While directories are not as beneficial as they used to be they are still a good foundation for link building campaigns. Below is list of the top 10 SEO friendly directories that pass on PageRank to your site, thereby increasing your PR. Read the rest of this entry »
Considering the success of my last post, on link strategies, I’ve decided to create a second post with more ways to get links. I listed 18 of the most popular a couple days ago, now I will post 18 more.
19.
Put up a Featured Post
This is a great way to allow your top blog post or posts, to continue being read long after it has been posted. If they really are your top posts, that means over time, they will continue to get links and comments. If you leave them out for everybody to see, new people visiting will see your best works, and if they like it will link to it.
20.
Be Controversial
Now I’d be careful about this, but if you want to risk it, this can be a great link builder. If your posts caused people to get riled up, then you will see links start flooding in. Start bashing a top blogger, and give several reasons. Like 100 Reason I Hate Garry Conn or something. Now Don’t do that because Gary is a really nice guy. But if you did something like that, and actually had legimate reasons, then you will be flooded with links. Choose wisely though, consider if it’s worth mutilating your reputation for the sake of links.
21.
Exchange Blog Reviews
Email another similar blog in your niche that you enjoy, and ask him if he’d want to exchange reviews, I bet you he’ll say yes. This can be a great way for both of you, to advertise your sites to new viewers.
22.
Buy Them
If you’re really desperate, you can buy links to the Yahoo Directory, 125×125 ads, text links ads, blog reviews… If you throw enough money at them, you can get people to do anything.
23.
Work on your Digg Account
This is using social media, but the key to social media, is social networking. If you have the time, you can create a killer digg account, that will allow you to reach the top pages on digg. In case you haven’t realized it yet, there’s an art to reaching the first page on digg. You don’t see random blogs making it up there, only the top sites make it, or ones with signifcant backers. The sites that make it up there, are really popular ones, or, posts that have been marketed well. There are several top digg members, who can single handily make a post reach the first page, because of how many friends, and how much influence they have. If you have the time to create a reputation on digg, and get friends, thus making yourself one of these top diggers. You can create a digg account that will allow you to get your posts on top of digg. However, this takes way more time then I have. If you do though, you’ll be flooded with links.
24.
Offer Free Products
If you start marketing, that you’re offering weekly, or monthly products, people will start linking to it. You can make this even better by offering better prizes to subscribers, or people who have linked to it.
25.
Spread the Link Love Around
Now this one you have to be Really careful about. Just by linking to random sites, don’t expect links back. However, if they are similar sites, and you are saying something like “Great Blogs I Read,” then your chances will be greatly improved. However, don’t go overboard with this, it doesn’t seem to have a very high success rate.
26.
Email Popular Bloggers Asking them to Guest Post on Your Site
If you can get a popular blogger to write a guest post on your site, it will be a much bigger deal because of their reputation. You can get a lot of links this way, especially if it’s a good quality post.
27.
Report Breaking News
This is somewhat difficult to do, because you have to be Very quick. But say you flick on the tv and find Yahoo got sold, sprint to your computer and write a blog post saying “Yahoo Got Sold!!” Not only will you be flooded with Search Engine traffic as the news gets around, but if you submit to digg fast enough you might even get some diggs on there as well. But remember you literally have seconds, until it’s old news. But if you can do this, you’ll get Tons of links.
28.
Find Do-Follow Sites
I found this great site, that allows you to search for do follow sites. On these sites, comments count as links, so these are a great opportunity.
29.
Link from your Old Sites
Now this works best if they are relevant. But this way you get to choose the anchor text, which helps your SEO. Linking from your old sites, if they have a PR over 4 then it’s worth it. Under 4, it won’t make enough of a difference to be worth it, unless you have no other links on the page.
30.
Start a Forum
Forums give Tons of traffic, and links, if they are popular. The question is, how can you get a popular one? By doing something new!! Don’t waste people’s time with another pointless forum, find an original idea, and make it off of your related blog. You will receive Tons more traffic, just think how many visits a forum gets, and links if you can get a few hundred members on it.
31.
Create a Signature
Every-time you write an email, sign something, write a letter, work on a forum, comment on a blog… sign it with your name and your blog url, and the keyword phrase of your site.
Don Gilbert
How to Blog
http://www.mastersofseo.com
32.
Ask for Comments
You can do this is a good way, without sounding desperate. End your blog posts with something like this, “If you liked this blog post, and it was able to help you, please link to it from your blog, so others may be helped by it as well.” This is a nice way of asking, that let helping other people be the goal.
33.
Hire a Commentor
You probably don’t have the time to comment on tons of blogs, but I’m sure some intelligent kid you know does. Pay him like 10 cents a comment, which would be a great deal for both of you. Say he leaves 100 comments a day, that’s ten bucks from your pocket, but that’s probably 200 return visitors to your site at least, with probably lots more links and subscribers as well. Be careful who you choose, because he’s representing your name, but outsourcing can be cheap, easy, and very successful.
34.
Set up a YouTube Video
Youtube videos rank Really high in search engines, if you can create a good relevant one, that’s helpful, you can receive lots of links. Just begin and end by saying your name and the blog you’re from. If you don’t believe me about the incredible ranking of youtube videos, type in “how to blog” on google. There’s this stupid video by two perverts that has absolutely nothing to do with blogging. And yet it’s been on the first page at least since September, and who knows how long before that. Can you tell it frustrates me?
35.
Join Group Blogs
There are lots of blogs out there are are done by a group of people. If you have time, find a posting job, for a blog run by several people. Alot of these blogs become pretty popular, so if you can find a group of successful bloggers creating a group blog, try and jump in on it. Most likely, they’ll allow signature links after every post.
36.
Reply to Everything
Build a reputation for being responsive, and kind to your readers. Reply to all emails, comments, and messages. People respect this, and will link to show their appreciation.
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Everybody knows that links are the key to SEO. Links are also the key to selling advertising. Links are the key to Making Money Online. Links also are they key to traffic. Hmm did I miss anything? Links are the Key to everything! I’ve compiled a list of the top ways I generate links, hopefully some of these will be new for you.
1.
Make blogs posts that are lists. For some reason, the blogging world is addicted to these things. It used to be seeing the dollar symbol, but that is so overused now, when people say 35 ways to do so and so, then everybody wants to see the article. If it’s a good article as well, people will link to it. You can make a list either proving things, or even disproving. People like seeing posts on things that aren’t true for some reason, so you can make a list of myths and people will still link to it.
2.
Us Social Media sites. Twitter, Digg, Stumbleupon, Delicious… these are all great ways to get links. Ask people to publish your articles on these, and you will get links. Make sure your article is good, and do some self promotional, and this can give you tons of links.
3.
Ask questions. Lots of popular bloggers like to have Q and A times. For example dailyblogtips.com has a continual going one. All you have to do is ask a question, to get a link from a Very popular site. That’s a high PR link as well. These come along often, you could even good for them, I’m sure you could find a bunch. Make sure you ask good questions, but this is a great way to get that question answered, and get a link.
4.
Comment on Blogs. I won’t beat this already very Very dead horse again. You know the idea, commenting on blogs will greatly help your site, Why are you still not doing it?
5.
Write Guest Posts. This ways is an awesome way to get links, and traffic. Email top bloggers, and ask them if they’ll let you guest post. If they say no and try the big guys in your niche. Shoot for the top and work your way down. If you can write a good informative, helpful post on a popular site, you can get a lot of publicity for your site.
6.
Submit to Blog Directories. Don’t go crazy with this, as in the end I don’t think it’s more valuable then say four blog comments, which you could do in the same amount of time. But this can be nice for a quick high PR blog. Always try the DMOZ directory, that one is definitely worth a shot.
7.
Preform Studies and Surveys. People like it when you conduct several week studies. It gets them following your blog, and checking back for the updates. Also reading through the archives to find out what else you’ve said on the topic. So find original studies that people haven’t done before, and try them out. People will link if it’s done well.
8.
Steal off other Contests. Be like Eric Tan and offer part of the prizes from other people’s contests, in case you win. And in return ask for links… stumbles…. comments. I can’t believe this works, but apparently it does because he keeps doing it. And hey if it works, that’s a pretty awesome idea. This isn’t meant to bash Eric by any means.
9.
Blog Carnivals. These get your posts posted on a bunch of different sites, you should definitely try one of these. This is a great way to publicize your site, for free.
10.
Make a self updating list. Learn from the top 100 site of 45n5, and the top IM sites by Winning the Web. These are great ways to get links. If you are a good programmer these will get you TONS of links if you can advertise them right.
11.
Use Forums. Forums are great ways to get traffic, but make sure you are giving helpful advice first. Only use your posts when they are relevant, and don’t spam and get yourself kicked out. Forums can be a great source of traffic and links if you use it correctly.
12.
Publicize it on Wikipedia. If you have a fairly popular site, create a new page about it on wikipedia. If nothing else you can show it to other people, and brag about how popular you are. You can also publicize yourself on Google Groups, and Yahoo Answers.
13.
Create a Squidoo. These can be useful, as they are essentially like miniature websites, except they are only one page. Make one, write some original content, and then post a link to your site. Do some publicizing, and you can build up the PR of it. Squidoo lens get really high Search Engine rankings. So take advantage of this.
14.
Post Often. If you are posting often and originally, then links will come organically. You just need patience, and good self publicizing skills.
15.
Create a WordPress Plugin. These can give you a lot of links, if it’s a good one. I went to plugin recently that had 4300 trackbacks, on this on post alone, because it was that popular a plugin. I you can make a good one, the reward will be great.
16.
Create a WordPress Theme. There are lots of good ones already, so don’t expect to make too much money from this. However, offer them for free, and you’ll get lots more links that way. If you calculate it up, the more links may be worth more then the extra sales.
These last two, are the top linkbaiters in my mind. If done correctly these reap you great rewards.
17.
Hold a Contest. These are great linkbaiters, especially if you are offering great prizes. Everybody wants in on a great contest. So choose carefully, your sponsors, and the details. Don’t ruin this great opportunity. Yan is running a blog contest now, which has very unique prizes. If you notice there are no ECs, Ebooks, Advertising Spots, and only one blog review that is a very special one. The prizes are unique because they are off internet products, so they are worth a lot more. So don’t waste your time with a stupid contest, make sure it’s the best prizes you can get. And spend as much time as you can spare advertising it, because that is the way you’ll get links. If you give people a big bonsus for blogging about the contest, you’ll get a lot more links.
18.
Be a Sponsor. This is the top way to get links in my mind. It’s so easy to be a sponsor, all you need to do is offer 500 ECs and you can be given free links. Or a text link ad, or a 125×125. Think of the potential? Right now Tons of bloggers are running christmas contests, take advatage of this. Ask them all if you can be sponsors. I sponsored Five contest this past week, that’s five links alone. Now say each of them get’s linked to five times, (which is very little,) that’s 25 links. Now two of them were on fairly popular sites, so they’ll get at least 10-15 links. So with offering five different prizes, only one of which cost me any phyiscal money, I just generated 40-50 links. And that’s assuming these are small contests. Are you starting to realize the potential? Don’t miss this great opportunity, to get links.
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You have just finished reading a blog post, nod your head, and think to yourself “That was a great post!” Then you click away to the next website or post. You’ve done that millions of times, why would you do anything else? Why should you bother commenting? Sure you enjoyed article, maybe even learned some things, but you’re a busy person and can’t afford the time to comment. (At least you THINK you can’t afford the time.)
If that’s you, (and I know that we are all guilty of that more often them we would like to admin) then it’s time to change. If you run a blog or any website, and you want it to get more traffic, links, PR, comments… you NEED to start commenting Alot. That’s the way most popular sites have started off, from commenting up to 50+ times a day. The three keys to getting a popular site is have great original content, to post frequently, and to comment insane amounts.
On December 2nd, I had a commenting spree. And I sent out about 30-40 comments in one day, which honestly isn’t a ton, but it is when you are really busy. That one day of commenting created incredible results for my blog, in all aspects. My Alexa ranking was 87K for that one day dropping my total down to 153K, my subscribers jumped by almost twenty. And my Technorati, dropped below 100K to 88K because of the new links I got. And these new readers are now coming back.
Not only did this give me a lot of traffic, but it put my blog out for new visitors to see. I got almost 20 new subscribers in two days, and many new links from it. When you comment repeatably on a site, then you can get on the top of their top commentator lists, which gives you a free link as well, and also more traffic because people are curious who the top people are. Commenting is a must for all bloggers, and by getting yourself into the habit of commenting after every post, you’ll greatly help your blog. And not only that, but if you do it right, then you can help your site’s search engine rankings as well. That’s four pluses right there, and now I realize it takes some time, but if you can get in a habit you will immediately start seeing results.
Another important reason, is the relationships you can start to develop. Relationships are really underrated on the internet, but knowing the right people can be hugely helpful for promotion. You can get guest posting opportunities, do advertising together, or you can even start sites together, combining your online talents. Besides my site’s results for proof, there are three bloggers who are pinnacle examples of the commenting art. They are what I like to call the “Comment Kings of the Blogging World,” or just “Comment Kings” for short. These guys are EVERYWHERE. You couldn’t escape them even if you wanted to. It doesn’t matter what your blog is about. I think they should create a wordpress plugin that can block the “Comment Kings,” because if you create a blog on the Internet, they’ll find you and leave a comment lol. And their sites are definitely showing the results of their persistent effort.
They are,
Dennis Edell from http://www.directsaleswebmarketing.com
Danny Cooper from http://www.linkersblog.com
Yan Susanto from http://www.thoushallblog.com
So what does all this mean for you?
Step One, go onto your google account, and create a google.com/reader account.
Step Two, all the blogs that you read, add their urls onto the account by typing in the urls in the add subscription box.
Step Three, check this every day if you can, and everytime they write a new post, comment on it.
Step Four, go to these three secret sites, if you are Yan, Danny, or Dennis reading this post, you aren’t allowed to click on these. 
Secret URL 1
Secret URL 2
Secret URL 3
Why spend all the effort trying to find the new sites to comment on? Yan, Dennis, and Danny, already do the work for us, just follow their accounts, from the secret urls, and then they will show you lots of new sites, that will be easy to get on the top commentator lists, and thus get free links from. You will be able to start building relationships by becoming a frequent commentator, and you will be able to get traffic back to your site as well.
Step Five, add these new sites to your google reader, (maybe on another account) and start commenting on these as well.
I promise you will start seeing results in no time.
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