Recently,  in the members only SEOBook forum, a thread was started with this special offer:

<snip> is having a birthday bash and has a package of web design templates, scripts, icons, videos, textures, etc… for $20. It expires on Tuesday.  Here’s the link  <snip>

The thread and promotion were dropped in August and it’s September now so of course the link no longer works, but I clicked it anyway and found this:

The green markings are mine, I wanted to highlight a handful of points I thought were well done and also point out what I think are lost link building opportunities.

OK, working backwards, let’s start with what they did right.  

#3. Upcoming offers.

At the bottom of the page they added an email capture box and the line:   

 ”Before you go, make sure you jump on our mailing lists so you don’t miss other special deals and offers“.

Adding an email capture box is a  great idea because you can use the addresses for future promotional and link building use.  Given the way the ‘Net/Web is growing, I think it’s extremely important webmasters start building their fan base. It’s important to cultivate your customers into brand evangelists so they help carry your message forward. With companies like Demand Media, AOL (Seed) and Associated Content dumping thousands of sites, articles, videos, contests etc every day,competition for eyeballs and click-able traffic will increase substantially. And unless you have an established or well known brand,  breaking through the clutter will be extremely difficult. So start building your base now by capturing email addresses at every opportunity. Once you have a sizable list, email a promotion in exchange for a link, you could say something like:

“Link to us and we’ll give you $100 coupon” –OR– “Add a link to our site and your visitors will enjoy a 10% discount on all their purchases“.

Keep in mind most webmasters face the same challenges so they’ll be more apt to link if you provide an incentive which helps them look good in their customers eyes.

#2. It’s not all doom and gloom though; you can still get some badass files for next to nothing in all of our Marketplaces.

Not bad:     “you can still get some badass files for next to nothing in all of our Marketplaces”  

Better:   “you can still get some badass files for next to nothing and never have to worry about missing special offers again by adding our link to your site. Here’s how…”

By hyperlinking “here’s how” you can send them to an offers page which explains how to link or suggest they email for more information in which case you not only get a new link, you get another email.

#1. The Party’s Over! Why are you still here? Maybe its birthday cake you seek? Well I’m afraid these is none left and to make matters worse, our Birthday Bundle is no longer available either.

If I landed on a page with that headline, I wouldn’t stick  around to read the rest. I don’t think it’s a good idea to rub salt, or in this case, birthday cake, in a wound, it’s bad enough the guy missed the discount promotion but now he’s getting his face rubbed in it? I don’t advocate this kind of “funny” unless you’re Mad Magazine or Gawker, they can pull this stuff off,  you probably can’t so don’t chance it.  Instead I would have written this as a headline:

Dude, you missed the party but we still have some badass gift bags available!

That would be an easy intro into point #2 where you suggest they link to your site in exchange for a permanent discount.

Almost everything visible online becomes an opportunity for link marketing.  If you’re serious about building links, ranking well and promoting brand, it’s best to look  at everything as a means to an end even your “late to the party pages”.   Always take link advantage of what you have control over and ask for the link.  

from: Link Spiel

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

Earlier this month the Wall Street Journal ran an article on how businesses were using Live Chat to make incremental sales. 

This bit caught my eye:

 In late April, home improvement e-tailer Improvement Direct Inc., of Chico, Calif., used a chat feature on its site to converse directly with customers about its products and services. The response was overwhelming. “We got flooded,” says Brandon Proctor, vice president of marketing. “We couldn’t believe how many chats we were getting.” In July alone, the company had more than 300 chats daily and converted them into sales at a rate of 9%

Way to go Improvement Direct!    Since I suffer from link tunnel vision I immediately started to wonder how I could use the live chat application to get people to link.  Here’s what I came up with:

1.  At the end of every chat have the operator ask the customer if they’d like to have a permanent discount code for the product you’re selling.  All they have to do is link to your site and you’ll send the code.

2.  If you have a product requiring assembly instructions or a “how to use guide”  provide these links in the chat.  On the pages hosting these “how to” guides, make a push to link to your site.

3.  Do an email blast to current customers annoucing the new chat feature on your site.  In the correspondence drop the “link to us” offer and include a giveaway as a thank you.

4.  Issue a press release annoucing the new feature and your company’s committment to customer service and using advanced technology.  

While it’s a good idea to look at everything as an opportunity to promote your website,  it’s not a good idea to go overboard and become a pest asking for links.    Keep the number of times you ask to a minimum and use  the elements with the highest visibililty for a better chance of link building success.

P.S.  If you’re interested in the technology, the article mentioned Meebo as a free live chat software and search on the phrase “live chat software” for the paid companies.

from: Link Spiel

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