Recently I was reading an e-newsletter that mentioned Edward De Bono’s book “How to Have Creative Ideas” and the article was so good I thought I’d get myself a copy.
One of the many things that stood-out to me from the book was this excerpt on creativity:
too many people believe creativity is a talent with which some people are born and the rest can only envy. This is a negative attitude that is completely mistaken.
He goes on to say that one way of generating new ideas is to pick four random words (his book has pages of them listed at the end, but you could just as easily flick through a dictionary or use one of many online Random Word Generators). You then take these words and use them as inspiration for new ideas.
To give a very quick example of how you could apply this concept to create linkbait for your site, I’ve just clicked on this Random Word Generator… and it came back with the word: criterion
The word ‘criterion’ is defined as A standard, rule, or test on which a judgment or decision can be based.
This gives us plenty of options to work with:
If you’re in the service industry you could write a standard specification or manual for the tasks you perform and how you go about performing them. If you take the SEO industry as an example, SEOmoz’s Search Ranking Factors or Aaron Wall’s SEOBook give anyone an introduction to the industry and specify the things that are important to focus on. Aaron’s made a living from selling his e-book and SEOmoz (at last count) had gained over 23,000 inbound links to their Ranking Factors page… actually, now you can make that 23,001.
If you work in an industry that can use tests to determine if a client should use you, then this is another great viral method. Tests such as financial calculators to determine if you can gain a credit card, loan or mortgage. Health or weight loss calculators to determine the number of calories you can consume and which foods and exercise to assist this. Even if you don’t have any tests that relate directly back to your industry, a fun quiz can be just as good. Look at some of the great viral quizzes (and other viral ideas) on Just Say Hi.
The great thing about using this technique is that it pushes you to think outside the square by making you come-up with ideas based on seemingly unrelated random terms. It also helps keep your content fresh and different from all those other sites in your industry, which in itself will help you generate more links.
These are just a few examples of how you can take a simple word (or words) and then use them to come-up with some viral, linkbait ideas for your site. It might take some practice, but it does work!
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i like this article. good info.