The Power Of The Evil Hook

This is one of the reasons why Ardell DellaLoggia is so good at blogging.

I love the comment stream on Ardell's recent blog post: What Does "Bait and Switch Blogging Say About You? It's heated, but respectful and honest. When I started this it had only 70 comments. It now has 103. That's a lot in a very short period of time. But I have to believe she had an idea it might. :)  

Ardell has an innate understanding of the hot buttons. Using the term "bait and switch" was sure to raise eybrows and it did. The "read more" practice she described is technically not bait and switch. But it is certainly a form of link bait, by strict definition, which is not always a bad thing. I've never encouraged Julie to use the "read more" tactic, and to my knowledge, she has not. I prefer, like Ardell, to create a different version of the same topic in each place I write.

I did use the "read more" tactic yesterday because there was NO WAY to illustrate my point in the AR post. The post required a specific Wordpress plugin to accomplish the dynamic Google map I was trying to illustrate. I think that is clearly the right way to use that, if there is a "right" way. I don't personally mind it at all, but I know many who do. It's been a topic of conversation here before.

Now, the irony... and the reason for the headline.

It may or may not have been her intention, but her post could easily be looked at as a form of link bait known as an "evil hook." This is a form of link bait where the writer says something they feel may be unpopular or something that is not appealing about a someone who is popular. Some evil hooks take a flat out wrong position, knowingly, simply to bring traffic. All of these versions of the evll hook are incredibly powerful when used correctly, and Ardell certainly used it correctly in her post. As Ted Murphy points out, it's also one of those tactics that should be used sparingly. Again, Ardell doesn't overuse this format, but when she does, she does it well.

That's another reason why she is so good. And, as everyone can see... it worked. Her post will probably get linked to from other posts many times in the future, the comment stream alone is just too rich with commentary. Heck, I've already linked to it here. :)

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For the project blogger apprentices...

This is post was written to illustrate something I learned from Greg Swan at The Bloodhound Blog. I commented on one of his posts and he wrote Whatever It Takes: A determined Realtor is a bargain... as a response. In the intro he said, "I think my answer to him justifies a post of it's own." He was right. And he taught me a valuable lesson at the same time.

I started to put all of the above in the comments on Ardell's post and I was just about to hit the submit button, but I had links in my comment that weren't invited by Ardell and I was reminded of Greg's lesson simple lesson. So here we are.

There are times when a comment should be a post. I thought this was one of those times.