Monday, February 8, 2010

Link Building Strategies: Checklist | Search Engine Journal

Link Building

Link Building Strategies: Checklist

What are your Link Building Strategies? Do you have any? If you do have any, are you following them? Do you have a link building checklist to follow?

These are some questions that you must ask yourself if you want to build quality and quantity links to a website or webpage. With Google using around 200 data points to size up your website, we all know that links are one of the most important aspects of search engine optimization. The problem lies in the actual taking action to gather links.

If you are not willing to spend some labor intensive time link building, then I suggest you outsource this part of your search engine optimization to a reputable SEO firm that specializes in getting links. It just might be worth the investment. If you do decide to go down this road by yourself, then make sure you dot your I’s and cross your T’s. I suggest you find a consultant or firm that has experience. Be specific about the results you expect.

If you are willing to spend time and effort getting quality links, then here is a suggested link building checklist:

1. What is the purpose? Decide what your link building is for (choose one) –

  1. More traffic
  2. Better rankings
  3. Get a web page indexed
  4. Make you feel good
  5. Other?

2. Map out your strategy. (Part 1) Who and When? –

  1. Who is going to do the work?
  2. When is the work going to start?
  3. Is the work ongoing? or
  4. Is there a date that the work should be finished?
  5. Who reports to whom? Is there a reporting process?

3. Map out your strategy. (Part 2) What and How? –

  1. What web pages are the links directed to (in importance)?
  2. What keywords (anchor text) will be used in each webpage?
  3. What types of content/websites will be targeted to get links?
  4. How will the content/websites to get links be found?
  5. How to approach the content/websites to gather links?

 

4. Map out your strategy. (Part 3) Where will the links be gathered? (ideas) –

  1. Your own sites
  2. Internal Link building strategies
  3. Friends
  4. Competing websites
  5. News sites
  6. Forums
  7. Relevant blogs
  8. Related specialty sites
  9. How-to sites
  10. Social sites
  11. Social groups
  12. Social lists
  13. Social profiles
  14. Directories
  15. Widgets
  16. Guest posting
  17. Reviews
  18. Local and business links
  19. Article syndication
  20. Press Releases

5.  Follow the ACT system. Using the list above it is now time to ACT. Start networking, exploring, and researching and take action today.

  1. Ask – be bold and simply ask for links!
  2. Content – create valuable relative content. “Modern SEO is all about crafting content so compelling that other people want to make note of it by linking back to you, thereby increasing your trust and authority and attracting links to the pages you want to rank well for certain keywords.” – SEO Copywriting 2.0 by Brian Clark
  3. Timing – plan and build a process that works for you.

Conclusion

Whatever your link building strategies, you need to have a plan and a checklist. If you don’t you will either never begin or you just might get off course. Link building is about determination not necessarily knowledge or creativity (although they help). Focus on the strategies but spend most of your time implementing the plan you have set forth.

Garrett Pierson is Founder and President of New Generation Consulting, a consulting firm specializing in search engine optimization, social media, website conversion, and success. He is the creator of Building Social Equity 2.0 a “SEO Meets Social Media” training course. Garrett can be followed on Twitter @garrettpierson

 

 

Like This Post? You'll LOVE These Related Tutorials from SEJ :

3 Comments

  • Xstroy says:

    Early did not pay any attention to it, but it is obvious that clear thinking over all these items will no longer be the majority of issues in moving the site.

  • Sean Odell says:

    This was a great article and right on target for developing strong SEO strategies. SEO is an art, just like playing a musical instrument. Different musicians can play the same song yet one just creates a result that is more fulfilling than the other. Remember that you must practice and be patient.

    If you are new to SEO do not be discouraged by the length of the check lists mentioned above. Once you develop a technique that works for you (and there will be some trial and error) it becomes very addicting and absolutely one of the most rewarding things that a developer can achieve.

    Thanks for the GREAT info!

  • Link Building is a strategy I strongly recommend in my blog. Now I need to build my own plan and check list. Thanks for the help.

    • via searchenginejournal.com

    Posted via web from SGB Media Group, LLC

    Posted by at
    Labels: , ,

    No comments:

    Post a Comment

    Your comments are greatly appreciated!

    Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)