Been meaning to do a revisit of the types of links that I discussed from “Balancing the Link Equation”, which is based on the thought process from a couple Pubcon presentations. Andy and Aaron just put out an excellent guide of 101 link building tips, and it kicked me in the butt to get it done, so I could give their article the proper link love it deserved.
The guys over at Text Link Ads got a cool new little tool called the Link Calculator to give you an estimate of what your links might be worth. More info on it over at the Link building blog. It’s pretty handy as a baseline tool…give it a whirl.
Getting links is hard work. It’s very difficult to solicit links with no value proposition. It’s difficult to develop a value proposition if you have no sense of what you’re negotiating for. This is one of the key reasons why understanding the value of links is such a critical component to an SEO campaign.
I had a recent e-mail conversation that I felt was worth publishing publicly (with permission of course), due to the frequency I receive this type of question. Link development is highly important, and quality link development is a valuable skill. That being said, it is still only a part of the overall process of getting a website top rankings. It is often among the most difficult part of ranking a website high because it doesn’t get planned for from the start of the project and has to be retrofitted later. Getting the links you need for the rankings you want entails understanding the value involved from the publisher’s side, and providing adequate incentives for them to link to you (cool stuff, good content, bartering, cash, etc.). Unfortunately, this is a pretty difficult thing to put a budget proposal in for unless you really understand the true value of the different types of links, and what they mean to the bottom line.
Link valuation is the most fundamental component of current SEO strategies in my mind. There are certainly other important aspects to ranking well, but without understanding how to put a value on a link you are sunk. That’s why I harp about it on a daily basis, and think about it myself just as often.
Unfortunately, not everyone on the web wants to hear from you. As people’s personal filtering systems get better, the odds that your message is received declines. Subject lines are a big part of how I do my personal e-mail filtering. When I say “personal e-mail filtering”, I mean the skimming of e-mail I do every morning to determine which mails are most likely legit, and which are DEFINITELY spam.
…I came up with the title in a hurry after watchin’ too much E channel, pop news, and reality TV garbage while working on my laptop being too lazy to pick up the remote and turn the channel. G-dub was also inspirational with his, “no one wants to be fat or poor”.
SEO/ Internet Marketing Training
