SEO Tip: Making The Most Of Incoming Links

How do we do this

The first step is to promote the web site linking to you. We're going to build links to the page that links to you. Now you might be thinking that it's hard enough to build for yourself, why are you going to build for someone else? Well, the idea is to get some quick publicity for their site (usually a larger or more established site) and help them build links. If the page linking to you has a few outside links, it will make that page rank better in the future. Having a page (not just a domain) with solid backlinks linking to your page can give your site a nice search engine boost. Not to mention that each link you point to such a page gives your web site a bit of indirect credit.

Where to start

So let's cover how to do this. First we need to create account at a few social media sites. Using keywords in your user names is also a good idea to help describe your niche, but is not required. The following ten will give you a great start:

• http://www.Propeller.com
• http://Digg.com
• http://Technorati.com
• http://Del.icio.us
• http://www.Stumbleupon.com
• http://Reddit.com
• http://www.Newsvine.com
• http://www.Furl.net
• http://www.Indianpad.com
• http://Faves.com

Now you should have accounts ready to start promoting, but there is something you should know before you begin. It is important to remember that these social media sites want to see more than your business. People rarely gain popularity by promoting only themselves. It is important to promote related articles and web sites as well. I highly suggest using these sites as they were meant to be used. That is to promote the interesting things you find on the web as if you were sharing them with a group of friends or colleagues. You might find that by doing this people will add your profile and the items you promote will get more traffic and build stronger backlinks. It is also important to keep a theme. Promoting web sites that are all about similar subjects (Technology, marketing, travel, etc.) will help build your profile as a niche authority. Finally only submit stuff that's worth sharing. If the page is of little interest there are other ways to build it a few links. Save these places (which can drive tons of traffic) for the content that is worth people's time to read.

One last tip!

When submitting to these sites titles are important. Not only for keywords, but the better the title the more likely it is to become popular. For more info on writing great titles and building great links I highly recommend reading Andy Hagans’ Ultimate Guide to Linkbaiting and SMM. Andy is a master at driving traffic to sites, and this one one of my favorite posts from him. It was the first runner up for the 2008 SEMMYS award for link building. I had talked about the SEMMYS in the past, and all of these articles are worth reading.

Big things are coming to this site with some fantastic changes expected before the end of the month. This requires me to get back to work, but I welcome your comments and as always you can comment here or contact us if you have questions or need help. Pura vida!