The end of the year saw a couple of remarkable ultimate link building lists; so I see no reason to add my own. Instead I decided to describe a few highly effective, not yet overused and quite original link building techniques you might have never used before.
1. Start anti-smth online campaign and offer badges. The hotter the topic, the better. Example: do you remember last year’s buzz around RipOFFReport.com marketing model? How smart that was of Distilled to start "get rid of ripoffreport from the SERPS" campaign with wonderful badges.
2. Link back to highly popular (official) blogs that publish trackbacks. The trackbacks don’t have to be ‘dofollow’. What is more important is that many journalists and bloggers monitor those trackbacks for interesting ideas and varying opinions. That’s how a guest post at my blog once got the New York Times quote – it linked to official Google blog entry that published tarckbacks.
3. Provide testimonials for industry products you use. Choose a tool you’d be curious to test (or already using), check if its site has a separate section for testimonials and that it links to the authors and send them a message with a well-put detailed testimonial.
Or a similar tactic: find a startup that has "News" section and review it at your site. If you still fail to get a link from them, drop them a line mentioning your review and asking for a link.
4. It is easier to build links based on something than from scratch. Find sites and blogs that have already mentioned (either with a link back or not) your site and develop relations with them.
Quick tip: search Yahoo [yourdomain.com -linkdomain:yourdomain.com] for places that mention you but but dont link back.
5. Pitch local online newspapers and local blogs: they are much quicker to respond and much more willing to cover your resource and link back.
Great information. The Local Blogs and Newspapers is a great idea and one of the first I would say. The local rags always like a good hometown story.
You can also comment on blogs like this using the Google alerts service to let you know when they pop up! Try and be interesting and offer new information though!
When they pop up for the keywords you’re targeting that is!
Makes perfect sense to start at home and evolve from there. Thanks for the tip or should I say the OH DA!
article of this type will of great use for link building,thanks
The tatic #2 is really userfull to get indexed really fast when you have a new blog.
Thanks for sharing. We’ll try it.
I will try it.. Thank you so much :)
Thank you for giving sharing with us, with such a useful knowledge.
We will this share with others
I like these. Not the typical collection of ideas rewritten a thousand times.
Especially like the Yahoo tip.
Cheers!
Those are truly unique suggestions and would probably get some results for certain clients. I like the fact that much of them are active tactics, instead of just trying to create some sort of link bait and waiting for the rest to happen.
The trackback is a great idea. That also gives me another idea. Youtube also provides trackbacks of links that the video is visible in. So, using some of the youtube videos on the high PR pages will give your site or blog a link.
Nice tips.Thanks for sharing.
I like the idea of finding people who have talked about you and strengthening the relationship. It builds on the idea of blogging as community building which is what it’s all supposed to be about anyway. Great article (as usual).
Many newspapers now have reporters blogging and are often looking for ideas. I have had luck contacting them and giving them a heads up on the idea or article. They are often appreciative enough to give you a link.
Great tips, that I haven’t seen elsewhere. Thanks for the fresh perspective. For us startups, it’s easy to run out of steam working on links. This list has re-energized me.
@Steve, thanks a lot for your kind words – that’s so great to know I inspire someone :)
“Quick tip: search Yahoo [yourdomain.com -linkdomain:yourdomain.com] for places that mention you but but dont link back.”
Great tip – thanks
Another good one, Ann. But, what is “anti-smth?” I assume it’s a typo…what’s it supposed to say?
I mean, I understand the tip, I’m just curious about that title for it.
@Adam, what I actually meant was anti-something campaign… that was my miserable effort to make it shorter…
@shrinkgurl great post. Lots of ideas. Your site is a definite bookmark for me
Thanks for the clarification, Ann. That makes perfect sense. I should probably have been able to figure that out on my own.
nice few tips here, i have been using track backs on official google blogs and they drive considerable traffic from the more popular posts
Thanks for the Yahoo tip about finding non-hyperlinked links. I had heard about doing this, but hadn’t known how to form the query.
Just another slew of great ideas! I especially like #3. Everybody likes a great comment for a job well done. And well done to you, again!
Nice post, but most people are already doing this so its nothing new, just the same old story re-published with a different link bait title. You should add “Link Bait” how to write stories that attract attention.
Well the stuff is old and good. As it is said Old is gold…:)
But I think this will be very helpful for newbies….
Good ideas. I think they will work. But how do badges get links?
Hi,
this blog really help me to optimize my site
Great tips! I especially like the one about establishing relationships with people that have already linked to your site. Thanks!