How to get Backlinks – SEO / Monetization Advice

Since my last post was popular and seemed to open up the eyes of many domain owners on how to monetize websites outside of Adsense or parking a page lets get down to backlinks.

The number of backlinks to a site from trusted and relevant sites gives great weight to a websites organic search ranking. For those old timers who have wonderful one or two page websites with NO fresh content and NO plan for developing links but rather just taking advantage of a prized placement in Google’s organic search well – the success of your website is essentially a time bomb waiting to explode (sink is the more appropriate term). One day you will wake up and see how Google has crushed you to the bottom of the rankings and then you will complain, contest and even grumble how Google screwed you over.

Without a solid plan for developing fresh content and building backlinks you might as well just be quiet, collect your check and try to find a buyer while you still have traffic. In SEO terms you are about as relevant as a dinosaur.

Real developers love the old timers – Why?

Because they are just waiting to be outranked. In fact, we love you more than the WebMD’s and Expedia’s of the world because without your first page ranking the SEO job would be a lot harder to do.

So how to get backlinks.

This is the true second stage of development.

First, you can buy links

There is no way I am going to list or even hint at companies that sell backlinks. The buying/selling of links is a red hot topic and one Google continues to try and challenge. It’s extremely hard to calculate one type of link from another however the pure concept of link popularity is based on organic links. Links from people who like your work enough to link to it – not those who have paid for self promotion.

What I will talk about is the value of links from time tested human edited directories. Google currently gives great weight to sites listed in Dmoz, The Yahoo Directory and others as these directories manually approve sites using quality Google has considered trustworthy and relevant from the dawn of time.

Do you have a Dmoz.org listing? I bet 99% of new developers do not yet when it comes to human directories dmoz.org is the gold standard for getting in. Its free and the Dmoz editors are inundated with listings to review but once you get in it is a solid link and will almost always boost your rankings.

A list of some of the popular human edited directories where you can submit your url are listed below. Most require a one time fee while others have a free submission option.

Dmoz.org

note that Dmoz actually has a great forum for webmasters at – http://www.resource-zone.com/forum/ – You will need all the tips there to get in!

• BestoftheWeb
• JoeAnt.com
• Hot vs Not
• Yahoo Directory
• Business.com
• Uncover the Net
• Wow Directory
• Skaffe
• Gimpsy

There are lots more but find them yourself

Of course, Google places a different value on all of these but all of them have some kind of value and ironically are priced somewhat in line with how we view the important of each one. Some of these directories will stand the test of time while others may become less relevant but while the Google ranking mystery still gives weight to them its certainly worth looking at for serious sites you are developing.

Backlinks without Payment

How to get backlinks without payment?

The best answer to this is the same kind of answer you would receive if you asked a real estate professional how to get the best deals. “Ask around, cultivate relationships with the people who have access to information” they would say.

This is the same principal to apply when building backlinks to your website. Your website is not some kind of design project where you simply hope people will come by spurting out 1000’s of backlinks across random networks – your website is a business and your business needs to embrace the community already established.

Let me give you a perfect example.

Do you own a personal finance site?

Can you name 20 other personal finance sites that DO NOT begin with MSN or The New York Times?

If the answer is no and you have already started your backlinks plan then dude, scratch your current plan and start over.

Visit this link

http://www.wisebread.com/top-100-most-popular-personal-finance-blogs/

This is a super list of some of the most popular financial blogs around by a top 5,000 site Wisebread.  A site by the way that takes guest writers

http://www.wisebread.com/guest-post

Google the terms “top 100 _____ sites” with your category of development in the space and find the small and large players in the community. Develop relationships, comment, join the forums, invite these people to write an article, ask the owners if its ok to quote an article without asking for anything in return (this time), buy a small ad and/or simply become a name they know.

Submitting guest articles is an incredible way to get good organic backlinks but I warn you based on 75% of the comments I see around most of you can’t spell nor have any kind of artistic talent (lets hope those people are just parking names) so before submitting any article run it by someone you know. First impressions count heavily as everybody and their dog wants a backlink from the poplar blogs and no one owes you anything – even if you have a pretty domain.

Remember, the strongest backlinks you can have are from sites with relevant content to yours. If you are selling used cars online and have 500 backlinks from domain name blogs it means about as much as a bone does to a cat.

Think relative, think time, think relationships.

Court popular website owners as you would that hot 21 year old girl sitting across the classroom your first day of college. Sweet, slow and always give more than take – Charm is a magical thing.

Check the Backlinks of Your Competition

Yes, its possible to find a crystal ball of all the backlinks associated with similar sites. Try Backlink Watch (painful site but good data) or the Yahoo Site Explorer tool.

What else.

Not tonight.

Take some of this and run with it.

P.S. I have some clients who are interested in exchanging backlinks with site owners however its all about quality. Send me an email if you like – domainrock @ gmail dot com – with a list of sites you could offer a guest post or link on in exchange for another.

I am only going to reply to people I think we can match up as part of SEO goodwill ambassador program that seems to be happening here so please do not take offense if I don’t reply.