Link-Building Process
I received literally hundreds of emails asking for more
information and more insight into how I handle link building for my own
websites and blogs. Based on the information you’ve read so far, you understand
the importance of slow and steady link building. In fact, link-building cowboys
are out there every day trying to get hundreds or thousands of links to their
sites through automated services and shortcuts only to find that Google slaps
them with a big penalty— setting their SEO back weeks or even months.
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| link building process and techniques |
I’ve experimented with tons of paid services to support my
search engine optimization efforts. Nine times out of ten, they either can’t
deliver what they promise or worse yet, have a negative impact on search
results (ex: website submission services).
In this section, I’m going to reveal the exact link-building
science I’ve applied to achieve number one rankings for many of my websites and
blogs. And, it all begins with a very simple spreadsheet:
From my perspective, link building is a monthly process.
Build links too quickly and you’ll be penalized or perhaps achieve top rankings
for only a short while (e.g., press releases). Build links too slowly and your
competition may always outrank you. Striking the perfect balance takes
experience and experimentation. I’ve spent a decade creating a link-building
process that can give you the results you’re looking for. The only variable is
the competitiveness of your niche. I recently completed an SEO job for a
wellknown trucking company who wanted top rankings for a particular keyword
phrase. This competitive phrase got nearly thirty thousand searches a month and
had some very stiff competition. Although the company knew it would take a long
time to achieve results, they understood the value in achieving a top ranking
for this term. We applied the necessary SEO techniques and got the result they
were looking for—but it took almost nine months. This is because the term was
very competitive and other sites that were in the top positions had been there
for a very long time. This is why doing the keyword research up-front, to find
less competitive terms, is so important.
Once you have developed a website or blog, identified the
keyword phrase you want to rank well for, and implemented on-page optimization,
the next step is to have a link-building plan. Start your link building by
developing a comprehensive list of sites linking into the top few results for
the keyword phrase you’re targeting. Systematically work through all those
links and try to acquire links back to your site from each of them. Once your
list has been exhausted, it’s time for a disciplined link-building program.
The best way
to manage your activity is by creating a spreadsheet that allows you to track
your activity. The previous image is a summary level but you should also create
tabs on your spreadsheet that capture the sites you use for submission. This
allows you to come back to authoritative sites on a monthly basis and reuse
them for link submissions. Your plan should be as follows:
1.Create, spin, and distribute one article per month
Each article should
include a link or two back to your site in the author section and possibly in
the article itself. Consider using tools to help with this initiative. Use a
spinner to create unique versions of your article and distribution resources. I
usually have one or two articles per site queued up, spun, and ready to go at
the beginning of each month. I distribute these articles at a pace of around
fifty per day to potential directories and sites using semi-automated article
distribution tools.
2.Submit to high PR web directories
Directory submissions are another great
way to produce one-way links to your websites and blogs. Pace your submission,
but don’t worry about being too aggressive. Even if you submit to say
twenty-five to fifty directories in a given month, most will take time to post
your link, if at all. There is only a small success rate unless paying for a
directory listing. Therefore, feel free to submit to a number of directories
during the course of a month. Over time it will appear as though you are
receiving a good number of directory listing confirmations on a regular basis.
3.Do follow blog submissions
Each month, focus on making quality
submissions to “do follow” blogs in your niche. If you are unable to find do
follow blogs in your niche, focus on high PR blogs of any kind. By taking the
time to read posts and make valueadded comments in the proper way, you can
drive quality links to your site. I recommend no more than ten to twenty
quality blog posts in a given month. Assuming you have a list of ten quality
blogs each month, making a couple of posts on each should be easy. This also
keeps things manageable. With most blogs there is moderation. As a result, your
comments may take some time to appear live or may be rejected. Stay the course
and you’ll find more and more of your comments being accepted.
4.Forum submissions
As discussed previously, forum submissions are a great
resource for one-way links. Keep in mind that you may need to make a minimum of
ten posts before you are allowed to display your signature including links back
to your website.
Begin to register and cultivate a number of forums that you
can go back to on a monthly basis to add content and display your signature. I
suggest anywhere around twenty forum posts per month. The reason is that forum
posting, much like blog posting, takes time. If you’re aggressive you could
certainly use forum posting much more. I’d shoot for around fifty posts in a
month. This is definitely one of those tasks I’d consider outsourcing once
you’ve established yourself on some targeted forums for your niche.
5.Profile submissions
Each month I use a freelancer to post on high-profile
websites. Although Angela’s packet offers around thirty potential links each
month, invariably the list boils down to around twenty or so sites where you
can easily place a one-way link back to your website. I use this list for all
of the sites I’m optimizing and have even added my own list of high-profile
sites that I revisit monthly. Again, if just starting out, try for about ten
high-PR profile submissions for your site each month. If more advanced and you
have supplemented the sites provided on Angela’s list, you can post up to fifty
over the course of a month. Once you’ve posted your link for a particular site
on one of the suggested profile sites, do not post again until the following
month. Duplicate links created at the same time won’t help you and in fact may
hurt your link-building efforts.
6.Press Release Submission
Each month you should be distributing one press
release per website. Much like our article submission process, I like to write
a release of around 350 words and put it into my spinner. Then, I make
submissions to my list of top five free PR sites (e.g., Pr-inside,
Free-Press-Release.com, PRlog.org, etc.). Once you have submitted to a press
release distribution site, the news is distributed to hundreds of additional
websites, news sites, and blogs.
7.Social Media Links
Social media is an important resource for communicating
with others and posting links to your websites and blogs. Facebook, LinkedIn,
Twitter, and the like, are common social media sites that you should be
registered for and posting to on a regular basis. Include a link to your site
in actual social media posts each month. The links in your profile are what
matter most, but additional links on your “Wall” and in your “Tweets” can build
link equity.
8.Video Submissions
I used to have video submissions and social media tied
together for link-building purposes, and to a large extent, they are connected.
YouTube, a video hosting site, is really one of today’s largest social media
sites. My goal is to produce one new video every month and post on video sites
such as YouTube, Vimeo, and Viddler. Videos are commonplace and are easy to
distribute. Additionally, universal search results are picking up and display
videos in search result listings. Always make sure to include a link to your
site in the beginning of your video’s description when submitting to video
sites.
9.Social Bookmarking
The concept of bookmarking is very powerful and one
I’ve come to rely on for creating and managing inbound links across public
websites. There are so many social bookmarking sites that you can do about
twenty-five social bookmarks per month for a year and never hit the same site
twice. In the social bookmarking section I mentioned some resources for helping
with your social bookmarking. Choose a strategy and post to social bookmarking
sites on a monthly basis. I recommend not only bookmarking your home page URL
but top level pages too. This is seen as less “spammy” and gives you many more
pages to work with, avoiding duplicate bookmarks. Always use your keywords in
the bookmarking link.
There you have it. This is the exact schedule, with minor
tweaks from time to time, that I use on a monthly basis to optimize my own
websites and blogs. I suggest that you spend the first few month of your SEO
campaign working through each of the submission types on your own. Once you
have a strong understanding and foundation for your link-building efforts, find
an outsource partner that can help you with different aspects of the process.
Before you know it, you’ll be able to reduce the time you spend with repetitive
tasks and focus on your next big search engine optimization project!
Conclusion
Increasing your ranking on Google and other search engines
isn’t complex, but it does take effort. If you want to increase your website
ranking on search engine results pages, begin by implementing the on-page
optimization and the off-page optimization techniques you’ve learned in this
book.
One question I seem to get quite often is, “How long does it
take?” This is a difficult question to answer because it’s relative. If you’re
trying to optimize for a keyword phrase like “eating blueberries on a Sunday
afternoon,” it will happen quickly, requiring simple on-page optimization and
just a few articles with links back to your website.
On the other hand, if you are trying to optimize for a
competitive term, and the top-ranked website has hundreds of incoming links, it
can take a number of months to reach number one on Google. I can tell you from
experience that more often than not, you’ll put in a lot of effort and it will
appear as nothing is happening or only small shifts in results are occurring.
But stay focused. All of a sudden…wham! Your site will jump up in the search
results unexpectedly. Stay the course and I guarantee you’ll see results. Many
fail because they give up too soon.
Regardless of where you’re starting from, the key is
persistence. These are the same techniques I’ve used to achieve top positions
on Google for almost every keyword and keyword phrase that is important to my
websites. Visualize your goal and take deliberate steps toward improving your
search engine result placements daily and before long you will be exactly where
you want to be— dominating the world’s largest search engine.
To simplify your journey toward the number one position on
Google, don’t hesitate to use online effective SEO tools and resources and
continue learning. Although search tools, including outsourcing, aren’t
required for achieving top search engine placement, they can help you reach
your goal more quickly than manually implementing particular SEO techniques.
Follow the strategies defined in this book; they’ve been proven effective by
many individuals who have already begun using these techniques. I wish you the
best of luck on your SEO journey. See you at the top and don’t forget to always
keep it simple!
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