Business Management Consultant - Stuntdubl Search and Marketing Consulting

Widgets will be one of the handiest link development tools of 2007. They have always been handy, but with the proliferation of bloggers, and common blog platforms, it makes the development of them that much more easy. Why beg for links when you can build something cool, and garner some support from a community that will help improve your inbound links, rankings, AND even branding as a bonus! There is a LOT of opportunity to build buzz and backlinks with widgets.

The recent success story so far has been Mybloglog. After seeing it pop up on more and more blogs (with my own mug smiling back at me after signing up as a member), I was fascinated enough to finally get it on my own site. Seeing “all my friends doing it” was what it took to get me to. It’s a cool app that makes a site a little less faceless, and let’s me know when folks have stopped by.

In addition to being kinda cool - it’s a real nice case study of how well a widget can work - they’ve picked up over half a million links. Very not bad for a site registered only a couple years ago. Jeremy claims they’re harvesting a bunch of data (would be interesting to hear just what), and have been shopping themselves around to yahoo and others.

For more information on widgets - check out SexyWidget

Better. Stronger. Faster. It’s important to constantly redefine link training techniques. Understand the full value of links. Simplify the link value technique. After you have the fundamental understanding of placing a value on a link (which you should constantly revisit) - here’s some information to simplify it even further. I knew someday I’d have the opportunity to reference Edward Deming’s quality management ideas from my business school days.

The Quality Management Link Building Cycle

1. Build a list of potential link request sites
I’m making the assumption you know about “link building starting points” - you’ve figured out how to identify potential places to buy, borrow, beg, or barter for links (comptetitor backlinks, google directory, hubfinder, linkharvester etc. etc.) Build a list of potential candidates to audit with the rest of the cycle.

2. Pick a site from the list.
Pick your first site, and start the cycle by clicking on the site.

3. Is it a scraper site?
Yes, it is slathered with ads, and offers no real value - Return to step 2
No - Move to step 3

4. Check their backlinks - Are they legit?
**A lot of additional training time should be spent on this evaluation
1. Yahoo site explorer - handy extension

Yes, their backlinks are mainly on-topic, and there are more than a dozen decent sites linking to them. See step 4.

No, the site is brand new, has no links, or is a part of a ring of mortgage, real estate, or poker sites despite being about baby clothes. Return to step 2.

5. Outbound link evaluation.

Tool - Outbound link bookmarklet -
Installation - drag this to your browser toolbar.

Are there more than 150ish links?
Yes - Back to step 2 buddy
No - Next question

Are the outbound links on-topic?
Yes - Proceed to step 5
No - They’re all payday loans, viagra, and bankruptcy collectors - Back to step 2 chief.

6. Determine the value of the request - How much time is it worth for your e-mail?
Very strong link - take your time these are few and far between, and quite valuable. Do whatever you can to increase the likelyhood of a response, and/or successful link. Offer cash.

Strong link - Spend a little time on the site and personalize the message. Offer a donation.

Good link - Spend time on the site and personalize the message.

‘Meh’ link - You got this far, break out your link request draft and customize it for a quick send.

Send mail -

Back to step 2 buck-o.

Don’t Beat Your Employees

Now - if you’re an employer, please don’t expect your employees can keep up the 3 minute cycle for longer than an hour without jumping out of a 13th story window after a week. Teach them the process and reward smart people who pick it up with flex time - if you don’t, your young grasshopper will be jumping along quite shortly. There’s no shortage of jobs for good link builder/ SEO types at this point.

Let your employees spend A LOT of time reading about links and how to understand them better. The process is mundane, but the success rates improve if they understand the intracacies. Each of the six steps in the process can be studied with a level of detail that Deming would truly appreciate to improve the results of the process.

More recent link advice goodness:
Jim’s link commandments

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.

Types of links and how to get them

Using a arbitrary ficticious example of an informational site about real estate law. **I do not currently work with any sites of this type.

In this example, we have two specific themes to dive deeper into that are relevant to our search - real estate and law. Starting at this level gives us hundreds of thousands, if not millions of sites to start to filter from (not to mention the backlinks of THOSE sites), and sites that share similar themes.

1. Authority links
How to obtain them: Start with your related category in the Google Directory
What to look for:
-Top rankings for big terms - city or state + real estate, vertical category + lawyers
-Sites that currently offer links out
-Sites that would benefit from offering users your content
Examples: real estate law
Other Notes: Authority links are an absolute must for improving your trust score these days. This is a MUST for a new site, and should be where you start your efforts, and always be dedicating SOME time. Suck it up, and take the time it takes to get some quality, trusted links. The existence of trusted authority links will make or break your site. Find the 800 lb. gorillas in your field, and **find a way to get on a dozen or so of them. Failing that, hunt their backlinks, and find a way to get on some of those pages. Use some creative queries with the combination tool. Give the tattler a shot.

**Find a way - How? - Buy, borrow, beg, and barter.

2. Directory links
How to obtain them: Pony up some cash
What to look for: Generally easy to find niche directories, don’t go overboard with more than a few directories per month, quarter, etc.
Examples:law directories, real estate directories
Other Notes: My gut feel is that too many directories triggers a filter. I wouldn’t go over 10 - 15% of my total link ratio on my own sites for my own sites at any given time. Start with a few highly trusted directories. (Yahoo dir, business.com, MSN SBD, BOTW), and add some others after you have many more links added to your profile.

3. Reciprocal links
How to obtain them: Make some friends - Don’t go overboard
What to look for: Strong links that are complementary to your site.
Examples: Private investigators may be useful to a client that is in need of information on real estate law. Focus on content for your niche, and use your resources to build strategic linking partnerships.
Other Notes: Reciprocal links are NOT dead - relying on reciprocal links is. They are not a magic bullet anymore, but they do occur “naturally”. They are a piece of the equation - use them to your advantage but don’t get carried away. Using a number out of the sky (read: untested) - I would say under 10% of most sites links should be reciprocal - make them count.

4. Run of site links
How to obtain them: Easy to buy
What to look for: Sites that are highly on topic to you.
Examples: You’re on your own on this one - not outing anybody - sorry.
Other Notes: ROS links can spell trouble, but they can also help to balance your equation. If MOST of your links are from unique IP’s/domains - you can get add a couple, and get some great anchor text easily. Make sure to use some specific 2nd tier keyphrases that you might be able to hit some rankings for. Caveat: ROS links can really hurt a site’s link profile if not used wisely. Use with caution.

5. One way links from friends or related sites.
How to obtain them: Go to conferences and tradeshows, e-mail folks and make friends, offer something useful in return.
What to look for: People in complementary niches
Examples:Blogrolls
Other Notes: Don’t link ALL your sites together and stay on topic.

6. Edu and .Gov links
How to obtain them: Be nice to future interns. Offer some career assistance and/or advice.
What to look for: .edus and .gov TLD extensions - Da ‘hoo recently changed some things to use siteexplorer, so most the good tools broke (sorry, I’m not a developer), but you can still used advanced search to restrict searches to these TLD types.
Examples: real estate law resources
Other Notes: There are plenty of ways to encourage .edu and .gov folks to link to you (mainly good content or resources). It should be noted that there is most likely NOT special weight on these TLD’s, but they generally have much more trust score associated with them because they are generally of higher quality.

7. Radio station, television, magazine, or newspaper links
How to obtain them: Buy ‘em, or find a journalist
What to look for: Local news or someone looking to write a story.
Examples: real estate law news
Other Notes: Do some traditional media advertising, and negotiate for some extra special link love.

8. Press release links
How to obtain them: Find sites that offer press release submission services and submit your NEWS (*note - this does not mean any crap you just want to link stuff)
What to look for: People in your niche who want news as content.
Examples: PR.com, PRWeb.com, and many more
Other Notes:Press releases are generally NOT a great way to get links, but you can pick up some that may be of value. Every little bit helps, and remember (again) this is only a small part of your overall link profile.

9. Article bio links
How to obtain them: Write a few articles, or have some written for you. Rinse, repeat.
What to look for: Industry authority sites that accept submissions from guest writers
Examples: “real estate law” + “submit articles”
Other Notes:
This can be a GREAT way to get some good authority links from high profile sites. They’ll appreciate (or demand) great content in return for the exposure and link pop you’ll receive. The better the site is, the higher quality content they will require. There’s no such thing as a free lunch.

10. RSS/ Blog aggregated links
How to obtain them: Pretty easy - start your blog and aggregate - also known as scraper links.
What to look for: Blog and RSS directories to submit to, and tagging sites.
Examples:
Other Notes: Not worth a whole lot, but you’ll pick up a whole bunch of links this way. They’re “power” is minimal at best and highly debated. There are, however, plenty of legitimate sites that aggregate content where you may pick up some decent links.

11. Comment and Profile Links
How to obtain them: Contribute to others websites - yes, REAL contributions.
Examples: Look for sites that don’t use the nofollow tag and show up in other folks backlinks.
How to obtain them: Contribute something worthwhile to a community or blog. Stick around awhile - don’t be a jerk and jus’ spam sites, you’ll probably get turned off or blocked anyhow.
What to look for: Sites without nofollow tags or redirects.
Examples: Sorry, you’re on your own, this is not hard.
Other notes: Not much to add, people have been using forum links, comment links, and profile links for a long time. Again, these links’ value is marginal, and only a very small piece of the puzzle.

12. Presell Page Links
How to obtain them: Obtaining presell pages takes link negotiations to a whole new level. Good luck outsourcing this. There are opportunities to purchase presell pages.
What to look for: Sites open to advertising that aren’t going crazy with it. Look for the happy medium.
Examples: You’ll have to write a page of good content. Create a whole webpage based around the target sites template. Make it as little work as possible for the person you’re requesting a presell page from (they’re already doing you a big favor).
Other Notes:Welcome to link builder zen. Get as many as you can possibly get. They offer direct traffic and rankings as well as highly targeted link pop.

Balance is the key term in a link profile. If you tip the scales too far on near any type of link you are going to setoff alarm bells to the algos. Don’t be dumb. Use all the tools at your disposal to achieve balance in your link equation. My guess is that link juice for rankings these days is pretty close to the pareto principle 80% of your “power” is going to come from the top 20% of your links.

**Added - Courtesy of Cameron, I found Neil’s real nice 5 piece series on getting links.

This post has even been translated into German!

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.

No one likes to hear that placing a value on a link is a “gut feel” skill, but it’s true. You need to repeat the process many times, and understand the shifts in the marketplace. It’s pretty easy to get paralysis by analysis when placing value on links, so I thought I’d do a post on a quick stripped down link value test. You’ll have to apply your own monetary guides to these scales, but these are key variables that I try to always consider quickly.

This should take you no more than five minutes to test these 6 quality indicators of text link value to search engine rankings.

6 Quality Indicators for Text Link Value

1. Keyword/Theme/Industry Worth
Tool - Overture bid tool is dead - sorry. Try determining this with adwords bid pricing.

Relative to:
SERP Value

2. Link Pop/Power/PR/ Googlejuice Link Popularity
Tool - Y site explorer - or handy yExplore FF extension

Relative to:
Click through value, traffic levels, 2nd tier IBLS (your IBLs IBL’s…their “network” if you prefer)

3. Outbound Links
Tool - Outbound link bookmarklet -
Installation - drag this to your browser toolbar.

Relative to:
Percentage of page outbound link value

4. Unique Linking Domains
Tool - Link Harvester

Relative to:
Overall trust link score

5. Placement
Tool - Use your head and look at this.
Links in the body are worth more than navigation or advertising links.

Relative to:

Overall trust link score, co-citation, proximity, anchor text usage

6. Age
Tool - Wayback Machine, or search status ff plugin which gives one click access to the wayback machine info.

Relative to:
Overall trust score

Understanding how to get links isn’t nearly as worthwhile as why you want to get links and the types, and developing semi-automated methodology.

Rand’s quick strength tool sounds like it shares some similar ideas

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.

Another issue that often gets neglected by SEO’s is the management of client expectations. When you talk about doing SEO for their site, the client does not have the same fundamental understanding of what that will include for their site unless it is spelled out in pretty specific detail. It is very important to set realistic expectations, since many people have been able to achieve extremely high return on investment rates during the “SEO boom” of the last decade or so. Unfortunately the barrier to entry for new sites, and even existing sites continues to rise as larger corporations, ad agencies, and other entities with substantial financial backing start wising up to the fundamental principles of SEO. It’s always nice to double traffic, sales, or even revenue, but many clients still expect this to be the norm unless their expectations are set to more reasonable levels. It’s nice…but I wish I could say it ALWAYS happends and should be expected.

E-mail from reader:

I’ve been reading your blog posts; you are always referenced as an excellent link builder. So I have to pick your brains for a minute.

I think there’s something I’m missing…but I can’t put my finger on it.

Hello fellow seo,

Thanks for writing.

My big suggestion would be - think quality, not quantity. Chances are you
probably don’t NEED as many links as you think you do…of course, I don’t
know the whole situation, but most likely if you get 1/10 of what they have
in terms of volume, but trump the quality, you will out rank them.

When you get into the realm where you DO definitely need that many links,
the viral marketing route is the only way to go. You need to naturally
attract those links with ideas formed around linkbaiting.

Sounds like you are right on track man. You can’t manually build that many
links normally and have them be quality. The links that you don’t have to
ask for are generally the best ones.

In high dollar marketplaces, link begging just doesn’t cut it anymore
unfortunately. It sucks, but more and more of the industries will return to
the need for ad agencies and traditional media to be successful at SEO in
the next few years. The barrier to entry was lowered, but it is now back to
rising every day for new businesses on the web.

Best of luck with your project,

Todd

Continued…

I feel like Linking Sucks…because everybody’s doing it. So, if I were your client and I was competing for a competitive term like Bass Fishing (I read that you like to fish) and I needed 5,000 links. How many email requests would you need to send in a day ? 20-50-100or more? — I’m still stuck here in disbelief.

Thanks for the info and the responses. Congratulations on going solo by the way!!! Thanks again Todd.

Hey xxxxx,

You’re question is so good, I’m almost tempted to ask to answer it publicly on my site.

Actually, you’re pretty much answering your own question correctly, but the points you bring up are quite relevant.

>linking sucks
Yes, it absolutely does. It is hard, tedious work - but it is absolutely neccessary to address for rankings.

>bass fishing
I don’t think I’d ever encourage a client that wasn’t already in the top 1000 that they could rank for this. I would more likely encourage them to focus on three word variations for the next few years if the site was only a couple of years old (or perhaps even new). As unfair as it is, I often turn down new sites for work, and just provide them with some information, because of the steep learning curve, and the increasing barrier to entry for new business on the web.

>lot of work
Yes it is. I normally just train on HOW to do it. I’ve spent plenty of time doing it, and when I feel so inclined, I link build for my own sites. I think it is really about finding the right balance, and link mix to achieve the ultimate goal of higher rankings.

>Math
Again, I think it’s quality and not quantity. Trust trumps just about anything these days on G. One “advertorial” or “presell page” on the right trusted domain and you may not need ANY links;)

Build links smarter…not harder. Train your developers or yourself to find high VALUE links, and you will grow more quickly over time. The landscape may change, but if you’re always searching for the highest quality links and overall advertising value, you won’t have to redevelop your process near as often.

Other things to consider
- scraper site backlinks from sites who’ve been on top for a while
- natural link attraction by ranking for phrases
- natural links from good content (did i really just say that?)
- syndication and aggregation

Link building can be outsourced as well, provided the staff is trained to a decent level of quality. You’re on the right line of thinking…the barrier to entry has definitely been raised. Link begging is no longer a valid technique solely on it’s own. It’s using the knowledge and understanding of how and why links are valuable that ultimately helps to create an effective seo strategy now through a marketing mix of obtaining them for rankings.

Cheers,

Todd

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.

Pubcon conferences are always exceptional for the insights that are triggered by being around of a slew of intelligent resourceful people. One of the ideas that had sort of dawned upon me beforehand, but was driven home during the conference was a new idea on pitching viral marketing to a client based on the value of the links that are naturally attracted.

Branding is a bonus
I must first say that I barely believe in branding. I understand the concept, and I’m sure there is value to it, but since I can’t measure it well enough…I don’t like it. I don’t like big brands that waste money in the commercial equivalent of political lobbying. If you have to pay to tell people how cool you are…you lose coolness points in my mind. This leaves me as a direct marketer. I love ROI tracking. I love analytics. I love seeing the bottom line and making it grow. Of course this isn’t always possible, but to me, branding is a bonus.

The SEO Lifecycle
I really enjoy link development. Well, let me re-state…I really enjoy TRAINING on doing link development. I have put in my time Link Serfing, and I still do from time to time to keep my skills in the area strong. There is nothing like coming across a nice strong link with a lot of googlejuice flowing and getting them to vote for your site through a simple e-mail. Little link serf’s have grown up all over the world from sending requests for a backlink to becoming CEO’s of million dollar companies. The power of a good link is enormous. The understanding of this power has lowered the barrier to entry to nearly all industries, creating a unique window of opportunity for those that stumbled accross it.

In order to be a good SEO, you must understand how to value links. In order to truly appreciate the value of a good link, you must hunt for and acquire links for your site or someone elses. Link begging is a tough job. Link bartering isn’t all that much easier. As folks get better at these jobs they learn negotiation skills, SEO skills, networking skills, and much more. As their skills improve, there is the expectations of advancement. If these expectations are not met in a company setting, the link serf will continue the stages of the SEO lifecycle, and the best of them will go on to become their own business owners, or self employed.

Link Monger’s Anonymous
1. We admit we are powerless over links — our lives have become unmanagemeable trying to measure everything in toolbar PageRank.

2. Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity, and that someday algorithms will no longer rely so heavily on a link popularity which is a ballot box that we can stuff, but more likely something with a much higher barrier to entry that will restore the balance of power back to those who have maintained control for so long already in all nature of industry.

3. Made a decision to return to sticky content development with a focus on natural link acquisition.

4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of our backlinks.

5. Admitted to Google, to ourselves and to another human being the exact nature of how unnaturally acquiring links can be wrong.

6. Were entirely ready to have Google remove any sites that were artificially inflated by off-topic links that did not occur “naturally”

7. Humbly asked folks at Google to reconsider relevancy - that it can sometimes be commercially defined (as in the case of Bill Gross inventing PPC) and asked that they redefine their concept of legitimate advertising to include the use of relevant text link advertising for the benefit of improving search engine rankings.

8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed through reciprocal linking, suggestion of linking schemes, and links pages, and became willing to make amends to them all if only by explaining to them how search engines work these days.

9. Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.

10. Continued to take personal link inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.

11. Sought through e-mail and message boards to improve our communication with Google and other search engiens, as we understood it, asking only for consideration of relevant text link advertising and it passing link popularity to help sites rank.

12. Having had a webmaster/SEO/marketing professional awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to link mongers everywhere, and to practice these principles in all our development so that webmasters/SEO’s/marketing professionals will be viewed in a more positive light despite their link mongering tendancies.

So What’s This Got to Do with Viral Marketing?
Well, it is basically me trying to bid farewell to link mongering. I love links. From directories to reciprocals, bought, borrowed, begged, and bartered, links have been excellent to me. I have, however, always been one to look for the easier way of doing things. I’ve also always been a guy who liked good ideas. It’s sometimes hard to pitch good ideas to people, and even harder yet to monetize them to make it profitable. In my mind, viral marketing has become the easy way to get links. If you understand social dynamics and what will be widely adopted, you have a much better chance at creating a successful website through linkbaiting than through hours and hours of link development. (Hmmm…I’m starting to sound like the “create good content militia”).

Now this is not to say that I don’t like link development. I think it still has it’s place along with just about every other type of link. Links aren’t going to hurt you as long as there is a natural distribution of the different types linking to your site. Link buying, press releases, presell pages, etc. are just a piece of the puzzle. Someone who’s been a link developer, however, understands the immense value of a good viral marketing campaign if only for the links. Make it easy for people to link to you. Maximize the benefit of your links in the same ways that you would if you were requesting them directly. Steer the nature of the link to benefit you the most with incentive based viral marketing.

Link development alone won’t make you millions. SEO is not a silver bullet. The understanding of the fundamental principles, however, help to visualize bigger more creative ideas that can make a site “tip” to achieve critical mass. Understanding that paying $50 per link per month for several dozen a good link will cost you tens of thousands in a year (and for the right links may have two to several dozen times ROI through their value in the SERPs), sure make that viral campaign that make cost 10, 20, 30 times your link development initially seem much more attractive. It makes it much easier to do the math if you understand the numbers.