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“No man is an island,” said English poet John Donne centuries ago. And neither is your website. With no inbound or outbound links, what’s the point, really? It is worthless. Merely decorative. It won’t work for you. So you have made good use of competitive keywords and included them throughout your website. Big deal! If you can´t go the distance, your business will never thrive, and while good keyword usage is recommended, it just isn´t enough. Link building is perhaps one of the key aspects to search engine optimization, along with keyword usage. And here are 33 of the best link building tactics, guaranteed to increase traffic to your website and boost your profits. |
1. Just ask nicely. Simply ask visitors to your site to link to you. And they will, as long as you have an engaging website, with relevant information, a unique view, in other words, if you offer something that not many others do.
2. Provide a “link to us” page. Make sure it includes stuff like URL(s), logo and an anchor text they can use.
3. Create interesting lists (ahem!). Write a “101” list or a “Top Ten Tips to…” list. This kind of document becomes an “authority” opinion and will naturally get links.
4. Offer to be a guest writer. Send an email to a magazine, ezine, blog, or online journal, and let them know you’d be interested in contributing an article to share your valuable expertise.
5. Offer testimonials. If there is a tool you’ve tested or bought recently, go to their website and see if there is a testimonials section. Write in with your review/opinion and kindly ask them to link back to you.
6. Get your website listed. Submit it to several directories, but remember that quality matters, so submit it to the good ones.
7. Submit Your Blog and RSS Feed. Submit to Blog directories and RSS submission sites.
8. Make use of Web 2.0 resources. Use MySpace, Facebook, MSN Spaces, whatever you feel most comfortable with, to promote your site.
9. Write articles for Hubpages. Submit quality articles, comment on other hubs, post in the forums, and you’ll get a hubscore plus quality links.
10. Post free ads. Websites like Free Ad Blog and Free Blog Post allow you to post two to three links to your site.
11. Participate on Blogs. Leave your comments, network with them, email them, link to them, and they’ll surely link back to you.
12. Make many different Blogs. On sites like Blogger or WordPress.
13. Post on forums and groups. Find the largest and the best in your field.
14. Post in Ebay Blogs. Post your link within your blog, and you can actually say you have a link from Ebay!
15. Acknowledge the contribution of experts. Write about them, review one of their books or articles, or even compile a list of experts like, “The Five Definitive Experts on…”. There’s a good chance they’ll notice you and link back to you. Interview a guru or get permission from him to post his work, articles, e-book.
16. Make use of local resources. Get a link from your local chamber of commerce.
17. Sponsor an event. These all link to their sponsors.
18. Offer useful tools. Calculators, conversion, translation tools; they’re naturals for getting lots of links, as people are often in need of good, quality tools.
19. Find out which websites link to your competitors. And get them to link to you, as well.
20. Join an affiliate program. But make sure you choose a good one.
21. Win awards for your website. There are plenty of reputable award sites like webbyawards.com or webaward.org.
22. Article submission. Submit articles to websites like Ezine Articles or Goarticles. Just contribute quality, relevant content and send it in.
23. Write reviews. On sites like Amazon or ePinions.
24. Become an authority. It is most likely you already are an authority in your business, so answer questions on Yahoo Answers and post your content everywhere.
25. Post in classifieds sites, like Craigslist and USFreeAds.
26. Create a Squidoo lens. Advertise one or all of your websites on Squidoo.com.
27. Submit guides to Work.com. The nifty thing about this one is that if your guides are approved, you can include as many followed links as you want.
28. Write an article for Wikipedia. Although you may not be able to directly link to your website, include links to other pages that link to yours.
29. Exchange links. Link to other blogs/websites from yours, but which provide relevant content, and ask them to kindly reciprocate.
30. Use your forum signature. Please leave your name, message and link! There are lists of directories that allow signature links.
31. Oops! You forgot my link! Find websites that mention your company or products but don’t provide the direct HTML link. Simply send them a friendly email and request the link.
32. Submit your design to CSS directories.
33. Give exclusive scoops. Provide newsworthy stories to bloggers who’ll be dying for the exclusive and will be more than willing to post it.
There is one thing that must be stressed and it cannot be emphasized enough. As long as you provide quality, relevant, useful information and treat other website owners/users or bloggers with respect, you’ll never go wrong. There’s nothing wrong with asking for links (ask and ye shall receive, right?) as long as you don’t badger people into it. Sometimes a little flattery goes a long way.
Links are essential because they connect us all so we may form one global community. It’s not about competing to get more links or taking links from others. It’s not a link popularity contest. It’s all about sharing the link love.