In a nutshell, linkbait is content, such as a blog post, photo, video, or article, that is created for the purpose of organically building links to a website. These are pieces of content purposely designed to “go viral”; the creator hopes visitors will forward the content to their family and friends and share it on their social media profiles, driving traffic to the content creator’s site. The following are 10 linkbait strategies to consistently produce viral blog posts:

1. Make your content timely. In today’s 24/7 news world, your website visitors are used to content centering on what is happening now – not what happened yesterday. Content based on the latest news and trends will be your best linkbait.
2. Be controversial. Taking a controversial stance on an issue can attract both sides of the issue to your website, and encourage them to forward your link to their family, friends and colleagues. Give them an opportunity to add comments, for even more effective linkbait.
3. Use social media tools. Be sure your blog post or web page has a Facebook “Like,” Twitter “Retweet,” and other social media buttons for your visitors to instantly share your linkbait with their friends, family and colleagues.
4. Use multimedia. We are visual creatures. As such, content that includes a photo, drawing or video is often a more likely viral linkbait candidate than just text. Use these visual elements in your linkbait content for more effective linkbaiting.
5. Don’t forget the humor. Your linkbait content, at the very least, needs to be relevant and interesting; however, if you can make it also humorous, that’s linkbait gold! Whether it elicits a simple chuckle from your reader or a full-fledged ROTFLOL, a humorous piece of linkbait is more likely to be shared than one that is not.
6. Use the most popular keywords. There are numerous keyword research tools online that will tell you what topics people are searching for. Center your linkbait on these keywords and you’re sure to drive traffic to your site.
7. Begin with a bang. We are a “channel flipping” type of society. If you don’t catch and hold a reader’s interest from the beginning, there is no way they’re going to take the time to forward it on to others they know.
8. Consider writing a “top 10″ list. In today’s busy world, your visitors want their information condensed into bite-sized nuggets of knowledge. Offering a “top 5″ or “top 10″ list gives them specific, digestible pieces of information on the topic in which they are interested.
9. Begin the linkbaiting process yourself. Don’t just wait for readers to share your linkbait content on social media sites; instead, start the virtual ball rolling yourself by posting your linkbait to the top social media sites, like Facebook, Twitter, Reddit and Digg.
10. Ask your friends, colleagues, and customers to link to and/or share your content. People like to feel like they’re helping out. Ask your visitors, as well as everyone you know, to please forward the link to your content to their friends and family.

1. Turn off the television.

You may like the background noise, but the second you hear something interesting on TV, you’ll stop what you’re doing and gravitate towards it. Once you decide to take a small break to simply “check out whatever’s on,” one hour will roll into another and before you realize what’s happened, you’ll have wasted an entire day.

2. Work in a different room.

Set up a home office in a spare bedroom, your basement, or even a closet, if you have no other choice. Close the door in order to block out everything else. This not only helps you to focus on your work, but also prevents you from becoming distracted by the rest of the house.

3. Set up a to-do list and stick to it.

Each night before bed, make a list of all of the assignments and other tasks that you need to complete the next day. No matter how mundane the task, it needs to go on the list. For complicated jobs, such as designing a website, break the task down into smaller chunks. This keeps you from becoming overwhelmed and forgetting to complete things.  There are several cool tools that you can use to keep your to-do list organized. One is Wuderlist, which is an awesome to-do-list app. It has an intuitive user interface, and runs across web and mobile devices so that no matter where you are, your list is nearby. Another is Teamly, which is designed to help you to focus on “getting the important things done.” With Teamly you can set important tasks as priorities for your day, and your week.

4. Schedule your day precisely.

Even though you get to work from home in your pajamas, if you so choose, doesn’t mean that you can start each day whenever you want. Go through your to-do list (see previous step) and jot down a specific time to get each task done. Allow time for a break or two, as well as lunch and any outside errands that must be done. You’ll find that sticking to your schedule helps you to be productive.  Using an app like Opus Domini helps by combining your calendar with your tasks. You can view your schedule for each day, or set it up so that you can see the entire month.

5. Set up specific times for meetings and business development.

In order to keep the work flowing and avoid having to take an hourly job outside of the office, make sure that you constantly have cases, clients or projects coming in. If you normally obtain your clients from networking events and meetings, set aside one day each week and set up as many meetings for that day as possible. If you prefer to connect with potential clients online, set aside couple hours a week specifically for that purpose. Great websites to check are oDesk, Elance, and, for UK/European freelancers, PeoplePerHour.

You’ll find that you can get a lot done each day simply by following these steps. You won’t need to have anyone standing behind you threatening you with bodily harm to stay on task, or to lock yourself into a room with only a computer in order to be a productive freelancer.

Interested in selling your expertise via video chat, directly from your blog, website, or social profile? click here to join MinuteBox

We are obsessed with the analytics numbers

Traffic sources, clicks, conversions, you name it. Internally, we have been discussing tirelessly how to make MinuteBox useful to you, and the only way to figure out if our new features are useful is to track the data from your MinuteBox activities.

We are excited to find out that 85% of our traffic last month is referral traffic, and it is mainly from your blogs/websites via MinuteBox Direct. The data shows us that our idea, MinuteBox Direct, is an efficient way for you, as an expert, to leverage your online reputation, and convert your audience into paid transactions.

 We would like to share this with you because we find that many of you are MISSING OUT!!

- only 12% of our experts have put MinuteBox Direct on their blogs or websites

- what is even more frustrating to us is that, the experts who bring us thousands of visits are not staying available for MinuteBox sessions most of the time.

How should we work together to earn money for YOU?

Put MinuteBox Direct on your blog

If you have not put MinuteBox Direct on your website or blog, please log into MinuteBox and click Edit Your profile. You can find the MinuteBox Direct Tab. We support most of the blogging platforms, and it will just take you a couple of clicks to set it up.

Install Availability extensions on Chrome/FireFox

We also make it SUPER easy for you to stay available on MinuteBox when you are online.

Please go to the Availability tab to install our availability browser extension for Chrome and FireFox. Once you click Download Chorme/FireFox, the install will be completed automatically in the background.

You have better ideas?

Please click the follow links to share your thoughts with us:

Click here to give us your insight about MinuteBox Direct and availability extension (Super short survey)

Click here to share your ideas with us on GetSatisfaction

We would love your comments and ideas for us to really help you to monestise your expertise, and make money from your blog visitors.

Making an immediate connection between an expert and client is challenging. That has been the key thing we have been working on in our early Beta. Big thanks to our early users. Based on your constructive comments, we have been experimenting with various solutions in order to connect experts and clients at the appropriate time.

- Chrome/FireFox availability extension:

Can you make yourself available without staying on the MinuteBox website? Yes, you can now. With our availability extension, you can surf online as you normally do. When someone needs your advice, they still can contact you immediately.

- Direct connection:

When you are available, we connect you and your potential client directly. We automatically open a connection page with a nice MinuteBox ringtone to notify you. You can easily accept or reject the session straightaway.

- Multiple social logins 

You now can login or register with MinuteBox not only via LinkedIn but also using Twitter, FaceBook, Google and more.

- Enhanced MinuteBox profile

Your new MinuteBox profile helps you to showcase your online reputation. Potential clients can easily view the credentials you have decided to highlight (your most important social profiles now have their own tabs), and decide if you are the right expert to go for.

Many thanks again for your support. If you have further comments, please contact Josh josh at minutebox.com or submit it at our GetSatisfaction page.

Are you confused with all those social media buzzwords? Are you keen to leverage digital marketing for your business but do not know where to start? Have a talk with our experts. We promise it helps.

James Norris

Please introduce yourself:

Hello my name is James and I consult, implement, devise and lecture about all things social and digital.

My company (Social Media Strategist Ltd) provides brands, tech startups & organisations with a professional and cost effective alternative to digital marketing agencies. It specialises in creating innovative and engaging marketing campaigns across social media, search engines, mobile and the wider web. I advise clients as to how best to attain their marketing objectives whilst executing them through implementation and account management.

I have worked within social media, mobile and digital marketing for over seven years and approach each project from both a technical and artistic perspective. My clients include Channel 4, Camden Council, Nokia, Vodafone, The Global Green Awards & The Urban Nerds.”

What are your key specialities?

- Social Media
- Digital Strategy
- Search Engine Optimisation
- User Experience

How can people leverage your expertise?

If you are interested in speaking to me I would recommend having a set of questions ready with a clear understanding about what your core goal is. For example is it to drive traffic, increase facebook followers, increase sales online etc.

Click his MinuteBox Profile!!

Nicholas Butler 

Please introduce yourself:

Simply put, I help business leaders transform their businesses and their lives.  It’s not magic – I ask a lot of questions, backed by a strong intuition grounded in solid business experience, plus extensive training in my field.  I know from my own experience that it’s not what I (or anyone else) thinks you should do, but what you are most inspired, enlivened, and driven by in your life and work that is key to your success.  That’s what will keep you showing up patiently, persistently, and fully – attributes that successful entrepreneurs cite as fundamental to their achievements

I have trained with and am certified by a world-recognized coaching and facilitation training organization. My organizational clients have included the University of Wales, Ashridge, and the Society for Organisational Learning, as well as individual mid- and senior-level private clients from companies such as American Express, Apple Computer, Hewlett Packard, Digital Equipment Corporation, Silicon Graphics, London School of Economics, and General Dynamics.

What are your key specialities?

- Social Media
- WordPress
- php
- Linux
- Amazon Web Services

How can people leverage your expertise?

To get the most from our session, answer these questions before our call:
1. How are you today, right now? How has your week been?
2. What do you want to get out of the call today? What goals do you want to achieve, issues do you want to resolve, areas of learning do you want to address?
3. What are your top three goals for this week, in order of priority? What actions do you need to take to achieve them? What do you need to say yes to and what do you need to say no to?

check his MinuteBox Profile !!

 Arié Moyal

 Please introduce yourself:

I am passionate about helping you reach new heights in marketing and communications.  No nonsense – just great results!

I have worked with with a range of companies on their brand engagement and social media  strategies. I have a understanding of marketing, customer service and organisational  behaviour and training in communications, public relations and psychology. This together  with my experience crafting international programmes and events to produce tailor-made, engaging and innovative engagement programmes means I am here to help you succeed!

What are your key specialities?

- Brand engagement Strategy
- Corporate Sustainability & Social Responsibility
- Social Media Strategy
- Brand Identity Management
- Process Optimisation

How can people leverage your expertise?

The clearer you are about your brand, your goals, the expertise and passions of your employees and the needs and interests of your target customers, the better I can help you. If you need clarity around these areas, don’t worry – I can help with that too.

Check his MinuteBox Profile!!

Want to be our Expert of the Week??

If you would like to be featured as our Expert of the Week, please fill this form. We will contact you.

Special offer this week!!

To collect more feedback from our users, we are gonna pay the 3 featured experts to give you advice up to 15minutes. In return, we would like you to give us some comments via a short survey or a call.

If you are interested, please contact Josh Email Josh!

Blogger is one of the largest blogging platforms, which a lot of people use and love. We realised that playing around with JavaScript code can be quite confusing to many users. To make sure all the Blogger users can easily install MinuteBox Direct widget on your blogs, we create a super useful guide integrated within our MinuteBox Direct page in order to help you get started with MinuteBox even quicker!!

How?

When you sign into MinuteBox with your LinkedIn account, you will now see a list of different Blogging platforms. Just choose your preferred choice and follow the easy instructions!

1) Sign into MinuteBox with LinkedIn.

2) Click on “MinuteBox Direct” section

3) Choose Blogger as your preferred blogging platform and follow the instructions.

You can choose if you would like to have a simple button or static MinuteBox Direct widget for your blog.

We hope this allows you to start selling your time with MinuteBox as smoothly as possible. If you haven’t registered with MinuteBox, what are you waiting for?

Click here to get started!