Although the connotation of the term "link baiting" may bring to mind some form of trickery or grey hat strategy, the way to link bait articles effectively actually has nothing to do with the more underhanded techniques that have been banned by the major search engines. Successful link baiting these days is a very comprehensive and thorough delineation of many efforts focused on a single outcome, to bring traffic to a website through links.

Below are the some of the most successful strategies that have been used to build successful link baiting articles.

1. You must establish yourself as an unique voice and an expert in your niche.

The first and most important step in writing link baiting articles actually has nothing to do with the articles that you write. It is all in the promotion of those articles in making sure that you distribute your content to the audiences that will appreciate it the most.

Although you may like to think that your article is the first dissemination of certain information on the Internet, the odds are always against you. It is very likely that no matter what you write about, the information has already been shared somewhere on the web. This means that although the quality of your information is quite importent, the more important aspect of making your article a link baiting winner is how you write.

Having a unique voice within your niche will allow people to easily remember you and want to come back for more. No matter how many other people may have similar information, people will want to get from you and quote you because of your entertaining spin on the subject.

2. Formatting is essential in building link baiting articles.

Because you are trying to build articles that can be easily disseminated, you sometimes need to break your content down into easily digestible pieces. This includes having as many bulleted lists or numbered lists as possible so that people can easily find what they are looking for this typically and quote it without having to necessarily read the entire article.

A good way to focus the attention of people on especially important parts of your article is to use H1 and other sub heading format tags to draw the eye the reader to especially important tidbits in your article.

Although you want to break down your article into soundbites, you do not want to dilute the quality or the comprehensiveness of your article. Just make sure that you summarize your findings in certain places so that people who are looking for soundbites can walk away happy and people who are truly interested in the comprehensive subject matter can also be happy.

3. Keep your organization foremost in your mind.

As you are researching, you will have a tendency to disseminate information in the order that is given to you. Remember that you must always entertaining as well as inform and this includes organization.

The best comics, scientists and public speakers all adhere to very similar organizational structure when it comes to the dissemination of information. The only difference is the format in which they present that information. If you cannot think of a structure that your audience would like, going back to the old high school five paragraph structure is never a bad idea. Have your thesis statement first and list your main points. In subsequent paragraphs, expound on those points as you leave your reader towards a conclusion or a final question that is interesting and poignant.

4. Give credit where credit is due.

When people are reading your articles thoroughly because of your style, you gain extra points with them if you attribute all sources. It makes you look more credible and adds a level of scientific gravitas to your article that can also help it to serve as a springboard for further research. This is enough to make people want to come back to your articles instead of others – the ability to easily reach other sources.

Make sure that all of your footnotes are accurate and that none of the links are dead. Deep when you are quoting from your own research so that you can receive that credit and show your reader that your body of work has continuity.

So that people who try to publish your work verbatim without giving you credit will still be obliged to do so, if only because of the technical nature of the deep back link. Finally, realize that you will face opposition when your articles become popular. Do not worry about responding to them; being baited into an argument does nothing for your link baiting.