Hey so I'm trying out how to link bait and what I'm doing is a contest that gives away an iPhone also. So I wanna know if giving away a 600 dollar phone is worth it for some links or is that money better used elsewhere ie. buying links. Here is the link to it if you guys would like to check it out and give me some comments: http://kzonedl.com/?p=85
The trick is to promote your contest. How about starting a contest to promote your contest? No idea about the iphone but judging by the hype like w3bmaster mentioned you should be alright.
I would spend money differently because I personally wouldn't want an iPhone. It's too big to carry it in the pocket.
Thing is, there's so many spammy "get a free iphone" flashing ads that people may not take it seriously and move on.
i avoid all "you've won a PC/Phone" adds. i think i should have about 1000 laptops now. i think your money would be better spent elsewhere
You have to heavily promote your contest. Otherwise you will only get a few low random low quality backlinks. $600 is a nice budget, you will be able to buy a lot of quality related links + your desired anchor text.
Linking back to them will reduce the effectiveness, you want one way links. Also if i link to you on a junk page you will link back to me from a site thats potentially got a good internal PR because of the competition links so i benefit more then you. Another thing once the comp is over a stack of your backlinks will dry up, people will remove them if they dont win. You want solid long lasting one way links, $600 will get you a good tool coded or something similar.