How to Get One-Way Incoming Links
Welcome to my latest series – Expert Briefs.
No, I won't be showing the undies from Expert Marketers (although that would certainly be funny) – but I will be grabbing my friends who I respect and admire and will be asking them to give brief replies to your burning questions about internet marketing and online business success. (Get it? Briefs? Yes, I am easily amused.) 😉
I've been wanting to do this series for some time, and, thankfully, I have a great Virtual Assistant who is helping me to put this together or it may never have gotten done.
So, let's jump in. Today's topic is Link Building, specifically how to get one-way incoming links to your website or blog.
If you recall, I've posted a few blog posts about Link Building recently that you can go back and review if you're wondering what all the fuss is about Link Building and why on earth it's important.
- What is Link Building? Into for Beginners.
- What to do Before You Begin Link Building.
- Link Building FAQ: Questions and Answers
The question I asked our experts today is:
“What is your favorite method for building incoming links
to your website or blog? Why?”
I only asked people who I know are actively link-building. Of course, I have plenty of other friends who use other methods of generating traffic, but this blog post is about one-way link building so these are the experts I chose to ask along with their replies.
Willie Crawford of SellMoreBigTicket.com says:
My favorite method is writing and distributing articles. I've written over 1500.
The reason is that not only do I get lots of inbound links from some fairly high page-ranked sites, but the articles also actually bring me in visitors who have read my material and arrive at my site pre-sold on me.
Lynn Terry of ClickNewz.com says:
My favorite method of link-building is to get featured on blogs that reach my market. There are a couple of ways you can do that. You can write guests posts for those blogs, or offer to let the blogger interview you. Text interviews are best for creating relevant content to go along with your backlink, but audio interviews with a description and live link work well too.
With blog interviews, I email the blog owner and introduce myself (with credentials, basically selling myself as a good match for their audience). I give them the option to reply with 3-5 questions (or more if they like) on a topic related to their current theme. I then reply with the answers, creating a very nice blog post for them to publish.
If you have an affiliate program, you can offer to let them sign up as an affiliate so that they can earn commissions on the interview as well.
This is one of my favorite methods for 2 reasons:
1) Bloggers need content. It's the one thing they are constantly searching for, or working on. You can step in and help them out, and help yourself out at the same time.
2) This is one of the BEST types of inbound links you can possibly get. You have control over the topic, so you get a relevant backlink from a related page. And you control the link, meaning you can deep link to an internal page on your site or blog – and use specific Anchor Text with that link.
Plus… it's easy!
The trick is to make it highly relevant to their current theme of content, or to expand on a topic they recently blogged about. You just want to find a good tie-in that makes sense both for the blogger and for their readers.
Mark Mason of MasonWorld.com says:
Nicole — getting links is all about a tradeoff between effort, quality and quality. Often, especially when people are just starting out, they will make the mistake of spending lots of time (or money) on low quality links.
For me, time is my most precious resource. So, when I go after a link my efforts need to be highly leveraged. That means that for my investment of time, I need to get lots of links or really great (powerful links). The answer almost always lies in quality content.
For example, I can write one piece of quality content and syndicate it to multiple high quality article directories using automated tools. This get's me multiple quality backlinks in addition to whatever click-through traffic the article generates.
Or, I can write a great article for a guest response post on a high traffic blog like NicoleOnTheNet.com in exchange for a backlink from the article. That get's me a quality backlink and clickthrough traffic as well.
Either way, the key is great content out on the internet pointing back to my site.
Susanne Myers of EasyLinkLove.com says:
My favorite way to build links is to create what I like to call a link magnet. It’s a piece of REALLY GOOD content that you post freely on your website. This could be a report, an article, a list, even an audio file or a video. You want to give away some of your favorite stuff here.
Start by thinking about what your target audience really wants. You can also do some research by asking your current readers and visitors or using sites like Yahoo answer or forums in your market to get a feel for what your audience wants.
Spend some time creating exceptional content and post it to your site. Do some keyword research and optimize the page for those keywords so you can build some free search engine. Start promoting the content by blogging about it, mentioning it on twitter and other social media outlets. Tell our lists about it and always invite people to share the link to the content.
Monetize your link magnet by adding a link somewhere toward the end of the content for one of your products. It’s important not to be pushy here or people will be less likely to link to it.
Here are a few examples of good link magnets:
$40 Emergency Menu
This is on one of my own sites. The basic idea is a low cost emergency menu that people can turn to when grocery money is extremely low.
Online Success Podcasts by Nicole Dean
Nicole has recorded several hour long interviews with various experts in the Internet Marketing Field. She focuses on delivering high quality content and does an amazing job coaxing all kinds of useful information from her guests.
Quick Extra Tip –
I always like to get the most mileage out of everything I do, especially link building. Don’t do this just for the sake of building links, take it a step further and reap even more rewards. An easy way to do this is to keep tabs on who is linking to this new page. Contact the owners of some of the best sites and see if you can collaborate even further.
And, here's my 2 cents. I wrote this before reading the others just to make sure I wouldn't let their ideas sway mine. 🙂
Nicole Dean of .. well, here! .. says:
My favorite method of building incoming links is simply sharing content. I know, it's kind of a cheater answer, but let me finish here and you'll see what I mean.
All of the most effective methods, in my opinion, revolve around sharing your own expertise. Let me demonstrate…
-> Article Marketing is simply sharing content.
-> Guest Blogging (or even hosting a kick-butt Blog Tour) is sharing content.
-> Video marketing (recording and posting videos to sites like YouTube) – again, is nothing more than sharing content.
-> Podcasts (being a guest on other people's podcasts) – is simply sharing your expertise, again.
-> Doing quick interviews like this one – you'll notice all of my experts are receiving links to their sites. Badda bing, badda boom! I'll bet those are some of the easiest links they've gotten.
-> And, blog commenting works, too. Blog commenting means just leaving comments on blog posts like this one. (Hint, hint.) Although I honestly believe that it's not the most effective method of generating incoming links, at least not compared to the methods outlined above, it's still worth doing.
Of course, you can tie in social media and link to all of these sites where you've got your content to really boost your effectiveness. But, it all starts by doing what you're already doing as a blogger – sharing your thoughts — just doing it on other websites.
In fact, that's one of the biggest mistakes that I see online business owners make is keeping all of their content on their own sites and not sharing it on others.
How Can You Learn More about How to Get One-Way Links?
Again – Susanne is the queen link builder. If you want to learn the basics of Link Building, again, here’s here course -> Beginner Link Building Course
Warmly,
Nicole Dean
PS. Please post your favorite method for building incoming links to your site below. 🙂 Thank you!
Bob Marconi
June 3, 2010 at 3:15 pmThered is so much to learn one doesn’t know where to start. It is hard for a new person to decide on step 1 and step 2 and step 3, etc.
Thanks for the info on link building and I look forward to further ‘Expert Briefs’.
Nicole
June 4, 2010 at 2:45 pmHi Bob! Thanks for the comment.
Honestly, there are only two things you need to make money online –
Some things to sell.
Some people to buy those things.
Link-building helps to get lots of people in front of your offers. It’s just a fancy name for marketing your offers so you get lots of people to see them. (The other big benefit is that the search engines start to send you more people.)
I’m not sure how new you are, so I hope that helps!
🙂 Nicole
Karl
June 3, 2010 at 5:28 pmNicole,
I’ve used your articles for a while now and I have found them very useful. This one is very timely since I am trying to find new ways to attract visitors to my site. Thanks for the help.
Karl
Nicole
June 4, 2010 at 2:46 pmYou’re very welcome, Karl!
Thanks for reading.
Darren
June 3, 2010 at 7:11 pmHi Nicole,
thank you for the great insight on link building. I must say I like to idea of sharing your content with other blogs that are related to your own.
Kind regards & good health,
Darren C.
Nicole
June 4, 2010 at 2:49 pmYou’re very welcome, Darren! Come back soon.
Gordo
June 3, 2010 at 6:38 pmHi Nicole,
Thanks for the “undies” ohhhh I mean breifs on Link building. Like Karl I’m new to this Marketing, & yes it’s very hard to get to step one…when every one else is pushing thier own barrow…
Thanks Again.
Nicole
June 4, 2010 at 2:48 pmYou’re welcome for the undies. lol!
I hope it starts to make more sense to you. BUT! It’s ok to learn at your own pace. You were not born nekked with a marketing manual — at least I assume you weren’t. 😉
So, take it slowly, but keep moving ahead by applying what you learn. A year from now you’ll look back and be amazed at what you’ve learned and accomplished.
Christina Lemmey
June 3, 2010 at 6:57 pmThanks for all the expert advice Nicole! This is one area of my business that I really haven’t focused on because I never really knew how to go about getting links. Now that I have some concrete ideas I need to focus on this more.
Nicole
June 4, 2010 at 2:48 pmWoo hoo! Keep us posted…
Boomer54 Mark
June 3, 2010 at 9:45 pmHi Nicole,
Long time reader, first time commenter. In my niche, baby boomers, I follow all the top blogs and leave relevant, insightful comments on their posts.
Also, I bookmark their site and then if I liked the post, I will create my own post on my site linking back to their blog as a reference.
Yes, it is more work but the benefits payoff in multiples.
Not only do I get a link back to my site, when I leave a comment, but every time the blog owner will recognize my sincerity and make contact with me.
They will ask me to guest post on their blogs, link back to me as a reference source, become a regular reader of my blog and bookmarking their favorite posts.
The bottom line, by contributing and giving first, you will always reap the rewards in multiples.
Thanks for letting me share…
Mark
Nicole
June 4, 2010 at 2:51 pmVery nicely done, Mark. Any time you can find win-win-win scenarios – in this case for you, the other blog owners, and their readers — you’re doing the exact right thing!
You might swing by my mom’s blog: http://www.RemarkableWrinklies.com and form a friendship there. 🙂
Gregory Burrus
June 3, 2010 at 11:04 pmHi Nicole,
Great post. I learned a lot just reading and I purchased the link building course so overall I learn and I use your stuff and it gets me links Keep up the good work.
Thanks for sharing it does work.
Greg
Nicole
June 4, 2010 at 2:52 pmSusanne’s a great one to learn from. You can’t go wrong following her advice.
Hope you enjoy! Thanks so much for commenting. 🙂
Loretta
June 4, 2010 at 12:46 amWhat a great variety of answers from everyone and a lot of good things to think about and incorporate into a link building plan. Thank you all 🙂
Nicole
June 4, 2010 at 2:53 pmI was surprised what a nice variety of answers we got, too. All with the underlying theme of offering value. Love it!
Thank you for your help compiling this post. 🙂
Lain Ehmann
June 4, 2010 at 6:07 amGreat thoughts! I love this new series. Looking forward to more! I particularly like Lynn’s simple approach to guest blogging.
Nicole
June 4, 2010 at 2:54 pmGuest blogging is such an underused method of marketing – and it’s soooo effective.
Do it. Now. 😉
Jeanie
June 4, 2010 at 7:14 amAnother great post. I am enjoying reading all of them and am trying not to go into information overload.
Jeanie
Nicole
June 4, 2010 at 2:54 pmThanks, Jeanie!
Cathy
June 4, 2010 at 9:15 amI’m wondering how do you create quality links when you have multiple sites.
Susanne
June 4, 2010 at 2:55 pmHi Cathy,
it’s really no different than building links for one site since you will be building links for individual pages. I usually like to focus on 3 or 4 pages at a time. My main goal with link building (other than getting traffic) is to move up in the search engines for a given keyword.
Pick 3 pages or so (which can be all on the same site or on different sites) and build links to those for a week or two. Then move on to other pages. After a few weeks come back and see if you are ranking where you’d like to. If not, build more links to those pages.
Rinse and Repeat
Nicole
June 4, 2010 at 3:14 pmHi Cathy,
Yes, it does become a bit trickier since there will still only be 24 hours in a day. And, you do need to manage your time. If you’re splitting your link building efforts between 4 sites and your competition is doing the same effort, but focusing on one site, they’re going to stay ahead and get further ahead all of the time.
So… I’d recommend choosing one of your sites that you feel has the most potential. (Perhaps it’s already making money and can earn more quickly with just a bit of traffic.) Then, for one month, focus solely on marketing that one site using the methods above. After you’ve done that, you can reassess for the next month, but, you should see results quicker that way rather than trying to switch between each site and not really making progress with any of them.
Hope that makes sense.
Warmly,
Nicole
Tiffany
June 4, 2010 at 9:18 pmI just came across your blog and will be sticking around for this series. I like how you interview other people who have been successful as it gives others more than one point of view. Looking forward to learning more!
Traci
June 5, 2010 at 11:22 amI always love reading your blog posts. I especially love the resources mentioned & linked to in Susanne Myers response. I’m gonna go check those out right now!
This will help me serve my clients better, thanks.
Michele Scism
June 5, 2010 at 8:46 pmHey Nicole – Great article as always! I really loved the way you included the interviews (ideas) of the guest experts. I have used guest bloggers several times (including you) but haven’t set it up like this before where you are getting several of them at once. I love it!! Thanks, Michele
Dan Reinhold
June 7, 2010 at 8:43 amOne thing I know for sure…there won’t be any stinkers among these briefs!
More good stuff from some faves of mine brought to you by one great lady.
Sweet and easily digestible. Are these edible briefs??
Dan
Nicole
June 25, 2010 at 12:05 pmDaniel… lol. Leave it to you.
Correen
June 8, 2010 at 11:55 amGreat tips from the experts that was easy to read and understand. Just my kinda way to wade through the info highway! Thanks.
Eric
June 10, 2010 at 7:09 amHonestly, I haven’t tried sharing content but it seems it’s the best idea I’ve learned on your post, Nicole.
What I’m doing (up to now), is just purely commenting on other blogger’s site. That’s it.
Thanks for this great content, Nicole.
Peter Lee
June 25, 2010 at 8:16 amMy favorite link building method is blog commenting. Of course the process of visiting my favorite blogs gets me lots of backlinks, but I enjoyed the building relationship with others more than actually getting their links. Over the years I’ve known so many friends through blog commenting so much so that now my first objective in visiting new blogs is not about getting links; it’s about making new relationships.
Nicole
June 25, 2010 at 12:05 pmIt’s all about the relationships in business, isn’t it? 🙂
Great point.
Jason Jumat
September 9, 2010 at 9:32 amHi, I’m new here. You have a very nice relaxed talk going on here . . . and I’m just joining in the “brief” fun. I didn’t know you are this marketing savvy, (Mrs) Nicole. I’m brand new (kind of) to the internet blogging thing anyway – and I guess I need some kind of a brake because internet marketing, building backlinks and all is really terrifying me . . . I’m just about at throwing the towel in already.
I wouldn’t nearly write as much articles in my entire life like Willie Crawford with 1500 (I’ll try to do 15 in about 3 months – maybe I’ll manage that) – link building is quite much very tedious and the problem is – once I try to build backlinks – i tend to get to impatient before Google applies them to my blog . . .
Nicole
September 9, 2010 at 2:59 pmHi Jason.
I have two words for you:
“Baby steps”.
You obviously are really smart and have already figured this out.
Try not to think about 1500 articles. Think of writing one per week for now. In a year’s time, you’ll have at least 50 — hopefully more once you get comfortable doing it.
Depending on your work style, you might tackle it in one of two ways…
If you’re easily overwhelmed, then make yourself a weekly list of things you want to get accomplished and have your link-building just be part of that procedure.
If you prefer projects, then sit down and plan to write 3 articles per day for a week and then don’t worry about it for a month.
I’m more of a project person and I work in spurts, so I prefer to tackle things with gusto and then not think about them again for a bit. Hence, my housekeeping is done in large bunches – and my cooking is, too. 🙂
Hope that helps!
N
Jason Jumat
September 14, 2010 at 8:52 amNicole – thank you for your very complimeting reply. I’ll follow your advice: Taking baby steps and allow time to work for me + constant work . . . but I’ll leave the 3 articles per day for a week-part out. I think I might be able to write something like 3 articles per week.
I guess that’s some real baby steps. by yeah.
Thanks.