At this point we all know that Link Building is the latest and greatest with the search engines and that without link popularity it’s nearly impossible to rank on the first page for competitive keyword phrases.
With that said, most companies fail to take advantage of some of the best link opportunities out there. Put on your link building thinking cap, and start getting links in everything you do. This works especially well for companies that spend money on traditional media.
Tip #1 – Get in Bed with your Partners
Sounds pretty obvious right? All established businesses have partners. In our case we’ve partnered with firms like Text-Link-Ads, 352 Media Group, ClickTracks, and others. In our partnership discussions we made it a point to see that these firms linked to our website as part of the terms of the partnership. If you are going to help sell someone else’s product, or engage in some type of joint venture, make sure you get a link out of it.
Tip #2 – Manufacturers, Dealers, and Distributors
Do you run an eCommerce website? Or are you a service provider for a large manufacturer? If so, make sure you are listed in the dealer directory. If you have a good relationship with the manufacturer of your product make sure you are listed in the “Authorized Reseller” section of their website.
Now here’s a great tip: often these dealer directories and authorized reseller sections are database driven, and frequently these inner “search” pages cannot be accessed by the search engines, which means you won’t get link credit. Luckily, there is a way around that. On your partner’s website, perform a search matching your listing’s criteria. Once you’ve confirmed the search that pulls your site up on the page, simply copy/paste the URL of this search. Now, somewhere on your website give this URL a link (and no you can’t hide the link!). Most likely the search engines will be able to spider the link on your website, follow it to the search result page on your partner’s site, and shazam! you get link credit!
Tip #3 – Hold Traditional Media Renewal Contracts at Ransom – Force the Link
We have a large local real estate agent client that advertises massively on the radio, television, billboards, local magazines, etc. All of these advertising companies have websites, and many of them have a “clients” page. We helped our client come up with some solid renewal messaging, so that when the renewals for these programs came to term our client was able to negotiate free links on the local television station sites, magazines, and more. You can score excellent links from your traditional advertising programs.
Tip #4 – Be a Testimonial Freak
I absolutely love giving testimonials to companies I work with. About 70% of them put my testimonial up on their website, and better yet over half of them link to my website. Is there really a better way to get free publicity for your website, help out your partners, and get link credit? It’s a win-win!
Tip #5 – Get Savvy with your Banners
The standard banner size is 468×60 (see a full list at http://www.iab.net/standards/adunits.asp). With that said, that gives you a 468 pixel width and 60 pixel height. Some websites that sell advertising space give you the option to provide them with a 468×60 with your own HTML code. This allows advertisers to control the flexibility of their banners, utilize their own tracking, etc. If this option is available I recommend using about 80% of the height of your banner for your creative “pitch,” while allowing the bottom 20% of the banner to incorporate somewhere between 5-7 text links (see an example). You’ll just want to make sure these are static HTML links.
With that said, don’t be abusive about it. Use this though in moderation as part of your versatile arsenal of link building techniques.
Tip #6 – Pull the Network Marketing Trick
Why is it that almost everyone gets hooked into Networking Marketing at some point? Somehow these network marketers convince you to sign up your Father, Sister, Aunt Margie, Uncle Fred, flat-broke next door neighbor, and everyone else in your sphere of influence. So why should link building be any different? Got a landscaper? How about a real estate agent buddy? Convince them to link to your site – I don’t know how you’re going to do it – somehow you convinced them to buy your Mary Kay makeup – use the same techniques.
Tip #7 – Become a Social Networking Fruitcake
I hate to list them but sign up for accounts with all of the social networking sites, i.e. Squidoo, 43 Things, Delicious (doesn’t directly pass link credit), Yahoo! Answers, MSN Groups, and all relevant Industry forums. You can also score links from time to time with Wikipedia, Aboutus.org, and others. Operating a blog helps this process. Get involved in the web community. Drop your link when appropriate – again, you can’t abuse this. Add value to the sites and you’ll get links. These companies have already figured out ways to stop spam, so you’ll have to actually put in the time to get credit here. Often this is a good project for the company copywriter, PR/Marketing person, or even webmaster. If you want to be successful though, you’ll need someone that has something smart to say, otherwise don’t waste your time.
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Joe Griffin is the President of SubmitAWebsite.com. Founded in 1997, Submitawebsite, Inc., “The Industrys Original Submission Company,” is a leading provider of search engine marketing services including natural search engine optimization, xml feed syndication, contextual advertising, and search engine advertising/pay-per click management. Submitawebsite, Inc. also offers web design and development, credit card processing, and web hosting.
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