What Bryan Clark could teach you about writing great Linkbait
Hey, thanks for the linkbait headlines, but what next???
One of the more common pieces of feedback I’ve received about LinkbaitGenerator.com is that, whilst it’s a really handy tool to brainstorm ideas for blog posts (and also adds to the ‘clicks appeal’ of a headline) it’s really hard to formulate content to match the eye-catching title.
Today I would like to run you through an excellent case study that, I hope, provides some tips as well as inspiration for that perfect viral blog post.
Enter Bryan Clark (whose name bears more than a little resemblance to that of Copyblogger) who does a spot of guestblogging over at Entrepreneurs Journey.
In his recent post ‘What Albert Einstein Can Teach You About Internet Marketing‘:
- Bryan starts with an attention-grabbing headline – after all, what WOULD Albert Einstein have in common with Internet Marketing?
- Shortlists a number of quotes from the great man (e.g .”Everybody is a genius. But, if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will spend its whole life believing that it is stupid.”)
- Crafts an argument to support the essence of the quote. I loved how Bryan structured his essay on “If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough” . He proposes – ”How about this as an idea: Instead of reading all the guru sites and then re-hashing stuff on your own blog, you spend a little time trying new ideas of your own. Yes, it is ok to think for yourself in this industry — in fact I strongly suggest you do.”
- Repeats the process until the reader understands that Einstein didn’t get where he was by just following the crowd. His genius was being able to break down his own personal Mount Everests into simple, digestible chunks. Gather all available and relevant facts about the problem at hand. Filter and segment them into a format that helps understanding and most importantly, effect meaningful change via innovation. Commit and work hard to see it through.
Brilliant.