Linkbaiting might have its share of detractors, but the truth remains that this particular practice can produce some great rewards in regard to incoming traffic and links. Whether it's legitimate or not really rests on how well or how poorly a publisher handles linkbaiting efforts. The truth is linkbaiting can be quite rewarding, very legitimate and a whole lot of fun to master.

Although it's not necessarily loved in all circles, linkbaiting is a rather effective means of promoting a site and its material. In reality, the only contrast between linkbaiting and regular site development lies in the truth that much of the content created for linkbaiting is designed with gaining incoming links in mind.

Working linkbaiting to its fullest advantage really does rest on having the ability to come up with the right content. Many publishers pick their site's focus area and then track the big "trends" to guide their writing and content focus. Sites like Digg.com, del.icio.us and Technorati can be very useful to watch to this end. Although this method of topic selection is pointed, it can be a great way to choose engaging suspects. The hook is making sure a site doesn't muddy its real focus while its writers and content producers chase trends.

Some publishers inadvertently linkbait during the normal course of business. Simply creating a relevant, interesting and useful site can produce all sorts of natural incoming links. If taking what comes normally and boosting its link potential is in order, consider creating lists, running interesting statistics, hosting contests or even crafting well-informed opinion pieces about the topic a site or blog focuses on. Negative pieces such as rants, controversy reporting and so on also are good incoming link generators.

No matter how good content happens to be, sometimes the links just don't come. A promotional effort can help here. One possibility involves contacting publishers of similar sites and trying to garner their opinion on a particular piece. This contact can produce solid advice and it might result in a link, too.

Sites that involve social tagging or even popularity ranks can be wonderful tools to use, as well. Places such as Digg.com can have a huge impact on incoming traffic and links if a story is picked up. Some publishers create their own "Diggs" to take advantage of the supercharge of traffic this site can provide, but a lot of people find this too self promoting.

Linkbaiting is really nothing more than working to increase incoming links. The idea centers on increasing traffic, income potential, incoming links and possibly page ranking, as well. Page ranking can be a tangible spin off of a linkbaiting campaign that's successful.

Linkbaiting is often considered a bit shady, but the truth is the practice is a common one that's used to draw in traffic and popularity to a site. If the measures taken are legitimate, the effort can actually be a whole lot of fun, too.

Publishers who want to delve into linkbaiting will likely find that it works quite well. It is important, however, to make sure content is everything it's cracked up to be. If it's not, the initial jolt in traffic might be the last. The key is making visitors want to return.