50 Ways To Get Links
1. Build a “101 list”. These get Dugg all the time, and often become “authority
documents”. People can’t resist linking to these (hint, hint).
2. Create 10 easy tips to help you [insert topic here] articles. Again, these
are exceptionally easy to link to.
3. Create extensive resource lists for a specific topic (see Mr Ploppy for
inspiration).
4. Create a list of the top 10 myths for a specific category.
5. Create a list of gurus/experts. If you impress the people listed well enough,
or find a way to make your project look somewhat official, the gurus may end up
linking to your site or saying thanks. (Sometimes flattery is the easiest way to
strike up a good relationship with an “authority”.)
Developing Authority & Being Easy to Link At
6. Make your content easy to understand so many people can understand and spread
your message. (It’s an accessibility thing.)
7. Put some effort in to minimize grammatical or spelling errors, especially if
you need authoritative people like librarians to link to your site.
8. Have an easily accessible privacy policy and about section so your site seems
more trustworthy. Including a picture of yourself may also help build your
authority.
PPC as a Link Building Tool
9. Buy relevant traffic with a pay per click campaign. Relevant traffic will get
your site more visitors and brand exposure. When people come to your site,
regardless of the channel in which they found it, there is a possibility that
they will link to you.
News & Syndication
10. Syndicate an article at EzineArticles, GoArticles, iSnare, etc. The great
thing about good article sites is that their article pages actually rank highly
and send highly qualified traffic.
11. Submit an article to industry news site. Have an SEO site? Write an article
and submit to WebProNews. Have a site about BLANK? Submit to
BLANKinformationalsite.com.
12. Syndicate a press release. Take the time to make it GOOD (compelling,
newsworthy). Email it to some handpicked journalists and bloggers. Personalize
the email message. For good measure, submit it to PRWeb, PRLeap, etc.
13. Track who picks up your articles or press releases. Offer them exclusive
news or content.
14. Trade articles with other webmasters.
15. Email a few friends when you have important relevant news asking them for
their feedback and/or if they would mind referencing it if they find your
information useful.
16. Write about, and link to, companies with “in the news” pages. They link back
to stories and blog posts which cover their developments. This is obviously
easiest if you have a news section or blog. Do a Google search for [your
industry + “in the news”].
17. Perform surveys and studies that make people feel important. If you can make
other people feel important they will help do your marketing for you for free.
Salary.com did a study on how underpaid mothers were, and they got many high
quality links.
Directories, Meme Trackers & Social Bookmarking
18. This tip is an oldie but goodie: submit your site to DMOZ and other
directories that allow free submissions.
19. Submit your site to paid directories. Another oldie. Just remember that
quality matters.
20. Create your own topical directory about your field of interest. Obviously
link to your own site, deeplinking to important content where possible. Of
course, if you make it into a truly useful resource, it will attract links on
its own.
21. Tag related sites on sites like Del.icio.us. If people find the sites you
tag to be interesting, emotionally engaging, or timely they may follow the trail
back to your site.
22. If you create something that is of great quality make sure you ask a few
friends to tag it for you. If your site gets on the front page of Digg or on the
Del.icio.us popular list, hundreds more bloggers will see your site, and
potentially link to it.
23. Look at meme trackers to see what ideas are spreading. If you write about
popular spreading ideas with plenty of original content (and link to some of the
original resources), your site may get listed as a source on the meme tracker
site.
Local & Business Links
24. Join the Better Business Bureau.
25. Get a link from your local chamber of commerce.
26. Submit your link to relevant city and state governmental resources. (Easier
in some countries than in others.)
27. List your site at the local library’s Web site.
28. See if your manufacturers or retailers or other business partners might be
willing to link to your site.
29. Develop business relationships with non-competing businesses in the same
field. Leverage these relationships online and off, by recommending each other
via links and distributing each other’s business cards.
30. Launch an affiliate program. Most of the links you pick up will not have SEO
value, but the added exposure will almost always lead to additional “normal”
links.
Easy Free Links
31. Depending on your category and offer, you will find Craigslist to be a cheap
or free classified service.
32. It is pretty easy to ask or answer questions on Yahoo! Answers and provide
links to relevant resources.
33. It is pretty easy to ask or answer questions on Google Groups and provide
links to relevant resources.
34. If you run a fairly reputable company, create a page about it in the
Wikipedia or in topic specific wikis. If it is hard to list your site directly,
try to add links to other pages that link to your site.
35. It takes about 15 minutes to set up a topical Squidoo page, which you can
use to look like an industry expert. Link to expert documents and popular useful
tools in your fields, and also create a link back to your site.
36. Submit a story to Digg that links to an article on your site. You can also
submit other content and have some of its link authority flow back to your
profile page.
37. If you publish an RSS feed and your content is useful and regularly updated,
some people will syndicate your RSS content (and some of those will provide
links… unfortunately, some will not).
38. Most forums allow members to leave signature links or personal profile
links. If you make quality contributions some people will follow these links and
potentially read your site, link at your site, and/or buy your products.
Have a Big Heart for Reviews
39. Most brands are not well established online, so if your site has much
authority, your review related content often ranks well.
40. Review relevant products on Amazon.com. We have seen this draw in direct
customer enquiries and secondary links.
41. Create product lists on Amazon.com that review top products and also mention
your background (LINK!).
42. Review related sites on Alexa to draw in related traffic streams.
43. Review products and services on shopping search engines like ePinions to
help build your authority.
44. If you buy a product or service you really like and are good at leaving
testimonials, many of those turn into links. Two testimonial writing tips — make
them believable, and be specific where possible.
Blogs & the Blogosphere
45. Start a blog. Not just for the sake of having one. Post regularly and post
great content. Good execution is what gets the links.
46. Link to other blogs from your blog. Outbound links are one of the cheapest
forms of marketing available. Many bloggers also track who is linking to them or
where their traffic comes from, so linking to them is an easy way to get noticed
by some of them.
47. Comment on other blogs. Most of these comments will not provide much direct
search engine value, but if your comments are useful, insightful, and relevant
they can drive direct traffic. They also help make the other bloggers become
aware of you, and they may start reading your blog and/or linking to it.
48. Technorati tag pages rank well in Yahoo! and MSN, and to a lesser extent in
Google. Even if your blog is fairly new you can have your posts featured on the
Technorati tag pages by tagging your posts with relevant tags.
49. If you create a blog make sure you list it in a few of the best blog
directories.
50. Start all over again.
