How to Get 380 Links in 44 Seconds
My 44 second video rant about Mahalo whiners received at least 380 links, was watched nearly 800 times, and was one of the most linked to videos (see stats in image) on YouTube in the “people and blogs” category for the first two days of its existence.
This is interesting to me in two ways.
One - A 44 second action can create alot of links… hmmm.
Two - Mahalo is a community of people who seem to link to stuff they like at a high rate (comparing the amount of views to the amount of links).
Whatever you think of the founder of Mahalo (a controversial guy) it makes sense to attempt to see Mahalo as a community of people, not as a person.
Just as Sphinn is not Danny Sullivan, it is a community of people. Mahalo is not Jason Calacanis, it is a community of people. It is a community of people who are active internet users.
Link building is what I do, but I was surprised by the reaction to that video.
380 links in 44 seconds?
1) Drink
2) See something that pisses you off.
3) Publish something about it.
Sorta like the revenue model for this blog, huh?
Link building is really about communicating.
If you communicate, you get links to your stuff.
Most sites/blogs I see that are not getting linked to are very often lacking any communication. Think about what you are writing, read it over, is it saying anything? Is it original or useful? Is it somehow interacting with the reader, will it garner a response?
Pretend it is a conversation. Seriously, if you were talking to your friends and you said your post aloud, would it bore people? Would it suck? Would people start yawning?
Write a post as if you are at a table of people and you are saying something witty and thought provoking, rather than boring and sucky.
It is sorta like poetry, the deeper you go into yourself, the deeper you will affect others.
It is like poetry in another way. There is alot of crap poetry out there that does not affect anyone, which makes the special stuff, well, special.
Be special, communicate something when you write.
Or get drunk, I am pretty much drunk every time I write, be it my stories or this blog. Hopefully you all have better fuller lives than I do and you can get your muse on without a bottle 
July 23rd, 2007 at 3:10 am
You mention linking and poetry. I rarely leave a link in a blog comment (especially someone I just met on our site) but I can’t resist pointing you at link-bait poetry. Your post is above fun…thank you.
http://www.aimclearblog.com/2007/07/06/seo-is-like-music/
August 2nd, 2007 at 11:03 pm
This just proves that SEO’s need to start using social media marketing in their seo campaign.