Step 1 - Ethical Link Building

Ethical link building is a systematic approach to getting other quality websites to link to your site without engaging in any form of linking schemes.  Accruing a vast collection of quality, one-way inlinks is one of the most effective ways to improve your organic positioning.  More...
 

    Top 5 Factors When Evaluating Inlinks:

When another site links to your site, you’ve received an inlink (also called an inbound link or backlink).   Inlinks are indicative of your site's quality and popularity on the Web.  The key factors that determine the weight and impact of an inlink are as follows:

1.  Quality - we've already discussed listing your site in reputable directories and local search sites.  But to assess the quality of an inlink, first perform a general evaluation of the site. 

Is it a thin, low-grade affiliate site that's replete with ads?  Does the site require that you link back to it as a result of receiving the link?  If the answer is yes to either of the first two questions, then you can safely conclude that it's not a quality source for inlinks.  

Another quick way to check quality is by looking at the Google PageRank.  A more in-depth way of evaluating the quality of a site is using Yahoo! Site Explorer to see the number of pages indexed and the quality and amount of inlinks it has.

Be aware of the fact that a site can have tens of thousands of inlinks but if they're not of appreciable quality, then it doesn't really matter.  More... 

2.  Link anchor text  - again, this is nothing new as we discussed it in Step 4 - Create Valued Links (of Part 4).  Essentially, your goal is to get an inlink which contains your target keywords.  If another site links to us with the anchor text "in-house SEO," then search engine spiders will conclude that EndoSEO.com has something to do with offering in-house SEO for its site users.  

Anchor text is so important that even a flash-laden site can rank highly just because of the keywords used in the anchor text of its inlinks.  More...

3.  Relevant context - from the first step in Part 4, we learned a bunch of content strategies.  And all of these tips and techniques revolve around relevance.   Getting a link from a quality site with a relevant context, using keywords in its anchor text, will certainly improve your organic positioning.  More... 

4.  Link origin - in addition to the inlink coming from a relevant place, it also matters which page it comes from, i.e. its origin.  An inlink sent from a site's home page carries more weight than a link coming from a loosely constructed page buried deep within your site.  More...   

5.  One-way - as shown above, only one-way quality inlinks really have an impact on your organic rankings.  There are many gray and black hat linking tactics out there such as buying links from link farms, reciprocal linking, and even three-way linking.  Don't buy into the hype about automated link building software either. 

If all you care about is getting inbound links from anyone and everyone, then you're not seeing the whole picture.

Remember our mantra from back in the first part..."do what's best for users and search engines." More...
 

   How can I start link building?

Ethical link building can be divided up into the following three sections:    

(1)  Content development is an internal activity which pertains to creating material on your own site.  Clearly, you have the most control over this facet of your link building campaign. 

(2)  In contrast, targeted communication is an external endeavor whereby you identify relevant, prospective sources and request links to your site.  The multiple variables that come into play with targeted communication make it the most difficult to control. 

(3)  Finally, proactive techniques exist somewhere in the middle as you can plan and direct the actions you take but the outcomes are not totally within your control.
 

     Successful link building through Strategic Research:

The common thread between the aforementioned three sections is strategic research.  The business that targets the most profitable keywords, digs up competitive intelligence, consistently tests and measures its campaign peformance, identifies viable inlink sources and effectively communicates with them, and proactively pinpoints other sites that offer a platform for boosting brand awareness WILL THRIVE without question.  More...

Always go back to your keyword portfolio

Use your active keywords, i.e. your starting lineup, for your initial link building campaign.  Anything that you do that's related to your Internet marketing campaign, internal or external, within or beyond your control, will involve your keyword portfolio.  More...

(1)  Content Development

We've already talked about a slew of content development strategies back in Part 4.   At this juncture, you certainly know that useful content not only drives conversions but also results in link building.  Recall our Venn diagram for high organic rankings:

You've done your strategic research and successfully mapped out and built your first set of landing pages.  Here are even more ways to further develop content on your site.  More...

 Get people talking about your site - CREATE THE BUZZ

This exercise should generate even more link building opportunities for your site.  Keep in mind that while it’s easier for large companies to get more inlinks initially, because much of what they do is newsworthy, you can still create a buzz about your site through strategic research and execution.   More...

(2)  Targeted Communication

In this part, your objective is to conduct strategic research and find sources for quality inlinks.  Evaluate news sites, directories, resource hotspots, blogs, etc. which revolve around your subject area. 

The point is to target sites which demonstrate that people care about quality content and are engaged enough to link to it.  Then, you need to request a link from this targeted site.  Consider these tips for locating valuable sources for inlinks.  More...

 7 Ways to Properly Communicate to Your Target Sources

The following simple guidelines for link requests will save you an inordinate amount of time and give your site the best chance of receiving quality inlinks from your target sources. 

#1.  Be transparent in your communication.

#2.  Write a personal e-mail from your company e-mail address directly to another individual (use his/her name) and sign it with your own name and title.

#3.  Succinctly explain how your site offers valuable content and show that it's relevant to their content in less than 30 words.

#4.  There's no need to trade links if you're confident that this site will benefit from linking to you.

#5.  Include critical info such as your landing page title, description, & URL plus the URL from which you would like to receive a link.

#6.  It's fine to use a contact form if you don't see a specific contact e-mail address but be sure to fill out all required fields with your info.

#7.  Be grateful for the inlink and write back to them with a quick note of thanks.

(3) Proactive Techniques

Though it's certainly possible to get first page rankings without writing tons of articles and press releases, it behooves you to be proactive so that you can stabilize your market share in the long run.  Your entire link building campaign is analogous to planting seeds and observing how they bear fruit over time.  More...