The thorn in any internet marketers side is link building. But, unfortunately, link-building is the backbone of any (and every) successful SEO campaign. Many marketers these days will buy links, “for the one-time low price of just …” BUT purchased links, in place of organically-grown links aren’t high-quality. The only way to own a successful inbound linking strategy is to build it yourself.
Before you run away to look for an easier solution (and there isn’t a quick-fix in link-building), know that it isn’t as herculean a task as it sounds. Building a solid inbound linking strategy is easy, just follow the 10 steps below and you will be well on your way (as a bonus many of them are traffic directors as well):
1. Comment on Various Blogs
Blogs are everywhere these days; there are millions, if not billions of blogs out there. And luckily, they provide excellent high-quality inbound links. Comment on plenty of bogs related to your site, and add your link to the comments. Be sure to make your comments legitimate though because many of them are monitored and spamming-links will simply be rejected. So instead of posting a generic message on 200 blogs—post customized, relevant messages on 50.
Blogs using CommentLuv and other popular comment boxes are especially worthwhile commenting on because they use offer Do-Follow links.
2. Participate in Forums
Forums are almost as common as blogs, and are even easier to post comments in. Once again most forums are monitored so don’t waste your time spamming. Forum posts can help generate traffic as well, so they are a win-win.
3. Make guest Blog Posts
Volunteering to write guest blog posts on high-quality blogs in your vertical is a great way to build your site’s links while building your expert-status reputation within your industry. These take a little more effort but generally supply higher quality links than other link-building techniques. These also generate traffic to your website.
4. Sponsor a Plugin or Theme
Most people don’t have the talent to build plugins for WordPress (or to a lesser extent, Blogger), but they are a fantastic way to build links. Even if you can’t create plugins, you can hire someone to do it for you, or sponsor a developer’s plugin. Doing this in exchange for inbound links means you get plenty of high-quality links while the blogging community gets extra tools.
5. List your Site in RSS Feed Directories
RSS feeds have become exceedingly popular; popular enough in fact that there are thousands of RSS directories. Submitting your site to popular RSS directories is a simple way to get links, and as a bonus they can build your RSS feed list.
6. Leverage E-Zine Directories
Many E-Zines (Electronic Magazines) have become so popular that they have score top-ranking search results positions with Google. The sheer quantity of directories, in combination with the high-quality rankings makes them a favourite spot for internet marketers for link-building. E-Zine directories provide you with a link-building opportunity similar to that of RSS feed directories. At the same time they offer you an additional opportunity to guest blog post.
7. Internet Web Directories
Internet web directories offer another significant linking opportunity. Web directories come in both paid, and unpaid versions (Yahoo! for example is a paid directory) so regardless of your budget you can list your link. They range in quality, with the paid listings generally worth more in terms of inbound linking than unpaid listings. The only downside is that high-quality, free directories can be hard to get into (DMOZ for example).
8. Social Media Links
Using social media for building links is more difficult than simple social media marketing. The reason is that your new social page created for your business doesn’t have enough influence to affect search engine crawlers. In order to leverage social media within link building, you need to get heavy “influencers” to post your link. Some will post for free (if you have a quality product) while others ask for some form of payment (whether it be monetary or in-kind).
9. News Website Links
News and media websites are often overlooked by link builders, but they provide high-quality links. News and media websites can include press release websites, industry-/vertical-specific news sites and other media sources. Top-quality news sites like Google News and Yahoo! News are notoriously difficult to break into—but the links they provide are the highest quality (and are updated regularly so they don’t go stale).
10. Links in Geographic-Based Search Sites (like Google Places)
This is a relatively new, but extremely powerful, link-building opportunity. By entering your business/link into directories like Facebook Places, Google Places and other local-based search listings, they are automatically listed in all the related search categories within specific geographical zones. If your product isn’t geographically-based then you could list it in multiple places and score more links
If you complete the 10 steps above, and repeat them regularly then your link-building campaign will grow organically and steadily. Understand though that this takes regular effort to keep your links from growing stale (and to continue to build momentum) so consider putting a mark in your calender every few weeks reminding you to post a few more links.
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Robin Wilding is a professionally trained Canadian journalist striving to bring journalistic-era intergity to online media. She has a second degree in Political Science--with a focus on International Relations and the developing world. Currently Robin is a contributor to several technology publications, including Brajeshwar.com, SocialTechnologyReview.com, HostingIndustryWatch.com, AnimationCareerReview.com and CompareBusinessProducts.com. She also works for several web developers; and does ghost writing for several high level executives within the technology sector. Robin's work is showcased in her portfolio: http://shownd.com/robinwilding
One thing you didn’t mention were sponsor links. I tell my clients to be on the alert for these opportunities, and there are plenty of them. You can do a search on “sponsor us” or “our sponsors” and your city to find local opportunities or leave out the city to find national. Or just look for all the non-profits in your town and call them to offer to financial assistance. You don’t have to give much. Even a $25 donation will get you on a sponsor list. Make sure they link to your website though.
But here’s one for you now that gives even better sponsorship links than you usually get. These ones will be fully optimized for Google because the person giving them, me, is an SEO. Your donation funds cancer research through the Leukemia Lymphoma Society, so it’s a win/win. Big SEO points and good karma for you, much needed funds for the LLS. You can read all about it here: http://bit.ly/HoIJrH
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