8 weeks to more back-links more visitors and more business from your website.
Summary
This week I am going to start a series about link building. Each week I will be looking at a certain type of link opportunity and provide some useful tips on how to get high quality back-links to your website. Each week I will also give you a real life example of some of the link-building successes I have had, how I did it and how you can also do the same. I will end the series with a little link building technique which you can use without much investment and time needed. It has worked for me every time without exception. Just 1 hour per week is the investment you need and just watch the ranking of your keyword grow and grow.
If you have been doing Search Engine Optimisation then you most be quite familiar with the concept of links and back-links (sometimes even referred to as in-links or inbound links). You probably also know that when it comes to SEO, back-links is the most important factor and also the hardest and most time consuming part. If you get it right you can find your website on that number 1 position of Google. Get it wrong and you might find your website being penalized for it. If you are new to link-building and want to know more about the basics then read What is link building?
My website is all about organic search engine optimisation that works hard for your website by generating free traffic, as such my focus is on links that actually will attract visitors and customers to your website. That’s what I do for my clients and that is what I like to share with you.
Planned episodes in this series:
Part 1 – One way editorial links – how to get them
Part 2 – Competitions – How one competition boosted my Page Rank
Part 3 – Which directory links do actually matter
Part 4 – Link exchange and reciprocal links best practice
Part 5 – Article submission the complete list and how to submit
Part 6 – Highly valued back-links through news releases
Part 7 – Create buzz using social media promotion
Part 8 – 10 link-building techniques to stay away from
Part 9 – A little secret technique that always works for me
Part 1 – One way editorial links – how to get them
I will start the series with the juiciest and most important of them all: one way editorial links. By definition editorial links are links which are not paid for and not traded for. That is why we call them one-way links. Some people also say a true editorial link is not even asked for. Although that is true to a degree, i.e. you are not directly asking for a link, still the same way that it works in offline PR, you want to somehow make the editor of a site aware of your amazing new content. Do you see what I mean?
What is the key to getting editorial links?
1. If you want a quality editorial link form a trusted website you need to earn it. Is the content of your website original and link worthy? Does is answer a question or solve a problem? Is the content entertaining and engaging? Do you sell a product that is not easily found on other websites or maybe you sell it cheaper than the competitors? If your answer is yes to one or more of the above then link building will be much easier. Certain type of link worthy content is also sometimes referred to as link-bait, which means the content is so good that many other websites and blogs would love to refer to your site and pass a link, as long as they are being made aware of it. This type of engaging and hot content also has the potential of going viral.
2. Contact site editors: So you have written an amazingly informing article which answers a burning question for a certain community. Next step is to identify some of the top online publications, magazines or news websites targeting the community in question. Most of these websites will have the contact details of the editor somewhere on the website. Find the email address and wire to the editor. All you need to do is to send your article to the editor or mention what is happening on your website that their readership would find of value. If your content adds value to the site and is something the readers of the site find interesting then the editor will publish it with pleasure. You just have to make sure to also ask for the link and what the anchor text of the link should be.
An example
To give you an example, some time ago I was looking for some editorial links for a marketing website which targeted dentists, so I identified one of the main online magazines called dentistry.co.uk and submitted an informative article about online marketing for dentists. I sent the article to the site editor and also very kindly I asked for the back link to be named “dental website marketing”. Here is the article published on the website with the anchor text I asked for. http://www.dentistry.co.uk/news/news_detail.php?id=2385
Media sites have large audiences of people looking for information – get coverage and a link to your site and not only will you get a significant spike in traffic to your site, but you’ll also get a percentage of that audience linking to you because the media site did. Links attract links.
So once you’ve identified your market sectors, and collated your list of 250 link targets, separate the high profile portals or information sites from the rest of the list and start with them. That’s right – at the top!
Useful Tip!
A quick tip on how to get started with identifying online publications and magazines.
Say for example you are a clothing retailer and are after editorial links from good online publications.
Apart from all the magazines and publications that you already know there are many other opportunities you can find by going to Google.com and type these searches:
fashion online publications
fashion online magazine
fashion Webzines
fashion news
fashion blogs
And you can do all the above searches replacing fashion with clothing.
Next go to Facebook groups and search for the same terms to find what publications and blogs are popular.
Next week: How one competition boosted my Google Page Rank
Make sure you don’t miss next weeks episode. Subscribe to my posts below!
A good rouce for more SEO and web design news
- Hype or reality: How is real time search affecting SEO?
- Link building part 2: How one competition boosted my Google Page Rank
I started 
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
Great article, Ashkan! Just the other day I was explaining to a client of mine why their website was quickly moving up in the SERPs: relevant, original, and important content in which they wrote themselves.
I then showed them how they can spend 1 hr a week searching for similar content online and network with those sites to gain backlinks.
Hey I’ve been surfing your site for a while now, anyways the background and boxes are displaying right, they seem clipped. I’m using Internet Explorer 6, just thought I’d let you know.
Thanks for a great article, Ash! I enjoyed reading this informative article. Your strategy really works! I’d verified the ranking for “dental website marketing” by searching for the long tail keyword in http://www.google.co.uk. FYI: The long tail keyword will not show in google.com because the term was optimized for the UK audience.
Thanks for pointing this out!
Thanks for ointing this out. It’s been a few months and I hope you have upgraded from IE6?
Looks fine in my IE but have to check…