Brainstorm: Best Link Building Techniques
I’ve been wanting to have a open conversation for the last couple of weeks and have finally found some time to sit down and think of a seed I could plant into your minds to see what great ideas we can all come up with.
As some of you know, the biggest trend in Search Engine Optimization is the building of backlinks to your website with specific anchor texts. We have seen a blogger like John Chow basically manipulate the system to rank No. 1 for the term “Make Money Online” with all his great (and evil) link bait schemes – Review Me, Wii Giveaway & Zune Giveaway (which is currently becoming virtual slut of the internet with Ms. Danielle‘s Zune Giveaway on her blog site). Even I’ve done my fair share of link baiting schemes with a couple of link trains, which have helped me crack the first page of Google for my own friggin’ name (but not number one just yet) and rank for some decent keywords in other search engines!
We’ve all seen these link bait systems replicated in one way or other and to be honest, it’s starting to get old. I’m still getting emails that ask me to participate in new link trains – Alexa Link Train, Do Follow Link Trains, Agloco Link Trains, etc! I know all of John’s link bait campaigns have been replicated to death.
So basically, I wanted to open up this post to all my readers – new and old – to see what kind of new ideas you can think of that can help you generate links to your site. Purchasing links doesn’t count since that’s way too easy. Ideas are like Avalanches – sometimes they need a little snowflake in the right place to get them going!
Since I don’t have the Do Follow links enabled in my comments section, I will promise to link you in a post if you write something worthy of reading. No “uh huhs, I agree, that’s such a great point” fluff comments will count, so nice try 
!
To start off . . . here’s my idea: Run a Link Telethon where you will donate 1 day of our time to your local homeless shelter for every 20 links you receive.
So, what do you think about that idea? Do you have another idea you would like to bounce off us? This isn’t called a Brainstorm for nothing!
Jez 1.33 am on 13.06.2007 Permalink
I think you have to be careful when trading links for charity… I got really annoyed when I saw someone offering $1 to “charity” for every keyworded backlink he got… IMO you should give the charity at least the market rate for the links…
In this case one days work is a fair price to pay for 20 links IMO.
Spud Oregon 5.31 am on 13.06.2007 Permalink
According to Google, backlinks count as votes, so how about some way of getting people to vote for something with backlinks? I remember OneMillionSubscribers.com asking people to donate money for charity if John shaved his head. He still hasn’t shaved his hair off so I guess the plan failed, but bloggers could propose to do something if they get enough votes/backlinks. If it’s really silly like pose naked for a photo in a crowded place, it could go viral!
Gary Lee 11.25 am on 13.06.2007 Permalink
Ya . . . depending on the PR, I think 20 backlinks for a days worth of priceless work is totally fine!
Gary Lee 11.28 am on 13.06.2007 Permalink
The thing is that yes, you want the vote, but you also want to have the vote count for something smart. For example, John used it for Make Money Online which is a high traffic term. If everyone can find their own specific niche and find a keyword/anchor text that works for them and then combine that with a link building strategy to increase their rankings, that would be the best situation for them. Remember what Scrooge McDuck used to say – “Work Smarter, not Harder!” . . .
Mark Shead 12.10 pm on 13.06.2007 Permalink
You can get a lot of value out of making people feel important. ZenHabits did this with their list of 50 productivity blogs. They linked to a bunch of people and in turn a bunch of people linked back. Most people were thrilled that they had made the list and wanted to show off their status to their readers.
Jez 2.32 pm on 13.06.2007 Permalink
In terms of SEO reciprochal links are reckoned to be low value, one way relevant / contextual links are the holy grail
Mark Shead 2.43 pm on 13.06.2007 Permalink
Highly relevant reciprocal links are still very valuable. It might not pass as much PR from Google’s view of the world, but getting your site in front of “pre-qualified” viewers is worth quite a lot.
I have gotten a site to PR 5 and good solid traffic from Google in about 6 months with less than 10 reciprocal links. But they were very very highly relevant links.
Also don’t forget that Google is just one of the search engines. Some engines give weight based on interlinked communities of sites.
Jez 3.19 pm on 13.06.2007 Permalink
Reciprocal links are better than nothing!! One ways are really tough to come by unless you have some really great stuff on your site… and I mean really great, not the kind of “great content” mediocre blogger blogs prattle on about….
That kind of content cannot be produced by many people (certainly not me), it is an art in itself… Ive seen a few professional journalists employed to work on sites within niches I cover… they are a cut above amateur bloggers like myself….
The other SE’s arent worth much IMO, I know between them, ‘on paper’ they have a significant share of the market, but that is not reflected in the stats of any of the sites I have… its all google… despite my SERPS being just as good in other engines….
Personally I dont put much store in PR either, I mean I want it, who wouldnt, but its really getting the SERP’s that matters and PR does not influence that greatly, in my experience…. and from what I read….
PR, or rather SERPS are always on the move… PR as it is recorded is just a snapshot in time and the only real value I see in it is if you are selling links or doing the “review me for a spammy back-link” routine.
Mark Shead 3.41 pm on 13.06.2007 Permalink
Getting reciprocal links will get your content in front of more people. The more people who see your link the more likely it is that they will link to you.
As far as other search engines go, I’ve seen very significant traffic from MSN and Yahoo. First level positions on MSN will probably send more traffic than page 5 on Google. Plus don’t forget there is a new operating system being deployed and the defaults will all be set to MSN. It may take awhile for people to change back to Google.
A Tentative Personal Finance Blog 5.36 pm on 13.06.2007 Permalink
You could have a milk drinking contest. For every link you get, you’ll drink an 8oz glass of milk in front of a camera. After a few links, you’ll be throwing up all over yourself.
Or you can do stupid human tricks, like they do on Jack@ss. Suppose to break something or jump onto something for every link.
Or you could tattoo something for every link you get. This one, I wouldn’t do.
Mark Shead 5.49 pm on 13.06.2007 Permalink
So are you saying that you would do the milk drinking contest?
Shane 10.03 pm on 13.06.2007 Permalink
Haha,
It’s pretty much impossible to drink a gallon of milk within an hour without throwing up.
It’d be hilarious to see a couple hundred YouTube videos of people throwing milk up on themselves … now that’s gonna get some mainstream press! I can see the headlines now …
“A Disturbing Trend Among Bloggers Continues To Sweep The Internet”
Jez 12.06 am on 14.06.2007 Permalink
Yes you make some good points there, perhaps the level of MSN traffic depends on your subject area / audience. I was disapointed with the level of traffic I got.
A Tentative Personal Finance Blog 5.59 am on 14.06.2007 Permalink
I’ll do it… but I’m taking it down a notch. For every link, I’ll do a shot glass of milk in front of a camera. Get about a hundred and I’m throwing up over myself.
unwesen 10.51 am on 14.06.2007 Permalink
Ugh, not something a lactose intolerant person wants to see.
A Tentative Personal Finance Blog 5.19 am on 15.06.2007 Permalink
I’m sure lots of people would love to see it.
Natron 8.15 am on 15.06.2007 Permalink
The important thing to note about a dairy drinking contest is, that no one wins in a dairy drinking contest!
Shane 1.08 am on 17.06.2007 Permalink
… There are the people who sell milk
Gary Lee 1.30 pm on 17.06.2007 Permalink
I’ve thought about donating a big prize to big sites like John Chow or DoshDosh on the condition that they tell their participants to link me as well! Something like what 1234pens did with the Wii competition?
Marc Eilbeck 2.19 am on 18.06.2007 Permalink
haha i love the quote scrooge mcduck! haha