Link Building Is Essential - Here’s 10 Ways How To Do It

SEO Help - Hot Tip - After yesterday’s post, I couldn’t help but talk about the importance of link building, especially for new sites. Not sure if all of you saw, but after my article about title tags yesterday, I received a warm welcome over at Shoemoney’s blog. Now, although Shoemoney sounded quite angry at first, I honestly don’t think he was after the fact. In my titles article, I gave sound advice on the importance of SEO formatted title tags, and the comment section of Shoemoney’s post was quite inflammatory. Eight out of ten commenter’s made absolutely ridiculous comments that either sounded foolish, or didn’t pertain to the situation at all. Remember that “telephone” game you played when you were younger? That’s exactly what happened over there, and quickly. I found myself defending a good article that, by all SEO practices that I know of, was absolutely correct and true. It just goes to show how dependent some of those poor bloggers are on other people’s words. Sad..really.

Anyway, building quality inbound backlinks is quite important for you if you have any hopes of ranking in the search engines decently. There are many ways to build links, and it will be a huge aspect of your webmaster/blogger career. The quest for backlinks really never ends, until you get big enough to put it on autopilot.

Now, I’m not talking about buying “500 links for $4″ off of Digitalpoint, as most of those offers are either link farms, bad directories, or splogs (spam blogs). Getting those will not do you much good, and could realistically hinder your chances at good rankings. The best way to build links comes with a little hard work and creativity. Remember, ideally you want people in your niche or industry linking back to you with relevant anchor text, as that will give you the most benefit. Doing this can sometimes be tricky, but with the unbelievable success of the social networking/bookmarking segment, it’s become a little easier. Again, creativity is key, for the most part. Great content will alway net you quality backlinks, but sometimes you have to think outside of the box.

Here are a few ways you can start building relevant links that will be beneficial to you:

1. Create controversy - This was an obvious first choice on my list, but it comes with a disclaimer. IF you decide to go this route (and I recommend it to everyone), be sure you can back yourself up ethically and soundly. I made one non-aggressive comment about Shoemoney’s blog, and I had 46 people jumping down my throat for no solid reason whatsoever. I still chose to defend my stance, as everyone is entitled to their opinion, and honestly, my “opinion” was more fact that anything. Again, pick your controversies wisely, and only get into them if you can stand behind it.

2. Great content - Talking about the importance of great content is equivalent to beating the dead horse. But there is a reason for that - great content is one of the easiest, and most effective ways to gain backlinks from like-minded sites - even competitors. I gladly link to anyone that has an interesting story that gets me talking. Google recommends great content as one of the best ways to improve rankings.

3. Guest blog - While not the easiest route, if you can write, then you can probably get an article published on a larger blog in your industry, who will usually give you a chance to link back to your site. This is a widely accepted practice, and most A-list bloggers that I know will publish unsolicited articles IF, they are good enough. Be prepared to send your A-game.

4. Directories - There is nothing wrong with submitting your site to quality directories, even paid ones. Remember, the key word is quality - don’t get your site mixed in with nasty link farms and what-not.

5. Digg Effect - This one is rather hard to do, but if you can nail it, you’re home free. Digg is still a powerhouse when it comes to traffic potential and exposure. Some blogs got their start from a big Digg post. Write your most eye-catching, unique, unreal content, submit it, and hope it catches on. If it does, the resulting traffic (which could melt your servers) leaves the possibility of many incoming links.

6. Comment on blogs - While this may not get you tons of links, if you leave relevant, helpful and interesting comments on related blogs, it can help with your brand exposure, draw new traffic in, and may result in people linking to you.

7. Contests - One of my favorites (and I’ll have my first one very, very soon, so pay attention!). Contests, hands down, is a great way to build links. Everyone likes a chance at a free prize (make sure you give away something good, not crap) and if you make linking back to the contest post one of the entry requirements, it can be very beneficial. It’s fun for everyone.

8. Design a template, or write a plugin - Either one of these (as long as it’s quality) can get you TONS of good links. Everyone likes a fresh new template, theme, or plugin. Just be sure to add your link in the footer, and require that it can’t be removed - it’s usually not a problem.

9. BBB, CoC - If you have a legit online business, join the BBB and your local Chamber of Commerce for a few free and very good quality links. This is the first thing I tell my friends that have businesses online. It’s so easy to do, and very worthwhile.

10. Start talking! Join a popular webmaster forum and be an active, helpful, contributing member. It takes a little time, but soon enough, if you regularly help people or offer your expertise, people will naturally link to you without hesitating. Also be sure to put a link to your site in your signature - people still love clicking on those.

Now, there are probably 5000+ ways to build links, but that would make for a very long post. These are some basic and easy ideas to implement into your routine, and while some make take more than a few days, the methods above are safe and effective.

Exploit the backlink power of blogs! Get your site onto the most popular content sites in your niche!