Oh No! A “Ten Killer Link Building Posts” Post

Posted in Top Ten Link Building Tips |

Don’t you just hate top ten posts :)

Don’t you feel a little reluctant to click through to them?

However, I found each of these articles to be very helpful when it comes to link building, mainly because they contain some great new ideas, rather that simply treading tired, old ground.

Great articles, all. However, is there a problem with the way I presented them?

When you saw the title of this post, did you hesitate for a second? Did it feel like you were being drawn into a marketing stunt?

I think we all know know the feeling.

Part of the problem with top ten posts, or any post that follows a format that has become cliche, is that they are less likely to stand out in a crowd. They’ve lost a quality of uniqueness through overuse. In many respects, that’s a shame, because the format isn’t a marker of quality, or lack thereof.

So what to do?

A common theme of the articles I’ve linked to above is to "be remarkable". "Be unique". "Take a different angle". And that’s great advice. The internet is not short of content, but it is short of remarkable content.

My angle was to skewer the "top ten post" style post, although, secretly, I really do like lists :)

Or is going meta, self-reflexive and post-modern just another cliche?