How to Run a Link-Building Campaign
The amount of incoming links to a web page is one of the factors that most heavily affects how that website is ranked on search engine's result pages (SERP). For that reason, link-building is a vital part of any search engine optimization (SEO) campaign. It is possible to wait for people to naturally link to your content, or try to place links anywhere you can, but running a strategic link-building campaign is the best way of ensuring enough high-quality links to your website pages.
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Instructions
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Ensure that your website has quality, unique content that people will be glad to link to for free. You can write the content yourself or you can hire somebody else to do it, but make sure it is something you would be glad to recommend to others. Many web-masters know how important link-building is, and are picky about who they link to. Install web analytics software, such as Google Analytics, to track the results of your link-building campaign.
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Research suitable link partners and write them down on a spreadsheet. There are usually three ways of finding suitable websites on which to place a link: websites related to your niche that could complement your products or services, popular directories on your niche or industry, and niche-oriented forums. One of the best ways of searching for potential link-building targets is identifying your competition and using the Yahoo Site Explorer to see who is linking to them and how many links they have.
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Prioritize the links on the spreadsheet depending on how difficult it is to get a link. For example, some websites allow you to write guest posts in exchange for a link, and if you have plenty of time but no money, they will be a better alternative than spending money on a paid directory listing. Keep in mind that many links from small websites are easier to get and more useful than a single link from a really big website.
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Establish a routine of dedicating one hour a day to link-building. Submit your site to directories, become an active member of forums and blog about other websites from where you want a link. Pay it forward. Ethical link-building is often a matter of becoming a member of the community and giving other people reasons to promote your content by actively helping them promote their own content.
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Write down on the spreadsheet every link you get, along with the website from which you got it, the anchor link and where it points to. This is necessary to evaluate your link-building campaign objectives. Use the Yahoo Site Explorer once a week with your own website, and note any unexpected links pointing to it.
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Analyze your results and adapt your strategy. Prepare a report once a week using your web analytics software collating the sources of traffic for your website. This allows you to see which websites bring you the best quality traffic and which ones are not worth it. Use this data to refine your link-building strategy to target websites that are most likely to bring you traffic with a high conversion rate.
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Tips & Warnings
You can also use article marketing to get links to your website, but you will have no control over who uses your articles or when they do.
References
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