Link Building Campaigns | Link Building Strategy

Do you know what sites link to your site (are there any)?  Do you link to any quality sites?  Does your site have internal links?  Do you know what internal links are?

 

Performing a solid link building campaign is critical to obtaining high rankings in the search engines.  Google in particular favors sites with good internal and external links.   Now more than ever it is important to pay attention to link building as a component of your search engine marketing campaign.

Here are a few things to keep in mind when developing your link building campaign:

1. Submit to all major search engine directories first.   This may seem basic, but trust me, many people still don't practice the basics.  Make these sites your initial targets: Yahoo (paid), DMOZ (Open Directory – Good luck, don't hold your breath), Business.com (paid), Best of the Web , GoGuides, JoeAnt, and Gimpsy.  This should get you started with several solid inbound links. 

2. Build internal keyword anchored links.   Once you start to get listed in the above referenced search engines and directories, this will work to increase your keyword targeted traffic.  A great way to do this is to create content pages that you can link to from other pages within your site.

3. Utilize Niche Directories.  You can search for Niche or Specialty Directories by topics, industry, region or a host of additional characteristics.  Another method is to do some competitive research on your competitors to find which sites they are listed on. 

4. Write & Distribute Press Releases.   Make sure your press releases have a link to your site; this is best done by creating a signature or “about” footer with your URL.  Make sure you aren't submitting marketing pieces, but actual news that a journalist might find interesting in your field.  Also, don't just submit a Press Release to a service such as PR Web or PR Newswire , network with journalists in your industry and send them relevant industry news as it relates to your company.

5. Article Marketing.  Writing industry articles can establish you as an expert, as well as help you develop inbound links as your articles are picked up by content publishers.  Make sure you write original, informative, and relevant articles and always use a signature footer with your URL.  Do not submit articles that reside on your web site, but rather rewrite them so they do not appear as duplicate content in the search engines (which can bring about a penalty).  There are several sites that accept articles, as well as article submission software that can help save time getting your articles to content sites. 

5. Create Solid Informative Content that people will want to link to.   This is often referred to as " Link Bait " and is simply anything that will cause others (including your competitors) to link to or blog about.  Some examples are website articles, blog posts, free software tools hosted on your website, contests & sweepstakes, or free ebooks given away from your site.

6. Blogging.   I will go as far as to say if you are not blogging you may as well not be on the web.  It is a great way to develop a voice in your industry online, and keep your market up to date with fresh content.  And given that search engines love content, it is a great way to continually add quality content that others might link to. Taking advantage the community building aspect of blogs is key as you will develop readership which will often refer to and link to your blog.

7. Use Social Media Networks (to promote your blog).   The growth of Social Media sites such as Digg, Reddit, StumbleUpon, and the like have allowed companies to "score" massive amounts of inbound links (usually to blogs) in a short time.  Social Media Optimization is quickly becoming a niche industry within the SEM industry. It is important to know the rules of each Social Media site and to not blatantly self promote as this is often not looked upon with favor.

8. Participate in Online Communities.  With a blog you can build community, but it is also important to get involved in other online communities such as blogs where you can post comments that link back to your website and forums that allow you to use a signature, complete with your URL and mini ad.

9. Be Persistent and Consistent - Don't Give Up.   You will want to invest consistent and focused time to increasing your sites inbound and internal links.  If you are launching a new site, you will need to devote considerable time to link building, and also you will need to exercise patience as it will take a few months to see the effects of each link.  Make sure to maximize secondary search portals as well.  Some are very inexpensive but are good sources of inbound links such as Linkopedia or SiteSnoop, and others are just not worth the money (I wouldn't pay much for a not well known directory). Ultimately, you will see the evidence of an effective linking campaign in the form of an increasing Google Page Rank.

You should be aware of all of the silly schemes that are out there that guarantee to link you thousands of sites, or give you links from highly ranked sites.  With regard to building qualify inbound links, look to the top directories first, then secondary directories, and then look to other quality, related sites.  Most of all, remember that slow and steady wins the race.

 

If you need professional assistance with your link building campaign, do not hesitate to contact our team.  We will analyze your internal and external links, and help you develop a strategy for increasing both.

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