30 Old Ways to Gain New Links for 2009
Written by Derek Edmond on January 21st, 2009
With a new year upon us, new challenges are certain to arise for search engine optimization, especially link building. Toward the end of last year, notable SEO’s had already begun indicating how link building tactics were changing.
Jim Boykin of Web Build Pages publicly announced the company would no longer be buying links and Michael Gray’s post a few weeks ago ponders how Google may start further refining the algorithm for links acquired through social media.
Google will continue to analyze trends & patterns in search in an attempt to find complementary ways to rank web pages for keyword queries, relying less on link popularity. It’s already underway with personalized search, SearchWiki and preferred sites.
Link building will still be a core element of any long-term SEO strategy until proven otherwise. But even more important will be the ability to gain links from a variety of online strategies and not relying on a single outlet or channel.
Here are 30 ideas to kickstart your link building efforts in 2009, ranging from the quick hits to those tactics requiring a greater level of preparation and more strategic planning and development.
The Quick Hits
- Search Google for mentions of your company name, brand, product names and even key management to determine if sites mentioning these things included links as well.
- Add your web address to your LinkedIn Profile
- Write a newsworthy press release
- Write an article for Work.com, EzineArticles.com or a myriad of other niche sites accepting articles (that provide third-party links of course)
- Use Yahoo Site Explorer to check your competitor’s backlinks for new link opportunities (I’d suggest using the drop downs to filter “Except from this Domain” and “Entire Site”)
- Find a new way to get your RSS feeds syndicated on third party sites
- Write a free eBook which takes a different spin on a popular topic
- Guest author a post on an industry-related blog
- Start Blogging
- Use Google Webmaster Central to find the URL’s that link to 404 pages on your site.
Strategies that take a bit more time, preparation and execution
- Donate your time to a worthwhile cause
- Create your own influential community in MyBlogLog
- Give something away for free (just make certain that people will really want it)
- Find locations where you can submit your web address – as part of your profile – that does not “nofollow” the web address link (You used to gain link value on Twitter and while the direct profile link is no longer followed, there still may be some SEO link value left…)
- Run a contest (learn about B2B Contests)
- Sponsor an event
- Research important editors and publishers in your industry, including local news publications, trade publications and industry news sources.
- Send out the perfect link request
- …or even….pick up the phone and call
- Link to other bloggers in your industry in hopes that they notice your link and then link back either at some point in the future or in reference to a valuable post you may have written in the past.
This set of tactics not only take more time and effort, but it may also be difficult to measure short-term gains and direct “wins”. In our experience, dedication to a plan and a consistent focus are what often brings long-term value for these link building strategies.
- Build a database (or even an Excel spreadsheet) of contact information for quality link opportunities (websites) in your industry
- Research and take time to participate in a forum community specific to your target market.
- Provide valuable comments on industry and even competitor’s blogs. Hopefully they’ll start recognizing your contributions and start following, comment and linking to your blog as well.
- Network with your colleagues (but make certain to network the right way)
- Create a tool or widget that people can use, link to and even post on their own websites, which is reflective of your business strategy or expertise.
- Build an influential social media profile
- Use Google Alerts to monitor keyword activity related to your company, brand, and high-value keyword strategies for link opportunities in blogs, news and other websites.
- Forge and leverage strategic partnerships that you probably already have
Finally, two important facets of the link building process that help make everything about link building easier to do and much more productive.
- Have a sense of humor
- Create good content
And if all else fails… Act Like an Animal JUST KIDDING! But the key takeaway is to be unique, be different, give someone a good reason to link to you.
I’m certain there is more to add to this list and hopefully it has inspired creative ideas as well. We’d love to hear your feedback via comment or contact and best of luck in your link building efforts in 2009!
Other Helpful Link Building Articles
- Link Building Fundamentals: A Primer
- The Secret to Making Every Link Count For Your SEO Rankings
- 11 Experts on Link Development Speak Out
Graphical heading design inspired by Patrick Winfield’s article: “How to Create Cool ‘Graphical Text’ for Linkbait Pieces“
30 Old Ways to Gain New Links for 2009 – KoMarketing Associates…
A great list of methods to get links to your site….
January 21st, 2009 at 4:46 pm[...] 30 Old Ways to Gain New Links for 2009, http://www.komarketingassociates.com [...]
January 22nd, 2009 at 6:25 pmGreat post. This year our new tactic is every single month we are giving away a free SEO package to a charity of our choice that fills out the charity SEO contact form. So far we have heard from a PR6 and PR7 charity. Cheers.
January 22nd, 2009 at 8:04 pmI found this to be wealth of good information to anyone who wants to get serious about building links to their site and I will be using some of theses techniques.
January 22nd, 2009 at 11:03 pmI am looking forward to hearing comments on this subject by other readers.
January 22nd, 2009 at 11:05 pmI think the above are all great ways to build links. We have launched our service on the paid side of the business and it is a way to get a java link from within the text of articles.
Take a look at http://www.BrandClik.com
Its a great way to get traffic back to your site(s) from the places you can get hard coded links from.
Thank you,
January 23rd, 2009 at 10:08 am[...] 4) Derek Edmond – 30 Old Ways To Gain New Links in 2009 [...]
January 23rd, 2009 at 2:11 pmWell this is really an old way and I think most of us know this methods…
January 23rd, 2009 at 4:36 pmHi Jesse,
As indicated – some of *these* methods are quick hits and some require more coordination and strategy. The key takeaway is that if you believe link building is of value to your SEO strategy, there are a lot of ways to go about it.
I also don’t think you always need a “new” idea to jumpstart a link building program – often times, there are easy to get opportunities right in front of you; you just need to know where to look.
Thanks for commenting though, it is appreciated.
January 23rd, 2009 at 4:50 pmDerek
31. Keep at it, keep at it, keep at it!
January 23rd, 2009 at 6:50 pmFor certain Arnie – for certain. “Online Internet Faxing” – hopefully you can turn some of your respondents into case studies (w/links of course
)
January 23rd, 2009 at 7:14 pmGood post, Derek. Some good tips I’ll need to use when I do my next link push. Regarding #6. I run a site called RSSMage.com. It is a maintained list of RSS directories. I hope it is of value to you and your readers.
Jason
January 23rd, 2009 at 10:09 pmThanks for the post. These are still the old tested ways to gain valuable links.
January 23rd, 2009 at 11:35 pmJason – I’ll take a look and thanks for bringing it up! Derek
January 24th, 2009 at 9:58 amGreat list, lots of solid advice. I’d add putting your web URL on all social media profile pages (Myspace, Facebook, Ning networks, etc.) Also, web directories are still a good way to gain some links (search Digital Point for new directories).
January 24th, 2009 at 12:59 pmGreat article….looks like I’m doing most of the bullet points, particularly the community-building aspect.
“Yelp.com” is another great community to participate in….
January 24th, 2009 at 1:25 pmThanks for the contributions – all very good suggestions and ideas
January 25th, 2009 at 7:57 pmThese are all very good ideas. In today’s online marketing landscape it is important to use every tool within reach in order to pull in your audience.
January 26th, 2009 at 10:50 am[...] 30 alte Techniken neue Link zu bekommen für 2009 – nett, aber auch net spektakulär [...]
January 27th, 2009 at 3:59 pm[...] 30 Old Ways to Gain New Links for 2009 – KoMarketing Associates[SEO,運営ノウハウ] [...]
January 28th, 2009 at 5:02 amThis is a good summary, but no new ideas!
January 30th, 2009 at 7:34 amrofl @ #21 thats obviously why the title is 30 ‘OLD’ ways…
February 2nd, 2009 at 3:20 pm@junkee – I hear you
– hence the disclaimer. That being said, I really don’t know if a lot of companies (interested in SEO) have an organized strategy for link building.
February 2nd, 2009 at 3:35 pmWelcome to this site! Enjoy!
February 6th, 2009 at 6:15 amHello everyone,
I’m a newbie to website design and being a this site. I’m stopping by a few site to pick up tips and get answers from people who know a lot more about this that I do!
My username has to do with cooking, my big hobby. It’s related to my website and blog.
How is everyone doing? Would just like to give a quick introduction about myself, I am jack from Arizona, 22 years old and just recently gotten into this and stuff.
Excellent advice, many thanks
February 6th, 2009 at 8:47 amThanks for such wonderful tips. Most of them are known but due to my short term memory loss someone keep reminding of what to do lolz thanks
February 8th, 2009 at 3:50 pmgreat article! thanks for it.
April 20th, 2009 at 8:48 am[...] find the concept of a PR pitch much like “old-school” link building. While one could argue link building emails are not the most effective way today, they can still be [...]
November 11th, 2009 at 12:13 pm