Search Engine Marketing Blog

Well, actually I don’t think the following ideas as posted by SEOptimise would be so good at generating free links that you’d never have to ask for a link again but for some sites it might do the trick.

Tad Chef’s list of 30 ideas to generate free, natural links include some old tried and proven methods as well as some new ones. It’s a great list and definitely worth a look. Just be sure to carefully evaluate how much time the idea you pick will actually take to see realized and try to dispassionately judge whether or not it will work for your particular site. Not every site is the same, not everyone is good at creating Wordpress themes and not everyone wants to link to yet another site that is giving away free ebooks. So choose wisely.

Tad forgot to mention two other ways of getting high quality, unsolicited links:

* Be number 1 on Google - I’ve blogged about this one before but it works and generates a lot of educational and government links for our sites.
* Buy an old, established domain that has old, established links to it from other old, established sites with old, established links to them (spot the pattern yet?)

Any would be link builder needs to read both of these pages to learn what NOT to do and any website owner or experienced link builder should read them for a bit of a laugh.

WebmasterWorld’s compiled list of How Not to Ask for a Link

You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll cringe at the memories of having received just that type of request.

And then there’s Eric Ward’s fantastic post at Search Engine Land documenting a real life example of the worst way to ask for a link.

Enjoy

Eric Ward’s article over at Search Engine Land is a good read for anyone considering trying some of the more “fly by night” techniques that are often associated - erroneously - with link building.

Bottom line is that link building is hard work. So is link buying. There are no short cuts, no easy ways out and you can’t even just buy the links to save time. In fact I’ve often found that link buying takes more time than organic link building if you’re doing it right and want to get real value out of the purchase.

So to any would be link builder out there, be prepared to put in some effort!

Link bait, in case you never heard of it, is a website/page built to grab your attention. Offering a cool free tool, flaming Matt Cutts, saying “Page Rank Doesn’t Matter”, publishing a Top 100 list are all examples of link bait. In business terms it might be a whitepaper, survey findings, industry reports or predictions and forecasts.

The focus is on targeting a link-happy audience and on marketing to them instead of on delivering to your primary target audience. It’s all about spreading your word through other people’s websites.

You should build link bait content that targets bloggers, social bookmarkers, university professors, Democratic senators, niche media, big media, anyone and everyone that posts online - from those that do it for a living to those that simply like to see their own words in print.

The bottom line is it’s only link bait if it’s something others will want to join in on. If there is no reason for them to comment, disagree, flame you, nit pick, congratulate you, quote you, or in some way engage in the conversation it’s not link bait.

So make it engaging, controversial, quoteable, thought provoking, hilarious, horrid, anything that will cause a written reaction.