From Google's Matt Cutts to SEOBook - Aaron Wall, everyone on the internet is talking about link bait.

If you don't already know, link bait is the practice of writing content with the intention of getting other people to link to it. Link baiting is one of the few linking strategies that Google has publicly approved.

So why would you want to start using link bait?

Because it has two big benefits: traffic and back links. No matter how much advertising you have on your web site, you need traffic for it to actually be profitable.

And if you want to start getting traffic from Google and other search engines, you are going to want to gain as many quality back links as possible. With a good piece of link bait, you can accomplish both of these goals.

So how does one go about writing content that can be considered link bait? Here are five SoftwareProjects tips for writing a juicy piece of link bait:

1) Your title is everything!

One of the major goals of link baiting is to get picked up by popular web sites in your niche. No matter how great your content is, if you don't have a good title, your odds for being successful are extremely small.

When you're trying to come up with a title, take some time to come up with something that will GRAB any reader's attention.

Examples (all of these articles made it to the front page of Digg):

The Most Hated Comment on Digg

$35 For a $0.29 Overdraft? Why I Hate Banks!

Grandpa dies 31 times in one day and lives to tell about it.

2) People love lists and step-by-step guides

Web 2.0 is all about social networking and processing information as fast as possible. Gone are the days of people reading long, drawn out articles online.

Top ten lists and how to guides are extremely popular because they pack a lot of information into a quick read.

Examples:

10 Steps to Guarantee You Make the Digg Front Page

The Key To Being Anti-Social - How To Deal With Diggs, Slashdot, Delicious, etc.

The majority of the posts on Lifehacker

3) Write about a buzz topic

The internet is a fickle place. What's hot today will be old news in three days. Use tools like Technorati to find a hot topic that fits the subject of your blog or web site.

Examples (at the time of writing):

Saddam

Daniela Cicarelli

Daylife

4) Don't be afraid to push the envelope

Controversy can be a great tool for link baiting. I don't recommend launching a personal attack against anyone, but if you can write about something that is going to stir up lots of debate, then go for it!

Examples:

Accusations of Google Funding Terrorism

Trump the Chump

Your Chances of Getting Laid Through Craigslist

5) Be yourself

When you're writing, don't try to imitate the style of others. The people who are most successful with link baiting are those that let their real personality shine through. You want to write like you're having an individual conversation with every person that reads your content.

Now that you've got these tips, it's time to grab your reel and start catching some visitors!

Experiment by posting on Digg - the perfect link bait playground. Good stories will get "dugg" and the traffic to your site will follow.