» link-building

The Most Overlooked Link Building Strategy…

Kim — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 17:07:07 +0000

Hey guys, 

I created a video for you today that reveals THE most powerful, yet
overlooked link building strategy. 

In fact, you can make just a few tweaks to your website and give
yourself a huge boost in rankings. 

Are you getting curious?

Click on the link below to find out more...

http://www.buzzblogger.com/videos/linkmagic/

How to Become a Link Building Ninja

Kim — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 21:04:50 +0000

You’re about to begin your journey to becoming a link building ninja.

Oh? You don’t know what a link building ninja is…

Hmmm. Let me grab my dictionary.

Here we are… A link building ninja is one who is skilled in the art of highly advanced link building; one who can find link building opportunities untapped by other marketers; a person trained to reverse engineer the link building strategies of others and destroys their Google rankings with ninja stealth. They rarely discover how their competitors stole all of their precious rankings.

So with that, let’s dig in…

1.Here’s One Link Building Tactic That Nobody Talks About…

As you probably know, syndicating your RSS feed to all the different RSS directories and aggregators can be a great way to get one-way backlinks.

Plus, they’re one of the best ways to get indexed fast in Google.

In this article, I’m going to show you how to put your RSS feed on steroids and grab 10 times as many backlinks.

The secret is in creating custom RSS feeds.

The idea is to create multiple, custom RSS feeds and submit those to several RSS feed aggregator sites. This spreads your links all over the Internet.

Talk about some link juice!

You can do this using a service called RSSMix.

Watch this step-by-step video tutorial to find out how to create your own customized RSS feeds.

This site allows you mix any number of RSS feeds into one new feed, which opens up lots of new link building opportunities. You can create your own customized RSS feeds from your articles, videos, podcasts, Squidoo lenses, Hubpages, and more. In fact, even EzineArticles has an RSS feed for each user.

Any of the content you have on the Internet can be put into your own customized RSS feeds. These can the be submitted to the top RSS directories, giving you hundreds of one-way backlinks.

Here’s another quick tip on how to use the power of RSS Mix…

If you use Web 2.0 properties like Squidoo, blogspot, social bookmarking sites, and others to generate backlinks, you can create one big RSS feed from all of these sources using RSS Mix.

By creating one big RSS feed, you can then submit that feed to all the different RSS directories. This ensures that Google indexes all of the pages that contain your backlinks.

If Google doesn’t index the page you have a backlink from, then it doesn’t count. You can use RSS feeds to make sure that all of your backlinks get counted in Google. I hope you see the power in this technique!

You can also do this for all of the articles you submit around the net. If a particular page doesn’t have an RSS feed, don’t worry. You can turn any page into an RSS feed using Dapper.net. Any time you add a new resource, add it’s RSS feed to your “One Big RSS feed”.

If you want to get a little more advanced, you can use a service called Yahoo Pipes. Yahoo Pipes allows you to apply filters to your main RSS feeds. So, for example, you could create a customized RSS feed for all of the content on your site related to “diets”. You could then create another customized RSS feed for all of the content on your site related to “workout plans”.

You’re basically breaking your main RSS feed down into more targeted feeds. This technique allows you to create unlimited RSS feeds!

You can then submit each of these to all the different RSS aggregator sites, multiplying your results and the number of backlinks you receive.

2. Widgets

Another unique way to build hundreds of inbound links is known as widget marketing. Widgets are mini internet applications that are offered via a 3rdparty. They can easily be integrated into web pages, Facebook profiles,iGoogle start pages, and more.

Because of this, a widget can spread your link to thousands of otherwebsites.

Some popular widgets include quizzes, games, weather reports, and Flickrslideshows. It seems that everyone is starting to create their own widgets.

Amazon.com has their own widget to let customers show off their favoriteAmazon products. USA Today offers a widget that enables bloggers to displaythe latest new updates.

Why shouldn’t you have one also? If you don’t know how to program, don’tworry. You can instantly turn your blog into a widget at WidgetBox.com.

Once you have created your widget, you can promote your widgets on the following websites…

Widgepedia

Google Widget Directory

Snipperoo Widget Directory

RateitAll Widgets

Friendster Widget Directory

Netvibes Widget Diretory

Xanga Widget Directory

The popular online dating site JustSayHi used widgetbait to rank on the frontpage of Google for highly competitive terms like “Free Online Dating” and”Online Dating”.

They did this by creating popular quizzes and turning them into a widget.Some of their quizzes include titles like “How Many Five Year Olds Could You Take in a Fight?” and “The Geek Quiz”. You can check out an entire list of the quizzes they have created at http://www.oneplusyou.com/q

However, keep in mind that they have recently changed their name to mingle2.com, which is ranking #1 in Google for “free online dating” – largelydue to the links they’ve built using widgets.

You can read the full story at…

http://www.seomoz.org/blog/widgetbait-gone-wild

You can also turn your widget into a Facebook app with a free tool called App Accelerator. Popular Facebook applications can send thousands of visitors to your site per day. It’s just a matter of being creative and taking action.

3. Instant Backlinks

Here’s a cool trick for getting instant backlinks…

Zimbio!

At first glance, Zimbio might look like any other user generated conten tsite. However, when you look closely, you’ll find that it’s a link-generatingmachine.

You can use Zimbio to get new backlinks every time you post to your blog.

Once you’ve created an account, simply submit your blog URL or your feed URL, and Zimbio will instantly import your blog posts, providing you with instant backlinks every time you post to your blog.

Plus, your articles will also be promoted to related wikizines within Zimbio, driving even more traffic to your website.

Here’s another interesting technique for getting instant backlinks…

LookUpPage.com

Want to build your reputation and create high quality backlinks at the same time? LookUpPage.com allows you to do just that.

You create a personal LookUpPage with information about you, your website, and contact info. Plus, you get to add links to all your different websites with anchor text included. These are the types of juicy links that Google loves. So go set up your unique profile page, build your brand, and get some authoritative backlinks at the same time.

Naymz is another free website that allows you to set up a profile centered around your name and reputation. All you have to do is sign up, create a profile, and add your website URL under the “links” category.

4. Here’s another interesting find. It’s called Cool Site of the Day. This site lists some of the most interesting sites from around the web. Best of all, you can submit your site as well if you think it’s up to snuff. Not only does this present an excellent link opportunity, but Cool Site of the Day is known for sending thousands of visitors to their featured sites.

If your site is chosen, it will be featured on the homepage and announced to their email list of over 150,000 subscribers.

Much like Digg, Cool Site of the Day also has a ripple effect. The featured sites are often picked up by journalists throughout the world. Some of the previously featured sites have been quoted on the BBC News website, featured in USA Today, picked up by radio stations and quoted in a number of other media outlets.

Sites similar to Cool Site of the Day that you can submit to include…

Do you have a unique or entertaining website? If so, you can drop your links at the following websites…

5. Blog Reviews

Another great way to build inbound links is through blog reviews. No, I’m not talking about paid reviews from sites like ReviewMe.com. There are actually lots of sites that are willing to exchange reviews.

There’s a site called ReviewBackthat allows you to exchange reviews with other bloggers. Reviewback is an excellent alternative for those who don’t want to spend their money on ReviewMe.

You can also find a nice list of web sites that offer review exchanges at
http://courtneytuttle.com/2007/04/02/sites-that-do-blog-review-trading/

YoungEntrepreneur.com is just one of the popular online blogs that does mutual reviews.

This is an excellent opportunity to get a very high-quality, authoritative backlink.

6. Recoup Your Link Juice

Here’s an innovative way to increase your rankings. I call it recouping your link juice. Here’s the idea…

If you’ve been online for any time at all, then you probably already have incoming links from other websites.

However, are they using the anchor text for the keyword phrase you would liketo rank for? If not, you can email the website owner and ask them to changethe anchor text to your desired keyword phrase. This one simple step can helpshoot up your ranking for your desired keywords.

7. Coupon Sites

Here’s a tactic I see very few sites using – submitting your website to coupon directories. Besides building links, you can also generate new customers and build some buzz around your brand.

Some of the most popular places you can submit your coupons to are Coupon Cabin, Ultimate Coupons, Free Shipping, and Deal Taker.

For a complete list of coupon sites, go to…

http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=p4bAsllwd0FlMmPng37LvTA

There are lots of ways to create coupons for your site. For example, checkout the following web page to see a Link Building Service that is using coupon sites to advertise their service.

http://www.couponcodes4u.com/discounts/linkexchanged.com

Coupon sites are an excellent option if you sell any kind of product or service.

You can offer discounts, promotional codes, or even rebates.

Be creative!

8. Underground Link Building Tool

Here’s one of my favorite tools for finding hidden link buildingopportunities. It can be found at…

http://www.webconfs.com/backlink-builder.php

This tools searches for websites of the theme you specify that contain keyphrases like “Add link”, “Add site”, “Add URL”, “Add URL”, “Submit URL”, “Add Article” etc.

I’ve found lots of great link building opportunities using this tool.

Try it Out!

9. CSS Galleries

CSS galleries are another untapped source of traffic and links. FreelanceSwitch.com has received over 25,000 visitors from CSS Galleries . If you have a savvy CSS design,be sure to submit it to all of the major CSS galleries.

Each of these sites can also send you quick and easy traffic.

10. Internal Link Structure

One of the best linking strategies that people take for granted is the power of their own internal link structure.

Proper internal link structure will insure that your website gets properly spidered and all pages are found and indexed by the search engines. It will also increase the PageRank (Link Juice) that flows to your internal pages, thus raising your search engine rankings.

Simply by optimizing your internal link structure, you can increase your search engine rankings. By adding the right links in strategic places, we can boost our own search engine rankings without having to get links from external websites. Most people simply do not realize the sheer power of their own internal linking structure.

You can essentially, direct the flow of Google juice within your website.

You can improve your internal link structure through 3 main methods:

1. Text link navigation

2. Footers

3. Inline Text links (Contextual Links)

For example, if there are certain keyword phrases you want to rank for, you can create internal links to the page you want to rank high on Google. These links can be placed in the navigation, footer, breadcrumb links, or within the content.

You can go to beau-coup.com to see some good examples of internal linking using contextual links within the content. They also use breadcrumb navigation to improve their internal link structure.

You can go to Americanbridal.com to see an example of how they’re using footer links to rank for their desired keyword phrases.

Keep in mind that contextual links (those that are placed within the text of a page) are more powerful than navigation and footer links. If you’re using Wordpress, you can use a plugin for related posts to increasethe internal linking to relatd content. This is good for both your seasrch engine rankings as well as increasing your pageviews.

In addition, you can also use a plugin for preventing the duplicate content that is caused by Wordpress blogs. The plugin is called the Duplicate Content Cure.

If you’d like more information about how to optimize your internal link structure, check out the following resources:

A video tutorial on internal link structure by Aaron Wall

A Guide to Internal Linking by Rand Fishkin of SeoMoz

A Guide to Internal Linking by Jim Boykin

SEO Fast Start Guide by Dan Thies

11. Convert your Articles into Podcasts

Another great way to build one-way backlinks is to convert your blog posts into podcasts. You can use free online software to automatically convert your blog posts into podcasts without having to do any extra work. By turning your blog posts into podcasts, you open up a ton of new link building opportunities.

One of my favorite tools, Odiogo.com, will instantly give your blog a voice. Odiogo will automatically convert your RSS feeds, text articles and blog posts to iPod-ready audio files. Once you’ve installed their free service, you can then submit your new podcast to all of the podcast directories, generating tons of new backlinks to your site.

If you don’t have an RSS feed or a blog for your website, then you can use a service called Read The Words.

Read The Words can convert any web page, text file, Word document, or PDF file into an audio file that’s ready to be submitted to all the different podcast directories.

12. Building Links with Tickers!

Here’s one of my favorite link building tactics that I see very few people using…

Have you ever been to a forum and seen those countdown tickers that countdown to a particular date or event?

Here’s an example:

http://www.brides.com/forums/thread.jspa?threadID=48916&start=45&tstart=0

Some common tickers include pregnancy countdowns, wedding countdowns, weight loss countdowns, etc…

People use these tickers when posting to forums and on their blogs. Most people include the tickers in their signature file.

But here’s the cool part…

Every time they post to the forum with their ticker, the creator of the countdown ticker gets a link back to their site.

Now imagine if you started creating your own countdown tickers and started distributing them to your users and promoting them in popular forums. You could get thousands of one-way backlinks coming into your site.

If you’re thinking this would require some complicated programming, think again! You can create an unlimited number of countdown tickers with a piece of software located at MyTickerScript.com.

This software allows you to create customized graphical countdown tickers.

They have over 12 Ticker types built in, including:

Pregnancy Due Date Countdown

Pregnancy Due Date (When am I due?)

Breastfeeding

Baby and Child Age

Birthday Countdown

Trying to Conceive

Angel Remembrance

Weight Loss

Wedding Countdown

Anniversary Countdown

Adoption Countdown

Vacation Countdown

However, you can also create custom tickers to countdown to any event you choose. This is a great technique for increasing your backlinks, traffic, revenue, and website exposure. Every ticker you create is branded with your websites name and links back to your website.

Think about it… If you had just one active forum member using your ticker, that could equate to thousands of backlinks.

13. Our final link building technique is quite “out-of-the-box”.

It’s buying websites!

Yes, you can buy low-cost websites to get high-quality one-way backlinks. You can use the SitePoint
Marketplace to find some great deals on established websites.

Buying a low-cost website not only gives you lots of powerful link building opportunities, it can also bring you a lot of extra traffic and subscribers.

Lots of people simply don’t know how to monetize their websites properly. You can often find quality websites getting hundreds of visitors a day that aren’t even collecting opt-ins. Imagine if you bought the site with your marketing knowledge, started collecting subscribers, and built a relationship with your list.

Congratulations on finishing this VERY long article. You are now well on your way to becoming a link building ninja. The only thing left for you to do is implement the powerful strategies and tactics you’ve learned. Remember, it’s all about practice!

Did You See Me on ProBlogger.net?

Kim — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 01:25:34 +0000

Did you see my latest article on ProBlogger? It’s called How to Get Featured on the New York Times, CNN, CNET, and Newsweek.

As you can imagine, I was pretty stoked when I find out that Darren Rowse was going to publish my article. He’s a super cool guy and I have learned a ton from his blog.

Hope you enjoy the article!

Confessions of An Underground Link Building Ninja

Kim — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 14:13:12 +0000

Before I get this post rolling, I’d like to confess something right up front. I’ve read a LOT of articles about link building. I’ve read endlessly about article marketing, press releases, social bookmarking, commenting, blah, blah, blah….

Aren’t you just a little bit sick of all the rehashed material.

So here’s the deal. I want to raise the bar. I want to blow all of those other half-baked articles out of the water and bring you something insanely valuable.

Before we dive in though, I’m going to tell you now that this is a looong article. But I promise not to waste a second of your time. If you commit yourself to studying this article I promise that every word will drip with tasty marketing insights.

You’re going to learn some cool ways to get featured on ZDNET, CNET.com, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, Newsweek, and CNN. I’m going to reveal one of my favorite techniques for getting hundreds of powerful one-way backlinks in just a few hours. Plus, you’ll see how I turn articles into multiple formats and open up 5x as many link opportunities.

Plus, you’ll learn how to use the internal link juice of your own website to catapult your search engine rankings.

So, let’s dive in. We’ll start with one of my favorites…

Getting your site featured on major new sites is one of the best kept secrets in the blogosphere and I’m going to show you two different strategies for getting your links on sites like CNET, CNN,
FoxNews, Reuters, and USA Today.

The first technique uses a site called BlogBurst, a website that connects bloggers with mainstream media sites. Simply join the BlogBurst network and start getting picked up by some of the world’s most popular media sites.

All you need to do is submit your RSS feed. Once you’re accepted into the network, you’re articles will enjoy exposure on major media sites and a ton of extra publicity at no extra cost to you.

But it doesn’t end there… There’s actually an even simpler way to get your blog featured in major news sites like CNN, The Wall Street Journal, and Newsweek.

All you have to do is link to a story and a company known as Sphere.com matches up mainstream news items with articles in the blogosphere. Go to the bottom of any CNN story and you’ll see a drop down box that says: “From the Blogs”.

Click on the link and you will find blogs that are linking to the article. Not only does this put your blog on a major news website, it can also drive hundreds of visitors.

Sphere is also being used by TechCrunch, Time, Reuters, CBS, AOL, the Washington Post, WordPress, GigaOm, Newsweek, and ZDNet, allowing you to get your blog featured on any of these prestigious sites.

Now, here’s one of my favorite techniques for getting hundreds of high-quality one-way backlinks in just a few hours…

Best of all, it requires no additional “brain” work on my part. Here’s what I do. I take my articles and turn them into EXE files (an executable file).

This allows me to submit my article to hundreds of software directories. Each directory sends me a one-way backlink. Not to mention, hundreds of extra visitors.

Now, you’re probably thinking this is way too techy and complicated, but it’s really pretty simple. First, you need to get some free software called WebSiteZip Packer.

This will allow you to turn an HTML page into an executable (.exe) file. So all you need to do is put your article in HTML format, enter it into the software wizard, let it do a bit of magic, and an exe file pops out the other end.

You then need to create what’s called a PAD file and submit it to all the software download sites.

Now creating the PAD file is a bit more difficult. I actually used a program by Michelle MacPhearson called 30 minute backlinks to get complete step-by-step instructions on how to do this. So if you want to really take advantage of this method, she’s an incredible person to learn from.

This technique is extremely powerful and I’m surprised that more people aren’t doing this because it allows you to obtain unlimited one-way backlinks from sites with a PR of 4,5, 6 and 7.

Just think…you can easily turn all of your articles into exe files, meaning every article you write has the potential to create hundreds of links back to your site.

Now, if you want to take this strategy to the next level, I suggest you use a site called Download.com.

Download.com is one of the largest software directories online with a huge distribution. However, Download.com also offers a hidden benefit that most people miss.

Google LOVES download.com. It has extraordinary authority online, allowing you to get a Top-10 listing within Google in a matter of days. Just like Squidoo and Scribd can rank very quickly in Google, Download.com is another incredibly powerful tool for ranking in Google. However, most people haven’t discovered this hidden gem.

Quick Note: Keep in mind that you can distribute a number of different types of programs to download sites, including screensaveers, widgets, and toolbars. Get Creative…

Here’s one of my golden nuggets…

Another cool way to get backlinks is to streeeeetch your content by turning your articles into podcasts.

You can automatically turn all of your blog posts into podcasts using Talkr or Odiogo. These services use text-to-speech technology to convert text to audio.

All of your articles are now podcasts that you can submit to podcast directories. By converting your articles into multiple formats, you open up entirely new link building opportunities and expose your content to new audiences.

Why not turn your articles into ebooks, affiliate tools, emails, or even slides to post on SlideShare.net. Look for ways to leverage your existing assets…

You can also build links with contests. Holding a blog contest is a great way to grow your blog’s audience, build inbound links, and improve your search engine presence.

You can promote your contest through the following sites…

Contest Blogger
ThePrizeBlog
MyBlogContest
ContestBeat
AboutBlogContest

Contests are a great way to interact with your community, generate buzz, build backlinks,
and attract new readers.

Here’s a strategy almost no one is taking advantage of…

Forum links!

I know, you’ve probably heard forum links are worthless but nothing could be further from the truth.
Forum links can be extremely powerful.

However, I do NOT suggest that you waste your time away on forums. Instead, I would look for popular forums related to your niche and buy sig links from the top users. These active users will likely have made thousands of posts and you can usually buy their sig links for pennies.

Seriously, most forum members don’t know how valuable their sig links are. This is especially true for forums outside of Internet Marketing. Look for forums that have a PR of 4 or higher and users that have at least 1,000 posts.

This technique works well for all 3 search engines, but it can quickly catapult you to a top 3 position on MSN. The key is to use a targeted keyword phrase in the anchor text of your sig links. I would shoot for a keyword phrase that’s 3 – 4 words long.

The next link building technique is a method that takes blog commenting to an entirely new level, allowing you to build thousands of backlinks in just a couple of weeks.

As you probably know, every time you make a comment on a blog you get to put your name in it. However, if you’re a smart SEO, then this is where you place your targeted keyword phrase, which is then hyperlinked back to your site.

Unfortunately… this is where most marketers stop.

But a few smart marketers look for Wordpress blogs with the Top Commentators plug-in installed.

This allows you to become a top commenter and get a site-wide link in the blog’s sidebar with your targeted keyword phrase. Unlike comments, these links are almost always do-follow. Start becoming a top commenter on just a few blogs and you will quickly build hundreds, if not thousands of links.

The final link building tactic is one of the most under-used strategies but also the most effective
when used properly. It’s internal linking.

Every one of your pages has inherent link power. By controlling the flow of link juice through your site you can dramatically increase your search engine rankings without having to build external links.

You can do this by adding the right links in strategic places on your website. Some of the most important pages on your site are the category pages. The category pages are listed as navigation links on the sidebar of your page. Because these links are site-wide, they can be extremely powerful for ranking for your targeted keyword phrases. These category links should contain the anchor text for the top keyword phrases you want to rank for.

Another powerful strategy for optimizing your internal link structure is to use contextual links. These
are links that are present within the body of an article. Wikipedia is one of the very best examples in the use of contextual links. Almost all of their articles have contextual links peppered throughout the content. Each one of these links leads to a related page on Wikipedia.

This extremely powerful network of contextual links has enabled Wikipedia to dominate the top
positions in Google.

Another way to boost your internal link structure is by utilizing footer links. This is a great place to use links to target different variations and modifiers of your core terms. For example, if one of your core keyword phrases is “golf wedding favors”, you might place a link in your footer for “golf ball wedding favors”, which is a variation on the core phrase.

These footer links allow you to target a broader range of keywords. Don’t limit yourself to using the same footer links on every page. Change it up a bit so that you can target an even greater variety of anchor text.

Congratulations! You’ve just made it to the end of this very long article and I want to thank you for taking the time to read my tips. I’m honored that you would take the time to read what’s going through my zany little brain.

My goal on this blog is to provide you with an insane amount of value. So if you have any friends you think might benefit from this article, please feel free to pass it along.