Have you ever been in a situation where you have a conversation with someone, walked away and then 20 minutes later thought  ”damn, I should have said”… <insert witty, super-snarky, something Tina Fey would say> comment?

I do, something like that happened to me this weekend.  I was irked at myself (again) for not having a better come back and while I was stewing thinking about the situation, my link building light bulb went off.

Can you use “follow-ups” or “come-backs” to generate links?  Most definitely, here’s a couple ideas:

1.  Have you seen a press conference where the reporter asks a question and then asks for a “follow-up” after hearing the answer?  Most of the time answers generate more questions and this second question is known as a follow-up.

You can use follow-up questions to develop more content which will attract more links.  For example, if you interview someone, do a second, follow-up interview with questions generated from his/her answers.  The interviewee is invested at this point and will help promote the second piece to continue the attention he/she has gotten from the first.

2.  Having a second interview means you probably have a lot of content; once both pieces are live, break them down topically and use the interviews as reference material.  Create a new article around each topic, link back into the original interviews to support what you’re saying and promote for links.  Your new articles will gain links and attention and so will the old – double win!

3.  Two-part interviews can be seen as news worthy, be sure to tie in the subject matter with a current event (if necessary) and issue a press release announcing the addition of the interview to your website/blog.

4.  If you have a blog, go through your comments and look for hot topics and negative Nelly’s.   A “negative Nelly” (for me) is someone who disagrees with your position and says so by leaving controversial or inflammatory comments.

Publish rebuttal pieces and upload, make sure you contact the people inspiring the post and let them know its been published.  Hopefully it will prompt the Nelly to blog about your content or comment again which should draw more attention and traffic back to your blog.  (Note:If you’re thin skinned, this might not be a tactic for you).

5.  Having opposing views on a subject makes good news in some cases, ping the journalists/bloggers in your niche and show them your content.  Let them know it’s OK to republish your part if they want to, let them follow up with the other guy.

You may lose the snark fest short-term but keep in mind a good follow-up or come-back can generate publicity, traffic and links making you the ultimate winner!

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from: Link Spiel

For more link building information, ideas and the occasional rant, visit LinkSpiel .

I found this little card in the bottom of my strawberry container, it’s a promotional offer driving people to a website or asking them to call in and complete a survey in exchange for a $5 coupon by mail.  

For such a little card the promotion sure packed a huge marketing punch.  Is there a way to use something like this to build links, drive traffic and build brand trust?   You bet!

Little Package, Big Punch

I did not contact Driscolls to find out why they were running the  promotion but if I had to guess, it was done for product feedback.  Surveys are a goldmine as far as I’m concerned,  there is a lot you can do with the information and outreach potential they have. From a linking standpoint, surveys alone don’t generate much interest but the content you create from the survey can generate a ton!

If I was going to develop content from a survey, I’d break it down into three types:  media link bait, Infographics and industry reports.  Let’s look at each.

Media link bait

Can you answer ‘yes’ to the following questions?

•        Do you know at least four (4) journalists from four different news outlets in your industry?
•        Have you collected their stories to get a sense of their topics and writing styles?
•        Are you paying attention to where your competitors are being featured news wise?

If you can, great!  If you can’t, it’s homework time.   Most people think “press release” when we talk about  targeting the media and that’s fine for certain projects but if you want solid media links and to become the ‘go-to’ source for your industry, you need to identify influential media and how to get your content to them.

No two reporters are alike, some like being contacted, others don’t.  Most have “how to get in touch with me” type directions on their columns and blogs, read up on their preferences and follow through.  If all else fails, pick up the phone, call the publication and ask for their submission procedures.

The world is not always on fire or experiencing a market crash so sometimes, reporters go looking for news.  Survey results are great as factual support or as filler pieces, here’s a good example:

The fact Gen Y like hybrids is hardly news but outside the election and SOPA drama, there’s little to report on.  It’s why this piece made it to the home page of USA Today and BusinessWeek.  (at the time I wrote this)

Bottom line here — if you produce content backed by research and know where and whom to push it to, chances are it will be used and linked to.  People like facts.

Infographic link bait

I know I raised a couple eyebrows when they saw my infographic suggestion, I’ll be honest, I’m not a fan.  But other people are and the media (still) seems to be so I can’t ignore their potential for some industries.  (#willuseanythingforalink-whore)

Using your survey results you can create and pimp an infographic for educational, humorous or controversial attention.  How and what you develop really depends on the demographic using your products.  Even the strawberry industry promotes them:

Tip:  These type of niche infographics do especially well with trade publications.

Industry Reports

This is one of my favorite tactics, I use it on clients all the time and it always, always, always works.  Just ask Rae or Rand or anyone else that culls information from a number of credible sources and produces a research document for an industry, this technique link rocks!

When you write an industry report you need to expand your circle of expertise and pull in sources from outside your company.  Be sure to include a definition of your industry, bio’s of the people contributing, historical trends, and outlooks for the future.  Journalists and the people contributing like this and will link to it as a result.  Use your survey results to support trends, and/or a SWOT analysis so your company remains a focal point in the report.

Simple Actions, Powerful Marketing

A promotion like this doesn’t have to run offline, you can do the same thing for your online business by creating a promotion and launching it through confirmation emails, product announcements or any other type of email contact you make with established customers.

The key phrase here is “established customers”; I wouldn’t run a survey promotion off a website,  you can’t be sure the people filling out the survey have actually used your product.   Granted,  I can’t be sure the people providing feedback through the strawberry promotion used the product but chances are they have since the special offer can only be found on the bottom of a berry container.

Link building is, and always has been about building links and gaining  trust.  Think about new ways to use factual information and your efforts will pay off in new links, traffic and brand trust.

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from: Link Spiel

For more link building information, ideas and the occasional rant, visit LinkSpiel .

The Content Marketing Institute in conjunction with Marketing Profs recently released a study showcasing what “worked” in 2011 in regards to B2B content marketing and what they project will work in 2012.

Two things in the report caught my eye:  the fact blogs showed a 45% increase and case studies showed a 32% increase in perceived effectiveness compared to last year’s report.

The change in percentages made me go back and read the report a second time and that’s when my linkey senses started tingling.  The fact blogs almost doubled in perceived value  and case studies increased by a third is telling IMO and great information to have as a link builder.

Why?  I have been known to say it’s not what you do that matters in linking, it’s where and I stand by that statement.  You can have the best information filled with keyword anchors but if you put that content in a crappy article directory or on a two-bit blog, you will get no algorithmic benefit, no traffic and no brand boost.  Heck, even if you have crap content sitting on those kind of sites you get no juice these days, Panda has taken care of that.   The report points out blogs are being used with increased frequency and that’s great information to have.

You also know what’s turning bloggers on in terms of accepting content.  An article titled

” The shopping habits of women over the age of 39“

sounds good and can be informative but market it as a case study and suddenly the information takes on a different light.

Think about it.  If you were a well-known (translation:  well or decently ranked) shopping blog or a news outlet looking for information on shopping habits, would you be more inclined to look at content labeled “article” or content labeled “case study” when researching for the story?  Take the actual article out of the equation for a moment, if you had to go by titles, which would you choose?

Goes without saying the content has to be kick-ass and a real case study or the Editor of the national news outlet and/or blog will never give you a second glance (might even burn you publicly) but that’s a subject for another post.  I know blasting the article directories and network blogs with content is still a viable linking tactic but I also know it’s getting much harder for those kinds of tactics to affect rank.  Add to it the ties Google is (supposedly) creating between G+ and rank and now it really is about what you say.  But don’t take my word for it, take a look at the report and note the uptick in white papers, print magazines, ebooks, it’s telling.  No where does it say short articles from the article directories showed an increase in use.

Everyone is running around yakking about “quality content” to the point its become a joke.  Well, fine, but keep in mind quality to you may not be quality to me so qualify it with a label and help make the content stick out.

So here’s something to consider when building links in 2012:  how you label your link-filled, quality content can affect where it’s hosted and who recommends it.  Having a case study sit in an article directory or a crap blog will do little for your rankings, having it on a national news site or well known blog however, will.   Try to incorporate a label in your anchors or the text around your link(s) so it’s associated with the content, like this:

Case Study:  The Shopping Habits of 39 Year Old (cough) Link Builder

Here are a handful of tips working for me:

• Tie your author bio to your Google profile as well as your website
• Link to internal pages of your site to support information in your case study/content.
• Don’t shy away from using keyword anchors,  just use them conversationally rather than making it obvious they were hyperlinked to produce juice
• Don’t rely on content generation to produce all your links.  Mix up your tactics, mix up your anchors.
• Point your anchors to pages within your site that have been optimized for those terms.  You’d be surprised how something so simple has a profound effect on your rankings.

Link building will be super competitive in 2012 and you’re going to need an edge to succeed.  Give it to yourself by developing and labeling the type of content marketers are looking for.

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Before I sign off, a personal note:

This is my last post for 2011, I can’t believe the holidays are around the corner and the New Year close behind.  I won’t be blogging until we come back in January but I will be posting all the cool marketing and link building tidbits I find (and I find a bunch of cool stuff!) to my Facebook and G+ account so come over and join the fun.

 I sincerely wish you and yours all the best in 2012.  Happy Holidays and Happy New Year!

images courtesy Content Marketing Institute

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from: Link Spiel

For more link building information, ideas and the occasional rant, visit LinkSpiel .

When demand for a product or service shifts, marketing responses shift with them. Changing consumer preferences drive what solutions are offered, to whom and for how much so when I saw the following ads, I thought “what the hell is driving this?”

I am the first one to raise my hand and say link building can be tedious, difficult, time consuming and uber boring,  but scary?  I’ve never associated fear with the process of securing links.  I’m not sure why these ads are running (no one from the ad company responded to my email) but apparently someone feels there’s enough demand to warrant an ad campaign targeting people afraid to build links.

Hmmmm.  Afraid to build links…where is this “scary” mindset coming from?

Not too long ago there were some very high-profile outings by major media of mega brands like JCPenney and Overstock.  People lost their jobs, pages lost their rankings and general embarrassment ensued but… did those stories scare people into not wanting to build links on their own?

I wrote the ads off as amusing advertising angles and forgot about them until I was sent this link last week, it’s an outing of a SEO company by the 9To5Mac blog.  Seems the SEO company sent 9To5Mac a basic link request and 9To5Mac decided to use the exchange for attention-bait.  The SEO company asked 9To5 to hyperlink a phrase in one of their recent posts on behalf of a client, they didn’t offer any money for this action nor promised a reciprocal link.  As a matter of fact, the SEO was very clear to say changing the link would be helpful to them and nothing more.  Instead of ignoring the request or saying no, 9To5 Mac decided to publish the email in a blog post and draw parallels between what happened to them with what happened to JCPenney.

Ouch!  Trying to fan the paid link flames when there is no fire is ridiculous and serves no purpose.  I’m not afraid of any aspect of link building but I am afraid of people who spread misinformation for the purpose of creating buzz.

There are a lot of ways to build links, one of the more basic but sound tactics involves sending link building requests.  If you’re not familiar with how this works, here’s a quick outline:

1.  Webmaster A wants to build links, brand and traffic to her website so she identifies and “targets” a handful of sites in her industry who fit the profile.  Because she’s a smart webmaster, she goes after highly visible sites her customers frequent when they’re not buying from her or doing something more mundane like sleeping.   She makes sure those sites aren’t linking to crap and the majority of pages are in the index.  As an added bonus, she checks to see if they are active in social media and their offline community.

2.  Webmaster A also makes note of what the target site publishes and when, she reads their content and becomes familiar with it.  This is what makes Webmaster A so smart, she knows she has to convince the target site to give her a link so she learns everything she can about it.  She even sets a Google alert for her keyword terms so she’s instantly aware when the target site incorporates new content relevant to her interests.

3.  Satisfied the potential partner sites are leaders in her niche, Webmaster A drafts a well-written note to target Webmaster and asks if he would add her link.  She makes a case why her content would be an asset on the target site and how both sites will benefit by the action.

4.  The Webmaster on the target site receives the email and decides what he wants to do.  If the email is convincing and he feels there is value by adding Webmaster A’s link, he’ll make an editorial decision to add her link (content) to his website.

The key term in this process, or any link building tactic sanctioned by the engines is  “editorial decision“.   When a webmaster gives a link or adds content  freely based on it’s merit, that’s an editorial decision.  This is the same concept used by newspapers and magazines to run stories and features, if the piece doesn’t add value, the editor won’t include it.  Presenting content (a link) to someone and asking them to include it doesn’t negate the editorial decision, the editor still has to decide if there’s value before adding it.  There’s no harm, no foul in bringing your content to someone’s attention, that’s called good marketing.

For reference, here are the definitions of ” link schemes” from both Bing and Google (actually, Google has two, here’s the other).  Both are good resources to keep handy and reference if you’re unsure about anything you read in cyberspace.

There’s a fine line between marketing and manipulation, but in this case, outside the fact the SEO company did a lousy job with their initial link request, I don’t see where this remotely resembles what JCPenney did or can be considered a “no-no”.  Do you?

Requesting editorial links via email shouldn’t scare anyone, it’s a sound tactic used by many with great success.  Not only can you secure links but this type of link building can opens doors and stimulate additional promotions and special events between two companies.

Sometimes all you have to do is ask.    

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from: Link Spiel

For more link building information, ideas and the occasional rant, visit LinkSpiel .

When I saw a tweet this week saying “Elizabeth Taylor has died” I was crushed, she’s always been one of my favorite actors. When I told my kids what happened and both immediately asked who she was,  I decided it was time to make a list of classic movies and start having MGM Night at the Mastalers.

So many stars of the golden era are gone now, I want them to know something about movie history and be familiar with the people who brought movies to life. They take their technology for granted, I remember when color televisions first became popular.

National Velvet will be the first movie we see as a tribute to Ms. Taylor along with Cleopatra, Gone With The Wind, Casablanca, Pat and Mike and all the “Road” movies with Bing Crosby and Bob Hope. When I told them about my movie night idea, my 14 year old son wanted to know if any of the movies had war, blood, or other assorted flying body parts in them. When I said “yes, a couple do“, he was satisfied there would be more than just “chick flicks” and announced I could count him in. I’m still shaking my head and laughing at that one, the whole “dude” thing starts early doesn’t it?

Pulling together the list of movies made me think of a content development tactic we use frequently to bring in fresh links to old articles or blog posts. Since it’s a good idea to link to internal pages and keep new content flowing, this little tactic is valuable and one you should consider. Here’s what I do:

Step one: Go through your blog/site and find five or six of the best articles/posts you’ve done on a specific topic.

Step two: Create a new post and simply say, I’ve bundled all the best posts I’ve done on topic A, added highlights and new information. Use phrases in the Title like “updated”, “new statistics ” and “the latest information” plus your keyword terms.

Step three: Be sure you say something like “I was SHOCKED to find how much this has changed” or “What a difference six months makes…!!” in the first paragraph of the post. Your goal is to get people’s attention and make them want to find out what’s changed from your original article. Be provocative, teasing but factual.

Step four: Tweet out the new post and add it to your Facebook, or any other social media site you belong to.

Step five: Add these type of links to your profiles on any site you belong to as “resource” links

Step six: Bookmark on Delicious/type sites

Step seven: You can, depending on the length, depth and overall quality of the articles, issue a press release announcing the creation of a new resource area on your site/blog. Just be sure you aren’t throwing together a bunch of schlock and calling it a resource. Be sure to highlight the fact you’re available for interviews, are considered an expert on your subject and back up this claim with a bio. Your keyword phrase plus the words “expert”, ‘resource” or “learning center” are terms the media actively looks for.

Like old movies, old articles and blog posts have value, are interesting and can educate a while new crop of visitors. Since people won’t always take the time to dig deeply into the recesses of your site, bring the good content back up to them by creating a “new and improved” resource. Use what you’ve done to attract new links and renew interest in what you’re offering.

Rest in peace Elizabeth Taylor, you were a class act all the way around.

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from: Link Spiel

For more link building information, ideas and the occasional rant, visit LinkSpiel .

One of the tactics I use to generate new links is to review a site’s stats and create a media promotion based on the trends I find. This strategy is not an easy, turn-key linking program but if you’re serious about growing your business as well as your links, it’s one of the best ways to attract authority links.  Here’s a little case study from a past account to show you how.

Recently when working on a client’s website, I noticed a consistent spike in traffic from several European countries;  I tracked the numbers from Germany, Spain and the Netherlands over the course of six weeks and watched them climb steadily. My client couldn’t explain the increase, no special promotion or public relations program had been implemented, no new European advertising had been launched. Since the  report showed most of the search terms used were “standard”  keyword phrases and Google was the largest referrer, I concluded our European visitors were probably using Google Translate to find what they were looking for.

For the rest of the article, please visit “How To Generate Media Links“  on Search Engine Land.

from: Link Spiel

For more link building information, ideas and the occasional rant, visit LinkSpiel .

We talk a lot about back linking competitors/authority sites as a viable linking method and for the most part it is, but if you’re only going after what you see in back links, you may be leaving a lot of marketing power on the table. 

 Let’s take a look at this link building method and see how we can squeeze more link juice out of back linking our competitors and authority sites.

Who’s on First?

If you’re unfamiliar with the term or process of “back linking” it means to look at the inbound links to a specific webpage.  You can do this any number of ways, I tend to use Yahoo’s Site Explorer (free) or one of the SEOBook (some free, some not) arsenal of tools.  With the tool you can see who’s  linking to a page, what anchor text they’re using and what URL they are linking to.  All important stuff if you’re in the game to try and get links from the same sources.  Why?  Well, knowing who is linking to your competitors and/or the authorities in your niche is a good idea for a couple of reasons:

1.  Inbound links influence rankings so knowing who is linking out helps you target them as a possible source as well and,

2.  Inbound links drive traffic and expose brand, both necessary to build reputation.  If you’re looking to pimp your rep, you’ll want to get similar links.

OK, that’s pretty standard yada-yada but if we’re only looking at those back links as rank boosters and traffic streams we’re missing out.  Knowing  who is linking is good but understanding why they’re linking is better and the key to besting the competition.

Use The Heck Out Of The Back Links You Find

Once you’ve back linked a list of sites, look hard at the host sites and take note of what they’re linking to and where  those links are pointing.   If the links are pointing to a press release:

• What did the competitor do to generate the release?    

• Can you develop a similar event or announcement and issue through the same channels?    

• Run a snippet from the opening paragraph of your competitors press release and look for locations hosting this content.  Contact those sites and offer an exclusive before you run one of your press releases through a media services like PRWeb.  Bloggers and media outlets like having information before it’s made public.

Or, are the links pointing to a piece of content with  WOW factor?  If yes,

• What’s the piece about?    

• How did they launch it, via press release or through blogger outreach?    

• Who thought enough of of the piece to link to it?   

• Was the piece promoted on Digg, Twitter Facebook etc?

If you answered yes to any of those questions, you have many opportunities to find new outlets to host your content.  Get busy writing a different/better wow content and promote it to the same sources.  (Tip:  info graphics are all the rage…)

This tactic isn’t always a bed of roses, sometimes we  find tons of crappy (translation:  paid) links pointing at our well ranked competitors.  If  it appears they’ve purchased  links does that mean you should do the same?  Tough question and there’s no easy answer.  No two sites are equal  so what’s working for one might not for another.  Look hard at those links and weigh possible consequences against the outcome. 

Competitive research does show us who is linking to our rivals but it doesn’t explain why.   Look for the why, it will help you gain additional links and create new partnerships to host your link embedded content.

from: Link Spiel

For more link building information, ideas and the occasional rant, visit LinkSpiel .

As a link builder I’m not enamoured with YouTube and do not recommend using it as a primary way to build links or as an integral part of your SEO program. 

 Why?

• Videos on YouTube are on YouTube so any optimization effort you implement helps YouTube and not your website/pages.     

• YouTube contributes to the pinking of the ‘Net/Web (uses nofollow) so any link you insert to guide people back to your site passes no link popularity. 
   
• While traffic from YouTube can be beneficial, you have to optimize the content on YouTube like any other in order for people to find it.  This is time better spent elsewhere.
   
• Efforts to make a video go viral begin with the webmaster, not YouTube
    
•  It’s doubtful you’ll build a brand following on YouTube unless the public is already aware of your brand.      

•  By-n-large people look  for information on a search engine first, they don’t search on YT for a place to buy baseball cards.  There is a reason Google has become a verb and YouTube a pastime.

But the number one reason?

• YouTube results bump web pages down in the general search results and web pages make sales , videos don’t!

Want to see what I mean?  Look here, here, and here  and notice how the videos are all ranking in the top five but the sites they represent – don’t.    Yes the exposure is nice but where is there opportunity to make a sale??    Throw in local search results and images showing up and it can take a while to get to a static search result.   If your goal is to make your website an authority in your industry/niche, you should house and promote the videos on your site, not YouTube.  This will help with algorithmic authority, branding and traffic.

So is using YouTube to build SEO  links a wasted effort?   Pretty much which is why I don’t recommend using it to increase your link popularity but I wouldn’t totally discount using the number two search engine on the Net to build awareness.  Consider doing this: 

• Make shorter versions of your video’s and insert on YouTube, longer vid stays on your site

• Create those shorter versions as teasers and as a lead-in to promotions/information on your site

• Be sure the start and ending frame of the vid include the URL to your website

• Optimize your YouTube listing with your keywords

• Be the first one to leave a comment/review under your vid, include the URL to your website and explain a longer more detailed version of the vid exists on your website

• Encourage everyone you know to drop a comment/review on the video  (re/views help push your vid to the top for your keywords)

• Create a video area on your site just as you would a media room and promote it to the media, your customers, vendors etc.

• Make the vid’s on your website available through Creative Commons, make full descriptions embedded with kw rich links part of your attribution.

You need to decide what’s best for your site and if having YouTube video’s come up in the serps for your keywords is your goal, power to you.  But if you’re in business to make a profit and plan to use video to attract links, know the links you point at YouTube will have little to no effect on your overall rankings. 

Use YouTube or any image/audio hosting site wisely and they can be your greatest ally  and not a ranking enemy.

(photo taken from Zazzle.  Buy a tee shirt!)

from: Link Spiel

For more link building information, ideas and the occasional rant, visit LinkSpiel .