A reader of the blog has repeatedly asked me these days to do an article on link-building. While I’m going to dispense some mighty useful advice here, remember link-building is perhaps the most complex aspect of SEM and is tightly woven with SMO. There is no simple model for linkbuilding, and that is because nowadays the simple models are already used by everyone, from legit seo website services to spammers…

So, as obvious as it sounds, the first step to any linkbuilding strategy is content. That’s right, make stuff people like, make useful stuff, or fun stuff, or stuff stupid enough it’s funny. Give people a reason to link to you. I mean, that’s what links are for, sharing great content with other people. Look at the links on this site… Most are wordpress plugins or authority sites in the field. Create value for your viewers and make stuff good enough to be posted in other places. It sounds like a logical thing, but it’s oh so hard…

The second point, and I’m putting it here because it’s related to the first, is viral content. This is SMO 101, and don’t be fooled by the title. While the purpose of what you’re doing is to make it go viral, it is no way the same as the result. Even with the pros, a small percentage of such content actually goes viral but the benefits are amazing… Think of getting literally millions of hits from a simple image or youtube video, costing pennies… (just don’t forget to let your host know what to expect).

Strategy three is offering value for free and asking for links in return. Such as buying an ebook and offering the indeas in it for free as long as the people give you links. And don’t worry about copyright, information is always free, no matter if it says confidential on the cover… Some people may link back if it’s really worth it. And in that spirit, subscribe, email me and you’ll get two PR8 websites from which you can get links for free in literally minutes…. And not many people know of them, or how to use them. Again, don’t forget, even with these sites, content is important…

Strategy four and the end of this post for now (I’m really really tired) is niche directories. Go ahead, search Google for “field directory”. What this does is search for directories in your field, like “wine directory”, or “ad directory”, etc. Find them, get your link in there and you’re done

Well, this has been our short yet insightful incursion into the world of linkbuilding, and naturally the pros use a lot more stuff, but that always costs… We build value but we need to pay the bills too.

Coming up tomorrow: Heatmaps, and how they can aid with SEO (as well as analytics) and the little website that could. Get the feed and stay posted .