Link Building Experts Interviewed
Rae Hoffman has put together a group interview of 11 ink building experts. Each person submitted a question they wanted the others to answer. The twist is no one saw each other’s answers until it was published. Participates include Debra Mastaler, Aaron Wall, Eric Ward, Todd Malicoat, Roger Montti, Jim Boykin, Michael Gray, Rae Hoffman, [...]Creating a Custom Link Building Campaign
Learn some of the steps to creating a successful custom link building campaign for your company. In my latest piece at SearchEngineWatch.com I explore the topics of evaluating resources, the idea and a plan of action.How to Build Links, Increase Traffic and Exposure
Looking for a method to build links while generating exposure and traffic? Learn the streamlined process to get your content published on other Web sites. • Unless you’re a passionate writer with a lot of free time, hire a professional writer. • An editor is also essential if you want to get published on high-quality [...]Nominated for the SEMMY Awards 2010
I’m honored to have one of my Search Engine Watch columns nominated for the SEMMY Awards! Link Building With a Small Budget was nominated. I’d recommend everyone bookmark SEMMY to read an article or two each week. You’ll learn a lot. These are the top articles from the past year on everything from organic search [...]Link Building Strategy – Start a Staff Volunteer Program
Think of the headline in your regional online newspaper, “Local Company gives Free Computer Classes to Disadvantaged Youth.” Public relations strategies are an effective way to build links and publicity. Serious About Links? Think like a politician when deciding what type of volunteer work to do. Study the people who could bring the most attention [...]Rethinking your Link Marketing Strategies
Explore ways to improve your link development strategies. Something as simple as changing your perspective could give you the advantage to beat your competition. Learn more about this in my latest column at Search Engine Watch Rethinking your Link Marketing Strategies.6 Ways to Increase Online Visibility
Looking for ways to increase your sales and links? The answer is to increase your online presence. People recommend (aka link) to sites they have seen mentioned often. In my latest column at SearchEngineWatch discover 6 ways to increase your online visibility.Life’s not fair. Neither are search engines.
Industry leader Aaron Wall (SEOBook.com) is cutting back on social media. Find out why he says: I am going to cut back on social media for the next year or two…its not worth the effort.The link builder’s handbook
David Harry has done it again. He has released a fantastic follow up to the New York Times best seller of 2008 in the category of SEO eBooks that I actually took the time to read all the way through, SEO Handbook 2008, in the soon to be the best eBook I’ve read so far in 2009, SEO Handbook, The Link Building Edition.
As with all things that come out of the Huomah research center David has thoroughly researched every detail of this book in an effort to provide the reader with the most relevant and up to date information possible. Best of all it is broken down in to bite sized elements that are easy to understand and implement.
The book starts with the basics by explaining what the various link profile elements, from the old standard of simple backlinks to more advanced theories of link velocity and progresses steadily through the basics of link building. Where the book really starts to shine is when we leave the Link Building 101 and start exploring link building in social media and link bait.
Great link bait is almost as rare as a great robot assassin, they just don’t happen all that often, but when they do, look out. David takes the time to break down various types of link bait and explains how you can target your link bait at a specific audience. It’s even more rare that link bait will cross genres, so it becomes very important to tailor your link worthy content at the audiece you want to attract.
Finally everything is all tied together in a lesson on keyword research. What good is all this knowledge if you end up missing your target? No good!! Even though this section comes last, in my opinion it may be the ost important part of the book. Keyword research will help set you on the proper path and David gives you the tools to do it right.
I tend to not recommend a lot of things. I’ve been held responsible for other people’s content and I would never recommend something that I would not be willing to put my name on myself. And David’s link building handbook is one of those things that I wish I had written. But since he already did it, and definitely better than I would have, I have no qualms in telling anyone getting started in link building, or people that want to round out their knowledge, buy this book!
Shopping for blog posts and ghostwriters
One of the more common ways for you to get your name out there is guest blogging. It puts you in front of new readers, allows you to spread your knowledge, and may get you a few links in the process. But even if you find a great blog to post on, you may not always have the time to write the post yourself. So you might consider hiring a ghost writer to take care of that for you. And if that ghost writer also happens to own the blog that you are guest blogging on, where’s the harm in that?
While I won’t suggest that you go out and buy links or blog posts in an effort to boost your search rankings, you may find yourself with an opportunity to promote your website through guest blogging. It would be a shame to miss that opportunity just because you don’t have the time. But before you start paying someone to guest blog for you there are some things you may want to consider before you engage them, and by inference, things you may not want to do if you plan on using your blog or website as a marketing platform for others.
1. Is the blog focused?
One of the most common issues you will find when researching blogs is that so many simply don’t stay on topic. Let’s assume that you are releasing a great new 5 speed Action-Man rotary toothbrush and you are looking for clean teeth fanatics to tell about your new toothbrush. One possible candidate has an great site, myteetharewhite.com, and you want them to write a review. Stop. Look at the site. Not just the first page, click around, look several pages deep. Are there random posts about v1agra? colon blow? free credit reports? Maybe they have a link to Amatuer Asian Porn in their blogroll.
These are all indications that this person is less interested in developing a solid website about a specific topic than they are in making as much money as possible, regardless of the long term effects. In this case you may want to consider finding a new ghostwriter.
2. Is it part of an “SEO Contest”?
This one always confuses me. Basically someone started a blog, or changed an established blog, with the goal of winning some worthless SEO contest that proves nothing other than they can out rank a collection of even more worthless newbs all trying to prove to themselves that they have a clue. Let me say right now, if you are in one of those contests, you don’t have a clue and should learn how to ask, “Do you want fries with that?”. I’ve seen people trying to sell ghostwriting services with header logos and hundreds of blogroll links all focused on stupid SEO contests.
You won’t see it very often, but when you do, run, this blog is most likely damaged goods.
3. Excerpts or Snipettes
Unless it is a major blog with tons of traffic, I recommend skipping these blogs. The main reason is that any link that they may give you will be worthless. The link will rarely, if ever, see the home page, and in a few short posts the post will fall off the front page never to be seen again. Any opportunity to gain traffic from it will pass just as quickly.
4. Default Wordpress Install
This one just bugs me. How can you take someone seriously if they can’t be bothered to install a basic theme to personalize their blog? It shows a lack of professionalism and a work ethic that will most certainly translate in to a poorly written blog post.
5. Can’t Follow Simple Directions
When you are looking for help with a specific topic, there is little worse than people that can’t be bothered to read what you wrote. If they can’t follow simple directions early in the process, what makes you think they will follow them later?
Let’s take a hypothetical situation where I might be looking to guest blog. I put out feelers looking for blogs that discuss the intricate details of pan frying North American Condor eggs using nothing but a cast iron skillet, three matches and a magnifying glass. If you send me a proposal that says that you can get me listed in the blogroll of 72.3 vampire blogs, you can pretty much bet that I will be adding you to my ignore list and I will never see your messages again.
As always, I would never suggest that you buy something just for the links. But you might not want to miss an opportunity just because you don’t have a lot of time to spare.
