Nothing attracts a link like a link

Have you ever been to an area with a lot of street performers, like Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica, Chicago’s Navy Pier, or Mallory Square in Key West? Which performers did you stop to watch, and why?

Chances are the performer that caught your attention was the one that had a crowd gathered around. A skillful street performer knows that nothing attracts a crowd like a crowd. They display hard-to-find skills, unique personalities, and a bold call to action to attract people to their act.

Most people know that links are important to search engine rankings, and they’ll try all sorts of tricks to get them: buying links, trading links, even stealing links. They’ll disguise their site with keywords in hopes of hijacking unsuspecting visitors. But like the lonely street performer who has nothing to offer, people see through the schemes and look elsewhere.

So what is on your web site to make people want to visit? What do you offer that is hard-to-find, unique, or attractive to your potential customers?

For many sites, it’s time to stop trying to deceive the search engines and offer something substantial. For performers, it’s about practice. For web sites, it’s about content. Your hard work will pay off as people start linking to your site. Nothing attracts a link like a link.