I’ve been attending SEO and marketing conferences since 2002 and have amassed a huge pile of totes and backpacks as a result.

I use them all the time, mostly for groceries but I also haul around library books, gym clothes and gardening tools in them.  Not too long ago a woman stopped me in the grocery store and asked about the SEO totes I had piled in the front of my cart, she recognized one since she had attended the same show earlier in the year. Small world!

I know I’m not the only one using my conference totes and backpacks at home, my friends do the same:

Christine Churchill and daughter Kaitlin. Tote in Kaitlin's lap is from the first SES conference Christine attended in 1999.

I’ve seen Christine use her backpacks around her horses, she has them in the barn, in the horse trailer, in the shed, in her pickup and hanging from her saddle horn.  She makes good use of all the conference bags she hauls home!

Mat uses his conference backpacks to leave home:

Mat Siltala bought luggage to match his SMX backpack. OK, not really but they do match!

Simon needs multiple backpacks  to carry around his stuff:

Simon Heseltine, AOL Bagman

If you’re saying “Yo Debra, where’s the link building spiel here”, have no fear.  Besides having a little fun, I wanted to use my conference images to show how you can take a simple item or idea and use it to attract links.

Link To An Authority

While I used the images above as a giggle and intro this post, I picked the bags because of the companies they represent.  Each comes from a well known and authoritative SEO/SEM conference,  I linked to them for a couple of reasons:

• They help reinforce my credibility as a professional.  I have been speaking at SMX and SES for a long time and appreciate the fact they keep asking me back so I do whatever I can to help promote and support both shows. My totes post may be corny but the sentiment behind it is heartfelt both personally and algorithmically.  Sentiment analysis and the way it is being used to influence rank deserves another post but I’ll  leave you with a link for later reading.

• Boosts my relevance factor.  Linking to the authoritative conference sites will not directly influence my current ranking but it will help establish where I belong topically and tie my site into the link graph.

Use Images As Link Magnets   I am frequently asked to share “advanced” linking techniques and tacitcs, I always reply “there is no such thing as advanced link building.  I really feel that way but will say there are creative link marketing tactics that go beyond the basics and are discussed less frequently which makes them seem more advanced. Here’s a couple of tips to try:

• Optimize your images.  Get permission from the people behind the photos to use them, this is a big deal for both legal and marketing reasons.  Hover over the pictures on this post and you’ll see they are tagged with the names and hyperlinked.  This is just good SEO as well as being polite, Google Image is still the second largest search platform in their stable so I want to be sure my images have a solid chance of being found when searched on.

• Use Flickr.  I do this quite a bit with images taken from client’s ecommerce sites.  Build a channel, publish your reprint requirements and promote the Flickr channel to your users, through your niche forums and via press release.  You have a new channel, pimp it!  A free image source is always well received, point your releases to the trade journals in your industry for added punch.  There are several image sharing sites online,  be sure to spread the wealth.

• Make an image video.  If you don’t have the time or resources to create a video, use your images to make one.  Search on the term “image to video” and you will find lots of companies with software or services to do it for you.  Develop channels at all the video sites and promote as you would images.  Include a written transcript of each video and add them to your site so you benefit from the new content.

Look at everything with link building eyes, it will pay off in spades!

Hey before you leave… If you are headed to SMX West in February and SES New York in March, please come by the Linking Bootcamps and say hello. My sessions are not for the faint of heart, I roll hard and fast jamming a ton of tips, techniques, and tools in the hour I have.  You will walk away with a great outline of tactics to use.

Christine and I are moderating each other’s sessions at SMX again,  she does a wicked smart keyword research and copywriting for search session so be sure to come by!

Thanks and see you soon!

-

-

from: Link Spiel

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

 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 .

If you’ve been doing business online for any length of time chances are you have a database of opt-in email addresses from customers, vendors, newsletter signups etc.  Here’s a way to use those email addresses to increase your inbound links and take your campaign viral.

The Set Up.

I get a copy of the Washington Post delivered to the house every Sunday.  I’ve been getting it for several years and renew my subscription via their website each January to ensure uninterrupted service.

Last week they sent  an email asking me to become a  Facebook Fan so I could connect with Washington no matter where I was.  Here’s what the ad looked like:

I  like the Washington Post but not enough to take the time  to become a Facebook Fan so I ignored the message and went back to work.  Too bad for them, not only did they lose an opportunity to gain a new Fan but they also missed the opportunity to use that ad as a viral magnet for links and traffic.

Strike One.  A Fan I Am – Not.

Keep in mind I’m a long-time subscriber to the paper which means they have my full contact information on file as well as my subscription history.   If that email had been incentivized with an extension on my subscription or discount on classifieds I probably would have taken the time to become a Facebook Fan.  But, the “incentive” to “connect to Washington” wasn’t enough to motivate me since I’m already connected through my subscription.  They should have come up with something better for current customers.

Strike Two.  Just Bad Links For You.

If I had designed that ad I would have offered an incentive to link as a way to stimulate the Facebook sign ups and increase my inbound links.  I doubt the Washington Post is concerned with their inbound link counts but since this is a link building blog and we’re learning what NOT to do , user bin, I’ll add this lesson to the mix:  if you’re going to email your customer base and ask for something, ask for a link while you’re at it.

People link when there’s something in it for them so think about what you can offer in exchange for a link.  It would have been nothing for the Post to give me a 60 day extension on my subscription or a discount on classifieds in return for a link.   Granted, a lot of their customers don’t have websites but  I’m betting there are a good number that do.  To add a simple link request line and a small incentive to an opt-in mailing list  just makes sense and is smart marketing.

Viral Opportunity Lost

Of the three strikes, I think this was their biggest.  The Washington Post  lost an opportunity to attract links, build brand and drive traffic  when they didn’t add a viral element to the email.   Adding a simple line like “pass this along to friends and family”  and including  a small incentive is often all the encouragement people need.

Use What You Have To Build Links

If you search on the term “email flyers” you’ll see a number of companies offering tools to create email ads like the one pictured above.  But unlike the Washington Post ad, be sure you include

• A  benefit statement.  Tell your prospects what’s in it for them
• An incentive.  Give them something special for doing what you ask
• Ask for the sale.  Ask for the link and suggest they pass the ad along
• Use loyalty.  Use your email list or partner with another company in your niche and use theirs.

Keep the ad short, dangle an incentive to link and ask people to pass along the offer.   If you do, the links will come leaving you more time to read the paper.

from: Link Spiel

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