Back in September Andy Hagans and Aaron Wall made a post on SEO Book called 101 Ways to Build Link Popularity in 2006. Most of these are pretty easy to implement and I’ve tried nearly all of them so I’m going to comment on my experiences and add my two cents to the mix. I’ve added a couple fields for Cost and Time the two biggest investments when it comes to link-building.

1. Build a “101 list”. These get Dugg all the time, and often become “authority documents”. People can’t resist linking to these (hint, hint).

Cost: $0

Time: Hours

Well, theirs sure did! Actually lists of any kind work pretty well. One of the most popular posts I made on Scout was 13 Reasons Web Sites Fail. I didn’t think much of it when I wrote it but it was among the first to catch natural links.

2. Create 10 easy tips to help you [insert topic here] articles. Again, these are exceptionally easy to link to.

Cost: $0

Time: About an hour

Same concept as above. People love lists.

3. Create extensive resource lists for a specific topic (see Mr Ploppy for inspiration).

Cost: $0

Time: Hours for an article, days for a real “resource”.

This site is an example of this tactic in action. The whole site is dedicated to links and how to get them. The goal is to become the resource on link information. Will it collect links? God I hope so! Can you imagine if it didn’t…?

4. Create a list of the top 10 myths for a specific category.

Cost: $0

Time: About an hour.

This is not something that I’ve tried (yet) but forum posts that start this way are always popular. In fact, Blog posts are too…

5. Create a list of gurus/experts. If you impress the people listed well enough, or find a way to make your project look somewhat official, the gurus may end up linking to your site or saying thanks. (Sometimes flattery is the easiest way to strike up a good relationship with an “authority”.)

Cost: $0

Time: Hours

This was part of the benefit to doing the SEO Interviews series at 14th Colony. Not only did it generate attention within the industry but the people interviewed almost all linked to their profile without me asking. People like attention, especially attention that elevates their profile. They want to share such things with as many people as they can!

6. Make your content easy to understand so many people can understand and spread your message. (It’s an accessibility thing.)

Cost: $0

Time: Varies depending on the status of your web site. May be none, may take hours.

The key idea behind sales is removing the obstacles between the customer and the product. If links are your product, make sure they are easy for the linker to generate. This is the concept behind sites that offer the code needed to link back at their sites - they are making it easy for the viewer to take the action they want.

7. Put some effort in to minimize grammatical or spelling errors, especially if you need authoritative people like librarians to link to your site.

Cost: $0

Time: 5-15 minutes

I learned the hard way that spelling errors are very difficult to erase online. I had a web page that I linked to with a misspelling over a year ago that Google still keeps looking for! Doing a copy-and-paste from your blog or whatever to Word to find errors just takes a few minutes and is worth the effort. I do actually recommend Word as it seems to have the most robust grammar check.

8. Have an easily accessible privacy policy and about section so your site seems more trustworthy. Including a picture of yourself may also help build your authority.

Cost: $0 (probably)

Time: Usually minutes, may take a couple hours

If you do use a picture of yourself make sure it is a quality photograph and that you look professional in it. The main idea here though is building a rapport with the viewer so they can trust your site with their “vote”. I also suggest having a phone number and physical address (not a PO Box) as these encourage the viewer to believe you are a real person or company and not just one of the many fly-by-night scammers online.

9. Buy relevant traffic with a pay per click campaign. Relevant traffic will get your site more visitors and brand exposure. When people come to your site, regardless of the channel in which they found it, there is a possibility that they will link to you.

Cost: Varies

Time: A few hours per month to track and update your campaign

I’m not sure PPC will get you links… at least not on their own. I think the real idea here is the more traffic you get to your site the more people are aware of it and likely to link to it at some point. If you are new to PPC do some homework so you don’t burn up your budget figuring it out.

10. Syndicate an article at EzineArticles, GoArticles, iSnare, etc. The great thing about good article sites is that their article pages actually rank highly and send highly qualified traffic.

Cost: $0

Time: A couple hours

While I have written articles for websites I have yet to syndicate any. Its one of those things I keep meaning to get around to and just haven’t yet. I do know of many SEOs that use this tactic, some of whom swear by it. The number one result from Google for “get links” is a buzzle.com article that claims article syndication is the All Time Most Effective Way to get Backlinks to your Website.

11. Submit an article to industry news site. Have an SEO site? Write an article and submit to WebProNews. Have a site about BLANK? Submit to BLANKinformationalsite.com.

Cost: $0

Time: A couple hours

This definitely works and I have done it a few times with great success. You can also submit articles to general category sites and get a great deal of attention by bringing your niche to them.

12. Syndicate a press release. Take the time to make it GOOD (compelling, newsworthy). Email it to some handpicked journalists and bloggers. Personalize the email message. For good measure, submit it to PRWeb, PRLeap, etc.

Cost: Varies by service and options selected

Time: A couple hours

Press releases are great exposure but getting a release out with a live link will usually cost $40-200 depending on the service you use and the optional upgrades you select. Even a release that doesn’t have a live link can get enough attention where someone who reads it link to you on their own. But that has to be one hell of a press release!

13. Track who picks up your articles or press releases. Offer them exclusive news or content.

Cost: $0

Time: A few minutes per day

I use several services to track new links going to my sites including Technorati and Google Alerts. This allows me to know what’s going on and who to thank. Offering people a “heads up” is a great way to incur their favor especially if the offer a news site.
Secret Tip: HitTail is another way to detect new links as they happen because the “Search Hits” tab has nearly-real-time reporting and it shows referrers beyond just the search engines!

14. Trade articles with other webmasters.

Cost: $0

Time: An hour or so

I just covered this concept on Scout a couple days ago. By trading articles or guest writing for another site you do get a link back to your site and the opportunity to get your message in front of a bunch of new faces. Great for branding as well as link building!

15. Email a few friends when you have important relevant news asking them for their feedback and/or if they would mind referencing it if they find your information useful.

Cost: $0

Time: A couple minutes.

Pretty similar to #13 but this worked for me just the other day. This is also how I got the word out about my Social Bookmarking articles. Now they have their own momentum and one was just linked to this morning (along with a couple other articles - nice!). Thanks Karl.

16. Write about, and link to, companies with “in the news” pages. They link back to stories and blog posts which cover their developments. This is obviously easiest if you have a news section or blog. Do a Google search for [your industry + “in the news”].

Cost: $0

Time: A couple hours per week

You scratch my back… I have not tried this but I will soon! This hits the same concept as #5 and by making others look good they will want to share it.

17. Perform surveys and studies that make people feel important. If you can make other people feel important they will help do your marketing for you for free. Salary.com did a study on how underpaid mothers were, and they got many high quality links.

Cost: $0

Time: Days or weeks

Again, along the same lines as the Interviews series. One thing that made my approach different is I looked for SEOs that were independents or in other fields that used SEO in the course of their work. Many of these people wouldn’t get acknowledgement for their SEO accomplishments any other way. They linked freely back at me!

18. This tip is an oldie but goodie: submit your site to DMOZ and other directories that allow free submissions.

Cost: $0

Time: About 5 minutes per directory.

This is effective though there are a few problems with it. The first is that it is time-consuming. The second is that directories are usually so broad that while you will get link-love it may not come with much relevancy. The third is free directories usually don’t have much link-juice themselves yet and they are growing into a paid directory. But if you have the time and can be patient check Digital Point for announcements (that’s what I do).

19. Submit your site to paid directories. Another oldie. Just remember that quality matters.

Cost: Varies

Time: About 5 minutes per directory

Some directory submissions are as little as a dollar, other can cost hundreds of dollars, like the Yahoo! Directory. And the same problems apply to paid directories as free ones though they usually carry a bit more weight.

20. Create your own topical directory about your field of interest. Obviously link to your own site, deeplinking to important content where possible. Of course, if you make it into a truly useful resource, it will attract links on its own.

Cost: Varies

Time: Intensive

This is a tactic that I will be employing here once I get some help. Directories that are free-for-alls tend to get banned or carry very little link-juice so quality guidelines must be enforced and that requires a manual review. There are free scripts to help you set up a directory but paid versions may serve you better. I haven’t done the homework needed to give solid advice about that yet.

21. Tag related sites on sites like Del.icio.us. If people find the sites you tag to be interesting, emotionally engaging, or timely they may follow the trail back to your site.

Cost: $0

Time: A few minutes per day.

I have not tried this though I do see people linking to my sites based on links they found in social bookmarking sites. I honestly can’t see the effort being worth the reward on this one though.

22. If you create something that is of great quality make sure you ask a few friends to tag it for you. If your site gets on the front page of Digg or on the Del.icio.us popular list, hundreds more bloggers will see your site, and potentially link to it.

Cost: $0*

Time: A couple hours

This has become the foundation of modern linkbait. Even if you don’t hit the front page your site can still be found and linked to at a later date.

* You may need to get a new hosting company if you hit the front page of these sites.

23. Look at meme trackers to see what ideas are spreading. If you write about popular spreading ideas with plenty of original content (and link to some of the original resources), your site may get listed as a source on the meme tracker site.

Cost: $0

Time: A couple hours

This was the idea behind my Social bookmarking articles. I saw the trend and wrote up a detailed analysis of it picking up several links over time. The original article has become a major resource for anyone interested in social bookmarking.

24. Join the Better Business Bureau.

Cost: Varies by company size and location

Time: A couple hours per month

Joining the BBB comes with other benefits as well including being eligible for their Reliability and Privacy seals. Plus it increases consumer confidence and is a great networking opportunity.

25. Get a link from your local chamber of commerce.

Cost: Varies by location

Time: A couple hours per month

Chambers of commerce are also networking opportunities. Depending on your location and the strength of the Chamber you could get access to hundreds of new customers. Being a Chamber member also builds trust in the eyes of the consumer.

26. Submit your link to relevant city and state governmental resources. (Easier in some countries than in others.)

Cost: $0

Time: About 20 minutes per request

The length of time involved is due to the fact that these resources can be difficult to find. Some may have special requirements. These links are especially significant when it comes to geo-targeting. And some have actual .gov TLDs making them valuable, but difficult to get. It usually helps to know someone on the inside.

27. List your site at the local library’s Web site.

Cost: ?

Time: ?

I have never heard of this and will have to look into it.

28. See if your manufacturers or retailers or other business partners might be willing to link to your site.

Cost: $0

Time: About 5 minutes per request

This is a great one for relevant links and making your site an authority in the search engines. The biggest difficulty I’ve encountered is explaining what I want to people that don’t have a clue about the internet. Once they understand the request many companies don’t have someone on staff to implement it so it can take quite some time to push through.

29. Develop business relationships with non-competing businesses in the same field. Leverage these relationships online and off, by recommending each other via links and distributing each other’s business cards.

Cost: $0

Time: A few minutes here and there

SEOs are famous for this. We link back and forth to each other constantly! I also have some web development friends that i trade job referrals to and come to think of it… links too!

30. Launch an affiliate program. Most of the links you pick up will not have SEO value, but the added exposure will almost always lead to additional “normal” links.

Cost: Varies

Time: Intensive

This is not something that I’ve done yet though I have a project in the works. There is a lot of labor involved in tracking the affiliates activities and verifying purchases, etc. You can farm this work out but that will cost you too. The bulk of the expense is getting the program started from the technology side to the promotion. After that it should just be maintenance.

31. Depending on your category and offer, you will find Craigslist to be a cheap or free classified service.

Cost: ?

Time: A few minutes every seven days

Craigslist closes ads every 7 days and their TOS speaks against “spam” though they don’t really define it. They also don’t tell you if your ad will need to be paid for or not until after you submit it. I just made my first attempt; we’ll see how it goes.

Update: The ad went through free of charge.

32. It is pretty easy to ask or answer questions on Yahoo! Answers and provide links to relevant resources.

Cost: $0

Time: About 10 minutes per answer.

Other sites also offer similar services, including forums. Just make sure your answer is quality and that you aren’t just link-spamming.

33. It is pretty easy to ask or answer questions on Google Groups and provide links to relevant resources.

Cost: $0

Time: About 10 minutes per answer.

See #32 above.

34. If you run a fairly reputable company, create a page about it in the Wikipedia or in topic specific wikis. If it is hard to list your site directly, try to add links to other pages that link to your site.

Cost: $0

Time: A couple hours

Wikipedia links are notorious for getting shot down as the Wikipedia editors are aware of the value placed on such links. There are other Wiki sites out there that you can also do this on and may be better practice before the “main event”.

35. It takes about 15 minutes to set up a topical Squidoo page, which you can use to look like an industry expert. Link to expert documents and popular useful tools in your fields, and also create a link back to your site.

Cost: $0

Time: 15 minutes

I’ve looked at this site about 20 times and just don’t see the point but I will set up a “lens” for the experience. Maybe its something cool that I just don’t “get” yet.

36. Submit a story to Digg that links to an article on your site. You can also submit other content and have some of its link authority flow back to your profile page.

Cost: $0

Time: 5 minutes

This is real easy to do but make sure the page you submit is worthy. Online reputations are very real in the social bookmarking communities and if they sniff self-interest it makes getting the story dugg much harder. I’ve had limited success with this so far but I see a lot of potential in it.

37. If you publish an RSS feed and your content is useful and regularly updated, some people will syndicate your RSS content (and some of those will provide links… unfortunately, some will not).

Cost: $0

Time: Depends
You can use an automated system to set up a feed for you or create one manually. Once your system is in place you shouldn’t have to think about it any more. Forums, blogs and CMS usually have an automatic feed generator included. Andy and Aaron didn’t point out that most of the links you do get are only temporary but great for bumps in the SERPs and the traffic that goes with it!

38. Most forums allow members to leave signature links or personal profile links. If you make quality contributions some people will follow these links and potentially read your site, link at your site, and/or buy your products.

Cost: $0*

Time: Varies

I am very active in the forums and my logs reflect that. I do get a decent amount of traffic each day. Some forums send more traffic than others. Almost all forums have some type of special rule prohibiting live links and/or sig links for a certain duration of time and/or number of posts. Learn what’s expected before dropping your link-bombs. It doesn’t go over well.

39. Most brands are not well established online, so if your site has much authority, your review related content often ranks well.

Cost: $0

Time: 30 minutes to a couple hours

There is value in writing reviews but I don’t see how that draws links per say… I have a hunch Andy and Aaron dropped this one in to warm us up to their new release. ;-)

40. Review relevant products on Amazon.com. We have seen this draw in direct customer enquiries and secondary links.

Cost: $0

Time: 15-30 minutes per review

I’ve done a few reviews on Amazon but haven’t noticed any link-love because of it.

41. Create product lists on Amazon.com that review top products and also mention your background (LINK!).

Cost: $0

Time: ?

I have not done this yet.

42. Review related sites on Alexa to draw in related traffic streams.

Cost: $0

Time: 15 minutes - an hour

I think this is a cool idea. I was actually thinking about trying this for sites in the same category at DMOZ. Google also offers related sites.

43. Review products and services on shopping search engines like ePinions to help build your authority.

Cost: $0

Time: ?

I don’t know anything about this site but will look into it.

44. If you buy a product or service you really like and are good at leaving testimonials, many of those turn into links. Two testimonial writing tips — make them believable, and be specific where possible.

Cost: $0

Time: 5 minutes

I am constantly bugging clients for testimonials to use in my marketing. This definitely works - at least on me!

45. Start a blog. Not just for the sake of having one. Post regularly and post great content. Good execution is what gets the links.

Cost: $0

Time: 15 minutes - 2 hours per post

My blogging experience is still a bit limited but favorable. If nothing else blogs create tons of internal links to help you out. But the individual posts also pick up links though defining “great content” is sometimes a mystery. The posts that seem popular on Scout are often the ones I don’t expect. And I see other blogs where the best writing and tips seem to get ignored while their “average” posts generate buzz. This is a strange new phenomenon.

46. Link to other blogs from your blog. Outbound links are one of the cheapest forms of marketing available. Many bloggers also track who is linking to them or where their traffic comes from, so linking to them is an easy way to get noticed by some of them.

Cost: $0

Time: Less than a minute per link

I track who links to me and often reciprocate the favor. Others have done the same for me. These are some of the friendliest links you can pick up.

47. Comment on other blogs. Most of these comments will not provide much direct search engine value, but if your comments are useful, insightful, and relevant they can drive direct traffic. They also help make the other bloggers become aware of you, and they may start reading your blog and/or linking to it.

Cost: $0

Time: A few minutes per post

I have picked up traffic from commenting on other blogs. Andy and Aaron are referring to the use of the “nofollow” tag being used in most blogs comments to deter spaming. Nofollow means the search engines don’t follow the link or give link-credit for it.

48. Technorati tag pages rank well in Yahoo! and MSN, and to a lesser extent in Google. Even if your blog is fairly new you can have your posts featured on the Technorati tag pages by tagging your posts with relevant tags.

Cost: $0

Time: Less than a minute

I assume this is referring to tagging your posts through plug-ins. I get a small amount of traffic from Technorati daily but many of the people that visit do end up linking to something on 14thC so this idea is a winner. I’ve noticed a new trick where sites are using the Technorati results to pull posts related to certain keywords and linking back to the originating site which is a little spamy but kinda cool.

49. If you create a blog make sure you list it in a few of the best blog directories.

Cost: Varies

Time: 5 minutes per submission

Blog directories are not very different than regular directories except they ask for your feed’s URL. Most blog directories that I’ve come in contact with also want you to set up a profile including an avatar or screenshot which gives the visitor more information about you and the intent of your site. Most blog directories are still free but I don’t expect that to last on the ones that are quality.

That’s all for now. I’ll finish the list over the weekend and look into the tips I didn’t know about so I can update you!

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