Set
your goal.
Link building takes time, but it is very
effective and easy to do. Depending on the sites you ask and your
approach, your results will vary. As a general rule you should
set your linking goal much higher than the number of links you
actually want to receive because most sites will not want to trade
links, for various reasons.
Make sure your site is worth a link.
Your site must offer something of value
to other sites. You need to create some additional linkable content.
For example: how-to articles, product reviews, tools, tips and
so on. Adding linkable content not only will encourage others
to link to your site, but it will improve the overall quality
of your site. Write about something you know that relates to your
site. This Article is an example of teaching without trying to
sell something. The best part of creating linkable content is
that if you do it well, you will find that people will link to
your site without you even asking, and that's the easiest way
to build links. If you're not a writer you can add free tools
or downloads instead. Consider creating a links page prior to
requesting a link swap with a site. You can usually expect a better
reception from a potential link partner if they can see where
you will place the link to their site.
Determine the type of sites you want
to swap links with.
You need to focus on sites that are related
to your target market. If your site wants to sell sunglasses then
you should approach sites that sell swimsuits and tanning lotions,
but not sunglasses. Once you have swapped links from those sites,
you need to developed a section of on eye protection and ask for
links from all of the sites that address eye protection. You will
eventually see a significantly increased number of links to your
site from other sites in your target market. Plus, you should
add additional pages of content to the site for visitors to enjoy
and link to. This helps significantly in search-engine placements.
Get equipped to evaluate your link partners.
You don't want to spend too much time going
after links from sites that the search engines don't think are
valuable. While it isn't perfect, the Google Toolbar can help
you decide which sites are quality link partners and which aren't.
The toolbar integrates with your Web browser. It helps you by
displaying the "page rank" of each site you visit. Put
simply, page rank is a rough indicator of what Google thinks of
a site. You can rest assured that if Google thinks it is a good
site, it probably is. The higher a page ranks the better. One
strategy is to try to link up with sites that have pages ranked
as high as or higher than your own.
Locate quality link partners.
The easiest way to find quality link partners
quickly is to start at Open Directory and Yahoo!. Open Directory
and Yahoo! are good places to start for 3 reasons: They are both
so difficult to get listed in; that each potential link partner
is likely to be a higher quality partner than those you would
find elsewhere. Yahoo! and Open Directory greatly boost a site's
link popularity when they list a site. Your site will receive
a small boost each time someone from one of those directories
links to you. The links you build don't help your link popularity
in the search engines unless the engines know about the link.
Search engines "crawl" sites listed in Yahoo! and Open
Directory on a regularly. By starting your link campaign here;
you can be sure that search engines will quickly find you new
links. To find partners, simply start searching for words that
relat to the types of link partners you want (step 3). While browsing
your potential partner's Web site, observe their page rank (step
4).
Organize your findings.
Use a spreadsheet to keep track of the
following:
Full name of site owner or Webmaster.
E-mail address of the site owner or Webmaster.
Link partners Home page URL.
URL of the page where you think your link belongs.
Why you think it belongs there.
Rank of the page where you think your link belongs.
Something unique that you liked about the site.
Date of initial link request.
Much of this information will not be available, but try to find
out as much as you can.
Prepare for contact.
You have a list of potential link partners.
Now go through the list and send a custom e-mail to each one.
You should request link swap. Do not send a generic e-mail requesting
a link; it will not get a response. Your link request should mention
the following, most of which comes from your spreadsheet (step
4): Something you liked about their site.
Why you think your link belongs on their site.
The URL to exactly where you think your link fits best on their
site. The URL of where you'll be placing their link on your site.
How you would like them to link to you. Provide a sample link
and description. The easier you make it, the more likely they
will post it.
Check for links.
When building links, dealing with people
can take time. You may need to wait a month or longer before checking
to see if anyone has linked to your site from your new partner.
Usually it is best to do this step by hand, but you can use a
link popularity tool if you have lots of links to check.
Follow up with the cream of the crop.
After a month has passed, follow up with
each site that hasn't linked to you. Save time and only follow
up with those with the highest page ranks.
Set a schedule.
You will find it easier if you put yourself
onto a link-building schedule. Consider doing a certain small
amount of link building daily. Do not try and complete the entire
link campaign in a one massive effort
