The Best Hooks for Link Baiting Success

I have briefly discussed link baiting hooks in my last post. This post is just a continuation of the same. Listed below are some of the issues that can generate tremendous interest amongst web users:

News

It is the most effective means of growing your online community. Let people know about the latest happenings of the world. If you deliver the right kind of news at the right time, users will trust you to be a credible source and will look forward to more information from your end.

Contradiction

Write stuff that contradicts something said by someone else in your field. If that person is popular, you will get publicity by saying something contrary to his/her opinion. However, it is imperative here that you have a very strong justification for whatever you write.

Attack

Launch an 'attack' on your competition. This will entice users to read your stuff. However, there is a risk associated with maligning someone. You have to have good enough reasons for doing something like this. Plus, there are chances that your readers start sympathising with your competitors. Be very careful when you apply this tactic.

Apart from these, you can use humour, fear, resourcefulness, etc. as the baits to attract targeted visitors to your web feature.

What is Link Baiting?

Akin to fishing, Link Baiting is the process of baiting online visitors to place links on an element within a website. The bait can be in the form of content or any other exciting feature that can attract web users.

Based on the principle of viral marketing, this link building technique has become exceedingly popular in recent times. Not only can it increase the number of links pointing to a web page, but also ensure they come from relevant, good quality sources.

The best way to go about link baiting is by devising a small publicity campaign around the feature that you want to be linked. You can make use of blogs, forums, online communities, et al, to spread word about the piece. If users find your piece impelling, they will, automatically, link to it. This means, you get effective back links without actually going around requesting for the same!

Listed below are some of the easiest link baiting techniques:

• Provide information that your users may find useful. You can also guide them on how to go about a certain task.
• Spread news about latest developments in your industry. People like to keep themselves updated about the world, and will be drawn to your bait.
• Offer something humorous or controversial. In both cases, you will be able to catch the attention of a visitor. However, when you write something controversial, make sure you have strong justifications for the same.
  

Try these baits and you will be able to attract the 'big fish' – web traffic!

Benefits of Deep Linking

Deep linking, as discussed in my previous post, is the process of linking to internal pages of a website and not the homepage. Although a few optimisers believe this activity should not be encouraged, the others think it can be quite advantageous for the prospects of a website.

First and foremost, deep links provide 'one click' navigation to web users. If a site directs users to the exact location of the item they searched for, they will take it to be a credible source. This is because they will have an effortless, hassle-free navigation through web pages. This navigational ease will, in all probability, increase the traffic inflow of your site – the ultimate aim of all marketing campaigns.

When it comes to optimisation benefits, deep linking can be quite useful, because they are natural links. Search engines always prefer sites that have a good mix of homepage and internal page links. They use smart techniques to identify unnatural or paid links. Therefore, if other sites deep link to your site, it'll foster the optimisation of your pages.

Deep Linking – An Overview

In lay terms, deep links are links that point to a specific page on a website, instead of the site's homepage. Most of the links pointing to a website are directed to the homepage. However, if your site manages to have a sound deep-linking structure, it will have great prospects in search engine indexing.

Although search engines do not give extra importance to deep linked pages, such links always make your link building campaign appear 'natural'. As an optimiser, you should work on all your web pages, instead of focusing just on the homepage. In fact, the homepage should not be bombarded with keyword targeting.

When you allow deep linking on your site, keep the following points in mind:

• Your visitors should know which page they have landed on. Make way for hassle-free internal navigation and help users proceed to other sections of your website.
• Provide relevant links on every page and make sure each of your internal pages link back to the homepage. Use anchor texts smartly to impress search engine crawlers.
• Do not assume the arrival source of your visitors. They might have no idea about your website when they land on an internal page. Therefore, you have to make each of your pages informative and relevant to your business. Provide good info on your main products and services and lure users to 'act'.
  

In my next post, I will discuss some other important aspects of deep linking and how it contributes to the success of your website.

Influential Link Building Factors

This one's straight from the horse's mouth! I recently came across an online report that listed down the most influential factors of a link building campaign, as stated by SEO professionals themselves. Thought of sharing it with my readers. Read through this list and weigh these factors on your own importance scale.

Positive Factors
Anchor text
Age of the link
Type of link (image or text)
Quantity of links
Reciprocal links
Location of link on the web page
Location of link in the source code

Negative Factors
Links in a Robots.txt excluded web pages
Links in penalised pages
Redirected links
JavaScript links
Paid links
Links on NoIndex page

Every webmaster or optimiser has a different take on all these factors. But, by and large, the negative points mentioned here impacts almost every site.

Search engines cannot penalise you if the 'wrong' kind of sites point a link to your web pages. However, you risk being blacklisted if it is the other way round. When you strategise the link building campaign for your business, be very careful of who you link to.

Get Quality Links Driven to your Blog

Blogging is quite a happening thing for web businesses. Most of them are using blogs to better their prospects in the online marketplace and reach out to like-minded people. Blogs can play a significant role in the process of search engine optimisation too. If you use correct techniques to drive quality links to your blog, you can make the desired impact.

It might take time; plus, there is no guarantee of results. Nonetheless, this effort will help you better your visibility on search engines. Try the following tips to promote your blog through link building:

• Link to niche blogs
• Comment on blogs that are relevant to your business
• Outlink on a large scale, albeit carefully
• Submit your blog to online blog directories.
• Provide relevant, informative content.
• Blog posts should be simple and comprehensible by lay users
• Incorporate 'About Us' section to give a professional look to your blog
• Write and submit articles and press releases if possible
• Invite friends and peers to comment on your posts and give a link back to their site
• Tag your blog in social bookmarking sites
• Use a link as signature when you participate in forums
  

These points will help you cater to the right kind of people, who are associated with your business or industry in some way or the other. Strengthen your blog using link building strategies so as to promote your Internet business in a niche market.

Link Building Dos and Don'ts

Search engine optimisation companies face numerous queries about what is right or wrong for the process of link building. Through this post, I'll try and dispel some common misconceptions about this service. Listed below are the dos and don'ts for webmasters indulging in link building:

Dos

• Vary the anchor text of all your external links. Incorporate your main keywords in accordance with the landing page of the link.
• All that you do for your link building campaign should be well documented for future use. Take time out from your schedule and make sure you have a written record of internal and external links of your site
• Use news agency sites or RSS feeds to get links back to your web pages. Not only do they bring targeted traffic, but also strengthen your optimisation campaign.
• If you can afford it, buy links from popular industry-related websites. This will add on to your popularity and also get you desired traffic.
• Exchange links with sites that are relevant to your business. Do not waste your time in building links with websites that are not related to your industry at large.
  

Don'ts

• Buy links for any other reason but advertising. Most search engines detest web pages that have 'paid for' links pointing at them. You will lose your credibility and rankings by doing so.
• Get into negative techniques like spamming blogs, forums or user groups. Violating cyber laws can get you and your website into trouble.
• Exchange links with link farms or websites offering special reciprocal link schemes. If caught, you can get penalised or blacklisted by search engines.
• Keep these points in mind when you set about establishing the link building programme for your website.

Why do Web Businesses Buy Links?

Link buying is fast emerging as the latest optimisation trend for online businesses. However, most of the SEOs are confused about the benefits or repercussions of the same. Forums have been discussing this issue for quite some now, and I, on my part, would like to provide some inputs on the subject.

First of all, let us look into the reasons that propel web businesses to buy links. They believe it is the only realistic way of getting good, relevant links to your web pages. They are willing to risk their search engine credibility to get better rankings in quicker time. Getting approval for quality links can be a slow, tiresome process. A number of optimisers get a feeling of instant gratification by buying links.

Then, there are people who have lost all hope with regard to their site's optimisation prospects. Out of hopelessness, they opt for this paid service – buy links and stay put in the competition. Above all, links determine the PageRank (PR) of web pages. Therefore, the more quality links you have, the better will be the PR of your site.

Article Submission and Website Optimisation

Does article submission help in the optimisation of your website? The answer to this question can be both yes and no, depending on where your articles are posted. When you write an article and post it in article directories, make sure that you do not post the same write-up in your website. Once you submit something in a directory and the page gets cached by a search engine, it is considered to be the original source of the content.

If your website is crawled after the directory, and the search engine finds exactly the same content on your pages, it will consider it as duplicate. Therefore, it is always advisable to post content in your site first. Wait for your pages to get cached, and then submit the write-ups in directories. By doing so, you can ensure that your site's articles will be considered original.

Also, when you write articles for submission, pay attention to their titles and summary. The former should be appealing and should incorporate your main keyword. Whereas, the latter should be a gist of your article and should be able to lure readers on to going through the whole content.

When it comes to providing links in your article, you have two options – body of the write-up and resource section. Here, you should remember that one keyword should link to only one URL of your site. If you happen to target two keywords through an article, make sure that they link to different URLs.

These basic tips will help you formulate a well-targeted link building campaign for your site. Article submission can be extremely effective; but only when dealt with in the right manner.

Popular Article Submission Directories

Before getting into article submission, judge a directory on the basis of points mentioned in my last post. For your convenience, I am listing down few of the popular online directories that'll help you market your articles and also get good quality traffic diverted to your site.


www.articledashboard.com
www.articles-hub.com
www.articlesfactory.com
www.goarticles.com
www.articletrader.com
www.articlealley.com
www.articlesphere.com
www.webpronews.com
www.searchguild.com
www.articlegarden.com
www.articledepot.co.uk
www.ideamarketers.com
www.articlesbase.com
www.easyarticles.com
www.allthewebsites.org
www.promotionworld.com
www.selfgrowth.com
www.free-articles-zone.com
sbinformation.about.com
www.articlepros.com
www.articlecube.com
www.linkgrinder.com
www.kokkada.com
www.articleteller.com
biz-whiz.com
www.businessknowhow.com
www.businessnation.com
neoarticle.com
www.amazines.com


Some of these websites offer this service for free, whereas, some charge a reasonable amount for the same. Experts advise that you should always opt or the free ones, but then, your decision depends on your business requirements and investment capabilities. Submit your articles and strengthen your site's link building campaign by getting quality links back to your web pages.

What is a Good Article Directory?

When we talk of article submission as a link building tool, it is very important to discuss web directories that allow submission of write-ups by optimisers. The online marketplace is strewn with directories – both paid and free – that offer this service. But, you need to choose the right ones in accordance with your requirements.

What is considered a good article directory?

• One that moderates the submitted content. Even if you have edited an article at your end, it is the directory's job to check your write-ups for possible errors.
• One that displays most recent articles on its homepage, categorised on the basis of topics.
• One that displays articles with submission dates. This will help readers gauge the value of the articles chosen by them.
• One that provides this service free of cost. There is no point in investing money in article submissions just for the sake of getting links back to your site.
• One that gives URLs that are search-engine friendly. It helps in faster indexing of your articles.
  

When you decide to get into article submissions, judge directories on the basis of the aforementioned points. In my next post, I'll enlist some of the most popular article directories that can help you in strengthening your link building campaign.

Article Submission – The Basics

A highly-effective off-page optimisation technique, article submission, unfortunately, still happens to be a highly under-utilised service too. Most online businesses believe there are much better ways of procuring links and therefore shy away from getting into this service.

However, article submission is not as simple as it sounds. To write an article, you do not need to be a subject matter expert, or a student of literature. But, you definitely need to be competent in presenting facts in a way that they intrigue readers. To be able to do this, you first need to understand a few basics about this service.

What is Article Submission?
It is an optimisation technique, wherein you can write impelling articles relevant to your business and submit them into article directories available online.

What do you write about?
You can write on any topic that interests you. However, it will help your business only when you write on subjects that are related to your product/service, business or industry at large.

What are links from supplemental pages?
These are links that come from pages that have been supplemented by a search engine.

Are links from supplemental pages worthless?
Not exactly. If you are looking for PR, they will be worthless for your campaign, because most of the supplemental pages have zero or very low PR. But otherwise, these pages do carry link value.

In my next post, I will discuss article directories as a source of link building. Questions like what is a good directory, which are the popular online article directories, etc. will be dealt with then.

Top Press Release Submission Websites - II

Continuing from the last post, here is a list of other popular websites that accept Press Release submission from online businesses. Some of these sites provide this service for free, while the others charge a nominal amount for the same.

From the following list, pick the website(s) that best your business requirements:

www.directionsmag.com
www.media-press-release.com
www.malebits.com
www.newswiretoday.com
www.pr9.net
www.pressbox.co.uk
www.pressmethod.com
www.pressreleasespider.com
www.przoom.com
www.theopenpress.com
www.prfree.com
www.addpr.com
www.bizeurope.com
www.epressreleases.org
www.pocketpcwire.com
www.press411.com
www.pressblaster.net
www.prnuke.com
www.afly.com
www.geek.com
www.baygo.com
www.fastpitchnetworking.com
www.press-base.com
www.press-library.com
www.press-world.com

Submit your PR and get links back to your site. This link building strategy will stand your optimisation campaign in good stead.

Top Press Release Submission Websites

My last post provided an insight into the art of writing press releases. Once you have written a well-defined PR, you need to submit it into various web directories that are meant for this purpose.

The following is a list of 20 popular websites that allow Press Release submission:

www.prndirect.prnewswire.com
www.i-newswire.com
www.betanews.com
www.npr.org
www.usnewswire.com
www.console.prweb.com
www.24-7pressrelease.com
www.clickpress.com
www.efytimes.com
www.free-news-release.com
www.freshnews.com
www.nanotech-now.com
www.openpr.com
www.powerhomebiz.com
www.programmersheaven.com
www.pr.com
www.prleap.com
www.express-press-release.com
www.1888pressrelease.com
www.downloadjunction.com

Submit your news or event-related PR and get a link back to your site. Not only will this strengthen your link building campaign, it will also get targeted traffic diverted to your pages.