8 Easy Ways To Get Backlinks
David run’s all SEO for IncomeDiary. In the past three months he has increased the traffic from search engines by over 500 visitors a day. Want to learn how you can copy his success? Check out his SEO eBook here now!
As I talked about last week, with proper on-site SEO, you massively increase the effect of your linkbuilding campaigns. So I figured a good follow-up post would be about getting more backlinks — enjoy!
You may have heard that backlinks are “CRUCIAL” to SEO and ranking in search engines. It’s true — they are. If you really want to maximize your search engine traffic you need a solid backlink strategy that works for you.
So what is a backlink and why are they so important? Backlinks are a simple concept: when another website links to you that link is considered a backlink. Search engines look at backlinks to evaluate how popular a website is and rank them accordingly.
Each backlink is given a certain amount of “juice” based on it’s own reputation, history, and authority in the niche. Backlinks from established and legitimate websites are more effective than low-quality backlinks from websites with no credibility.
With all that said, if you want to rank for competitive keywords, you need backlinks.
Here are 8 ways to get easy backlinks to help rank your website for your target keywords:
Testimonials
You can easily leverage testimonials into backlinking opportunities online. Whenever you buy a new product, service, membership, or anything else online, leave a testimonial. Testimonials will commonly have a link to your website within them to prove the testmonial is real. This will give you a free backlink if the company likes your testimonial and uses it on their website. And — it doesn’t hurt to ask them to put a live link in the testimonial!
Pro Tip: Leave honest and real testimonials (they’ll get used more).
Social Bookmarks
How about some free backlinks from high PageRank sites? Social Bookmarking allows you to save your favorite bookmarks online to read later and share with others. (Lucky for us that also gives us a free backlink.)
Press Releases
Contrary to popular belief, you don’t have to be a public relations expert to run a successful press release. You can have a press release written and distributed to thousands of different news sites and publications without doing any ‘real’ work. I love press releases because you get HIGH quality backlinks and your business gets put in front of readers, not a bad deal! Websites like the New York Times and USA Today can pick up your press release giving you a gem of a backlink (and a ton of free traffic). Though we will say that your press release better be high quality if you want to get on one of those sites!
Submitting a press release to all of these news sites manually would be a HUGE hassle. To avoid wasting our time we use a distribution service called PRWeb. PRWeb has an extremely strong track record and come highly recommended from most search engine optimizers.
RSS Directories
All over the Internet there are “RSS Directories” which serve the purpose of letting people explore different blogs/websites on a particular topic. By submitting your RSS feed to these directories your website gets a link back to it.
To submit your website to RSS directories automatically we use a program called Fast RSS Submitter. Fast RSS Submitter will submit your RSS feeds to over 100 RSS directories automatically, saving you a lot of time.
Joint Ventures/Partnerships/Co-Branding
If you have any partners or JVs ask them if they will link back to your website. If you think they might be hesitant, just ask if you can do a guest post with a link, it’s hard to turn down free content. And as a double bonus, you get extra traffic back to your site.
Wait a sec…a guest post about guest posting? How meta…
Link Bait
Link bait is content that is so useful, high quality, or powerful that people are compelled to share it naturally. If you put up content that people enjoy so much they tweet, like, blog, and comment you can rank for A LOT of keywords. Utilize link bait and structure your content towards your audience, always. If you can do that consistently your fans and readers will do a big chunk of your link building for you.
Some examples of great link bait are: top 10 lists/roundups, hot topics, breaking news, and infographics. Honestly, if you’re looking for great examples of linkbait, you don’t need to go much further than IncomeDiary.com. Michael is great at it!
Article Submissions
There’s a myth that goes something like this: “Article marketing is dead.” It really isn’t, but if you want to pass up on great backlinks you can believe that. Article marketing is one of the most effective forms of link building I use every single day. I have websites ranked in the #1 position for their primary keywords JUST from article marketing, so don’t try to tell me it doesn’t work!
The key to article marketing is VOLUME. The main argument I hear against article marketing is that only xx% of the links get indexed/counted/etc…which is why you have to do big numbers. (We’re talking about thousands of submissions) Submitting 2 articles isn’t going to rank your website overnight like some miracle cure. Do lots of submissions and see where you’re at – if you didn’t hit number 1 keep going.
Submitting articles is another time sucker, so we use syndication software that does it automatically. For article submissions we use nothing but Article Marketing Robot. This software is amazing and automates the entire submission process for you, all you have to do is put in the information and let it run.
Awards
Holding some type of annual awards can generate a lot of buzz and backlinks for your website. To do this (successfully) you do need SOME level of credibility in your industry, though. Create awards for the best in your industry and give them to the ones that are crushing it. These are usually the most popular and followed people, so you can really leverage their popularity to grow your website. I’ve seen this used very effectively in the fitness industry — people can’t resist sharing with their friends that they have won an award — even if you just made it up on the spot
This can do a couple things for you:
- Bring in new readers, fans, and followers (because its fun & different)
- Attract those ‘big name’ winners and potentially get links, tweets, or mentions from them
- Build rapport for your brand/company/website
These 8 methods alone can rank your website for competitive terms if used correctly, so use them! Experiment to find out what works best for your website and keep doing more of it. You should always be testing new and creative link building methods to keep things fresh and organic for the search engines.
Are there any cool link building strategies you use that I didn’t mention here? Tell me about em below!
Want to learn more about getting traffic to your website through search engines? How to get more people to link to your site? Check out David’s SEO eBook here now! David’s influence on IncomeDiary has been the most important investment to my online business this year. Make sure you do the same!
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Hey David, I have just been re-launched my blog and I’m sure 8 ways you share above about how to get backlinks is the ways that I must do. Ok, Why don’t you list guest blogging or blog commenting on your list above? I thinks there are the best and free ways to get backlinks to your site too. Right?
Most blogs have the “no follow” code in their comments, so the bots don’t follow them to your website.
There are so many great reasons to comment. If you continously write comments that give value to the readers, you’ll be noticed. And maybe they’ll even check out your website! It’s a win win
Thanks for the great post on building backlinks David!
I especially love your tip about making use of press releases – I haven’t really used it myself but I know someone who was able to get on Yahoo using PRWeb. I think its all about having the right press releases and you can easily get tons of backlinks.
A great tactic I think you didn’t mention, though, is guest blogging. It can be a really great way to generate quality backlinks as most sites are more reputable and specific when compared to article directories.
Hey Onibalusi and David
Another great feature of PR’s is that they can go viral in no time. That is if the news is of any value or presented in a way that makes it look valuable
And you don’t have to spin them or change them since unique content is not an issue with Press Releases as opposed to article marketing.
I actually ranked a site of a friend in Austria No 1. using Press Releases alone.
Also I agree with Onibalusi on guest posting. However you have to be a dedicated scribe to do so successfully.
Btw, big kudos on your blog Oni, great style and proof that perseverance pays off.
David, did I mention I liked the post? I liked it. Now off to bed
i do love the award points..i still remember the first i start blogging (after moving from blogspot to wp), i ran a simple contest and my blog and gave away some money to the winner…and now my blog is about 10months and got pr 2
i also do prefer testimonial
Yea I use Social Monkee. That site is pretty cool. Never heard about PRweb. I’ll definitely check that site out.
Google has dropped a few of those article marketing sites during there panda update. And I think they reason those sites hold less weight is because people use those automated tools and push there sites up to the front page. I’m sure it still works though.
I noticed that Michael Dunlop moved ahead of John Chow for the phase “make money online” Hah..that’s interesting.
Article marketing is definitely NOT dead. I use it as a primary method for my low to medium competition keywords, and believe me when i say it really works. What i should do more though, is link baits.
Cool, I think I will try that product out. I wrote an article before manually, and I cant imagine doing that all day.
Social Monkee is good though.
Since my blog and site are focused on a specific group of people that not everyone is comfortable with, I’m careful about how I promote. I don’t like the idea of using a site like Social Monkee that’s pushing my links out to 25 unknown social bookmarking sites on a daily basis. There are a lot of trolls out there that might use those links as an invitation for flaming and comment spam. I’d need a lot more information about Social Monkee and how it really works than a visit to their site gave me.
I do use an RSS feed process and that has lead me to get some visitors on a daily basis but it seems to run 50-50 between legitimate visitors and those that just want to leave comment spam.
I think I’ve gotten the most value out of Link Bait. I need to take those types of articles one step further by tweeting them out to a more targeted Twitter network. Unfortunately, the network I’ve built was from my IT recruiting days and now I’m in a completely different arena with my blog. I’m working on building a whole new following.
Just WOW!! Thanks Michael and David, I think you guys open my eyes more and more with every article you provide to us simple mortals
Just with this article, I think I’ll be implementing in my blog at least 4 of those 8 tips you gave
though, my blog is in spanish, so I hope submitting my articles to all those engines will work somehow
cheers!
Great resources for most bloggers. I never thought about all these ways to build backlinks. Certainly an eve opener and good education. Thank you for sharing such vital information.
Like the press release strategy, as it serves as a great method to ramp up on quality backlinks in a fairly short period of time. Awards are definitely on point along with contests as well, and of course you can
never go wrong with “the usual suspects” like good ole’ article marketing which is a time consuming BEAST but still holds weight in this online game……
Great post! I definitely have to look more into press releases and PRweb.
Linkbait does work great for me as well as article marketing.
But you do have to remember that it’s a combination of all these methods and more that will give you a lot more juice. Not just focusing on one.
Hey guys,
So this is by no means a definitive list of ways to get backlinks — we just wanted to give 8 easy ones. Guest posting could be a whole other blog post entirely…so maybe that will be my next one
And just to clarify, I love guest blogging… as you can tell by the amount of posts I have here
David
Hi David,
So article marketing and press releases are still working well for backlinks even after the Panda update?
Article marketing works better after Panda- if you’re doing it right.
Articles that are at least 700 words do a lot better. Post it to your own site first, then get it indexed, then submit to ezine- when ezine accepts it, then put it on all the other directories.
You can take your article in .doc format and submit it to a ton of document-sharing sites as well.
Ah, sounds like a good strategy. Might be a good thing to do with the articles in my archives as most of mine are 900+. Thanks!
Great tips Michael. some of the things you stated are totally new to me when it comes to building backlinks. For instance, I have not been utilizing testimonial and awards. I think it’s nice to look into it. You made it clear and I’m grateful
great tips about seo
keep posting bro
Wow! Great information. Thanks for sharing the software that you use.
Great Post David,
I found Social Monkey interesting. I have signed up to it now. Will start using it and hope I get some good results from it. I am also starting out with guest posts. I think it is an awesome way to build traffic and links to our blogs.
Article marketing definitely works. Like the other David, we have a bunch of sites that rank just from article marketing. The key though is BULK submissions — I’m talking thousands of them. We use Article Marketing Robot for this.
Really good article. I always learn something when I visit your blog. Thanks!
Backlinks indicate the reputation of certain website so it is really important to learn ways to earn it. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
I agree that article marketing is a good method. I don’t mass submit but I have still seen good results with it.
If you’re time poor then I’d say spend most of your time doing this. And while you should submit to the high page rank and established directories, of course, there are also lots of others that are a notch below that are also worthwhile. Having a variety of sites you’re linking back from seems to help as well.
Like social monkee. Trying it out now.
I found that Press Releases is the most effective way to create high quality backlinks and targeted visitors. It will cost you a few hundred dollars but it is worth is.
Agree, Social Monkee is a good tip. Panda has had an impact on Article Marketing, regularly pumping articles to low value sites will not help your website rankings.
Neat article though.
Wonderful content Michael! Social Monkee is working really well on me now.. Thanks for the reccomendation..
definitely a great post. I should try rss directories like feedagg i think it definitely helps. Having good backliks for good traffic is a must.
Great post David and thank you for reminding me about Press Releases.
This is definitely an excellent post. I haven’t tried Social Bookmarks yet. It’s a must to try.
Guest blogging – I rather like this approach. Given that it is an undending job trying to find content for blogs, this seems a novel method for keeping on top of the task. The blog owner gets content and the contributor gets backlinks. A win-win situation.
As always, another excellent post with informative advice. My personal favorite here is the social bookmarking and link bait. These two are great for your self confidence as to see people post comments or tweet/follow/like what you’ve written is a real boost.
SEO really is that never ending struggle to reach the top isn’t it.
Keep up the good work,
Gary
David
I like what you had to say about testimonials.
Your site has been a terrific resource for me.
Keep up your good work.
Hey David & Michael,
Do you guys ever recommend buying backlinks? If so, can you guys do an article of companies to use? I am always afraid the hired company is going to ruin our image with bad/inappropriate backlinks, as well as, the company getting my url put on a permanent spam list.
-Brendan
What about free press release sites do they aso work??
Great read good info about getting back links to a website.
This is definitely an excellent post. I haven’t tried Social Bookmarks yet. It’s a must to try. Thanks for sharing..
http://www.gikoberry.com
Great article and tips! Backlink building is really very important. Thanks!
I was looking for the best articles on proper back link making and today I found that. Great and to the point talk , that is the best aspect of your post
This is very useful tricks for beginner, but I think guest
posting or contribute other related blogs is still a great way to build
backlinks and become sponsor to the beginner related site can help a thousand
time. Thanks for your valuable opinion.