LinkBaiting For Tourism Companies

There has been a huge focus on SEO (Search Engine Optimization) in recent years. People hire companies to optimize their website and streamline the page results. It has now been realized that small companies can increase their SEO presence through more creative and innovative means. The way that sites like google.com and yahoo.com index their sites makes it very beneficial for companies to have links to their sites from other websites. This is termed linkbaiting, or agreeing to host another non-competitive website's link on your site in exchange for a similar service. The Canadian Tourism Commission recently released 5 suggestions to maximize your web presence with minimal cost. These recommendations are focused on small independent tourism companies:

• Top 10: Creating a ‘top 10’ type list closely related to your industry usually gets quality results. It is therefore important to define which subjects truly interest your target market and to evaluate what is already available on the internet.
• Resource site: Listing the blogs, forums, directories and so on that are of interest relative to your domain can attract numerous links. In fact, the creators of these sites will probably be interested to create a link to a resource site, especially if it is in a neutral field.
• Humour/Controversy: According to your industry or positioning, humour or controversy could be a good link generator. If you’re lacking imagination, you can check Flickr or YouTube and find an amusing video or image with a link to your products or services.
• Useful functionality: Developing a tool that can be used by your potential clients has as much of an effect on links to your site as your renown for being forward‑thinking in your area of expertise!
• Link a study or report: A report with different content and exclusive data will be sure to attract quality links.

Linkbaiting or link exchanges have been a very effective driver to our site, Rezgo.com. Recently when looking at our google analytics we have noticed that 65% of our site traffic has been directed by companies that we provide booking server CMS solutions for. People are finding our link on accomodation and tour provider's websites and following the link to our site. These click-throughs have a low bounce % and spend an average of 5.5 minutes on our site. These are people you want looking at your site.

What have you found with Linkbaiting?

Has it worked for you?