Link building facts
Sunday, October 5th, 2008To rank on Google, you need links pointing to your site and it’s content. Therefore, as a designer, you may be asked about link building and what your client needs to know about it.
Link submission services typically do not work. The best way to get your new website noticed to to get some high quality links from respected sites.
Write and Submit articles to news sites and social sites.
You can go a couple ways with this; slightly off the wall, interesting stories will get attention. People will link to your article or in article database-type sites, your content could be displayed on another person’s web site, with your bio intact (the bio is the little blurb about you, typically with a link back to your business site).
Another way to go, and my preferred method, is to write informative articles about your business niche. This works in a couple of ways; first off, you’re getting your name out there in relation to your business. Work hard and establish yourself as an expert in your field and that will bring in extra benefits. Second, it works in the typical article fashion - either people link to your site and it’s excellent content, or your content is used on their site, with your bio intact. Either way is a great way of link building, as well as getting traffic to your site.
Using forums.
There are TONS of forums. Now, if you want to join these forums to learn and share information, by all means, add a link back to your website in your signature. But don’t post about how wonderful your business is, what a great product/service you have, etc. Forums get tons of these spammy (maybe not to you, but to the forum) posts and they really don’t do anything to endear you to the members.
It used to be that a signature link in a very popular forum would pass some nice link love to other sites. Nowadays, I don’t believe it works quite as well, however, if you’re a respected member of a forum and your business is in your signature, people may very well click on it and become a customer. Nothing wrong with that!
The F R E E Giveaway
People love f r e e stuff, especially if it’s good, valuable and has no strings attached. They will share it with friends and send your link around. It really works. To determine the best thing you could give away, you have to consider your niche. For example, if you are an internet marketer, trying giving away some new and useful tips to improve your ROI. A web designer might give away free templates. Getting the idea?
Contests
People love contests. Either to win the prize or just to test the waters, people want to participate. They don’t have to be pushed into it. That’s the best kind of buzz for your website because people will talk about it, blog about it and link back to your contest. A couple things: be sure to make the contest worthwhile, interesting and have (and award) prizes. I’ve been involved in a few online contests where the prizes never materialized. That kind of buzz you do not need!
These are just a few ways to build links but I encourage you to really think outside the box. If you brainstorm, you’d be surprised at the ways you can get your information out there!