be revealed later. Carl then had a simplified version of Paul’s SEO quiz created and published online. This version, however, only asked one question: How often do you agree with Paul? Test takers were then scored depending on how they answered the question. This was fantastic tongue-in-cheek humor that rocket throughout the SEO community.

So brilliant was this quiz that I wish I had thought of it myself! In Chicago, Carl played kissy-kissy with the whole team. Stewart was so enamored with him that he actually invited him back to his pad, his, office to check him out, show him the inner workings of the team. Carl was also successful at cornering Paul and chatted him up; Paul being none-the-wiser to what would unfold later that evening. During the after-party, Carl and team looked for the perfect opportunity to reveal to Paul and company their newest team member: a handcrafted action figure of Brock Sampson. Paul, of course had similar feelings and if Joel wasn’t there to stop him he might have ridden back on the plane sitting on Carl’s lap! Any good link baiter must learn to bide their time. Especially when waiting an important part of the next phase of an evil baiting plan. Carl expected the awesomeness of the new seo campaign to go unrewarded. Sure, promises were made but we knew that sometimes people need a little incentive to follow through. Well that played right into Carl’s hands.