Improve Your Link
Popularity… Build Incoming Links
“Pleasing” the Search Engines and your human visitors is why
it’s important for you to develop an effective linking strategy. Links are one
kind of off-page criteria that measure human reaction to your content.
The more sites that link to your site, and the more
important the linking sites are, and the closer the linking sites are to the
theme of your site (even to the topic of individual pages), the more
“popularity points” Search Engines award to your site (and page).
Search Engines consider the number of in-pointing links to a
site as a way to…
1) Establish credibility. An in-pointing link from a
quality, related site tells the Search Engine that another Webmaster thinks
highly enough of a site to link to it. See how the link becomes representative
of human feedback? The link constitutes a vote of confidence.
And the more highly a Search Engine regards the site that
provides the link, the more powerful that “vote” is! For example…
Suppose you have a Web site all about porcupines. The Web
authority on porcupines decides to link to your site. In essence, this tells
the SEs…
This recommendation carries weight because the Web authority
on porcupines already has established credibility with the SEs. Obviously,
there’s no better judge of the quality of a porcupine site than a porcupine
expert. Links from lesser authorities or from sites with related themes or
topics (i.e., zoo, or animal sites) are helpful they don’t carry the same
weight.
And what about off-theme links? Do not attempt to solicit
links from sites unrelated to your topic or theme. Why would a Web site about
Viagara or online casino games link to your site about porcupines? Usually it’s
because they want to artificially increase link popularity, and manipulate the
SEs.
The SEs don’t like to be manipulated, as it jeopardizes the
integrity of their search results. So you can expect them to ignore, and at
worst, penalize you for off-theme links.
2) Formulate ranking algorithms. More and more, Search
Engines are factoring link popularity and link credibility (i.e., where your
in-pointing links originate from) into their ranking algorithms. That’s why
it’s so important not to fall into the trap of continuously tweaking your
on-page criteria. Without a few credible links, you may find it difficult to
get listed in some of the major SEs (especially Google). And of course, your
site won’t make it into the databases of SEs that do not permit site
submission. Their spiders must find your site on their own.
The good news is that for most businesses, a very small
number of credible links will do the job. 99% of most Web sites do not have
many in-pointing links. (If the SEs were to weigh in-pointing links too
heavily, they’d make 99% of the Net disappear!)
Of course, if your topic is much more general in scope
(i.e., “e-commerce,” “computers,” “sports cars,” and that sort of thing),
obtaining links becomes more and more important.
That’s a good one! Don’t worry about link popularity until
you have built at least 20-30 content pages. Why?
Webmasters will link only to sites of value. Quality content
is the currency of the Web so you will need a sufficient amount of it before
you go link hunting. To get a Webmaster’s “vote” of confidence, your site must
provide some benefit to his/her audience.
Directories too, are only interested in adding Web sites of
substance and value. A more mature site will also help you impress a human
editor and secure a major directory listing.
Once you have your 20-30 high value pages, build a simple
inbound link program, sprinkled with a few high-quality value exchanges (be
patient) and even a couple of super-high-quality outbound-only links.
Here’s how to get your link program rolling along…
#1) Get IN-coming links from the major directories, and
second tier directories.
#2) Get IN-coming links from theme-specific sections of the
major free directories.
#3) OUTbound-link with high-quality theme-related,
non-competing sites as you happen to discover them in the course of normal
business or surfing -- exchange links with them, if possible.
Linkage counts both ways, IN-pointing and OUT-pointing. If
your outgoing “linkees” go to an income-generating source for you, even better!
Links OUT count with the human editors of directories and
your visitors, too. If directory editors see that you provide bona fide links
to other quality sites, your site is more credible, a more valuable resource
for their directory. Visitors appreciate being presented with quality, credible
links to related material that further enhances their surfing experience.
On the other hand, nothing is more damaging to you, your
credibility and your ability to build your business than linking to an inferior
Web site. By providing a link, you are in essence placing your seal of approval
on the linked Web site. Should that site be of low quality, visitors will
question your judgment.
The SE’s will not take a positive view of such practices
either. Should you linkout to a low quality site that practices deceptive
linking strategies, the SEs may penalize you. After all, you are in essence
condoning such activity.
----------
Massive Free Targeted Traffic And Inbound Links In 15 Minutes From Google Using Free Google Tools.
----------
What’s the take-home message here?
While you can’t control which sites link to your Web site
(and therefore cannot be held responsible for it), you must choose your
out-pointing links wisely. IN-pointing and OUT-pointing links are both
important. In general, of course, you want to have far more in-pointing. And
don’t make all out-pointing links purely monetary links. You want to show your
visitors that you have their best interests at heart, not just yours!
By far, the easiest, long-term strategy for building link
popularity is a passive one. Simply build a site of such high quality that
people want to link to it in order to increase the value of their own visitors’
experiences.
What could be easier? Your link popularity builds itself!
Seed Link-Building
Buzz
Building a buzz about your niche site is a secondary
traffic-building technique. Depending on your situation, some of the strategies
outlined in this chapter will work very well for you. Others will not.
Either way, wait to investigate secondary strategies until
after your business has a solid foundation of quality content. In other words,
until you have at least 50 quality content pages, your efforts are better
utilized by focusing upon…
… and building traffic from the major Search Engines. As far
as “bang for the buck” goes, this approach yields a far better Return On
Investment (ROI) for your time.
How do you build buzz? First piece of advice, don’t bother
with those “recommend-a-friend” scripts. Less than one visitor in a thousand
fills them in. There’s a far simpler way to get “word of mouth.” Deliver great
content.
Want an example? Let’s say that you have a wonderful
theme-based site about succulent plants (i.e., cactus, euphorbia, etc.). You
have a terrific page about all the tricks you have developed for propagating
them.
Other aficionados find that page at the engines. Do you
think they’ll tell friends, or forums, or cactus associations, about this
terrific info? Sure they will. Just one more huge benefit of OVERdelivering!
But one big warning…
Average content = near-zero world of mouth. After all, have
you ever been excited by “average?”
Great content is the only way to go!
When the time is right, use these other techniques to seed
link-building buzz, especially if you are selling your own product or
professional service…
• write articles for e-zines or article distribution sites
• make posts in forums, discussion groups, mailing lists, newsgroups
(depending on your niche and situation, these can be fairly effective… or
totally useless)
• publish your own blog, a Web log/diary
• use a signature file (i.e., contact information, including
your URL and preferably your VPP) in your daily e-mail correspondence.
• social bookmarking sites:
http://www.furl.net/
http://del.icio.us/
http://friendfeed.com/
http://www.stumbleupon.com/
• participate in Yahoo! Answers
http://answers.yahoo.com/
• send out press releases
Effective in seeing an increase in the buzz around your
business…
Circumstance 1) The “nichier” your site, the better. If your
site covers a topic already well-addressed by a zillion other sites, it will be
much harder to stand out from the crowd and make an impression with your
visitors.
Circumstance 2) Your site should have over 50 pages. There
must be substance.
Circumstance 3) Your content should be of outstanding value
to targeted visitors.
If all three circumstances are present, then investigating
these strategies makes sense. There’s no point in making a post or writing an
article otherwise. OK, suppose you’ve got a high-quality content-rich niche
site that delivers outstanding content. You make a fantastic post at a relevant
forum, including your conservative signature file. What happens next?
Forum visitors visit your site, tell their friends, put a
link on their site to yours, and discuss your site at relevant forums and
discussion groups. Talk about a homerun buzz!
----------
----------
No comments:
Post a Comment