What is Link Building?
I'd like to welcome my friend, Susanne Myers to my blog. She's guest blogged here before and has been on my podcast. She's one of my best friends, so I gave her an open invite to log in and write — any time she has something to say. 🙂
She'll be here this week, talking about Link Building (specifically for Beginners).
You may be wondering “Who the heck is she to teach link building?”
Well, let me tell you…
She has gotten over 50,000 incoming links to one of her sites in under 2.5 years.
(that's no typo)
What does that mean, exactly? And, why are links important?
1. Having links on other websites to yours get people to click through to your websites.If you've got links to your website all over the net, people will run into those and click through them. That's a gooooood thing. (People have wallets to spend money on your stuff.)
2. Having lots of links TO your website tells the search engines that your website is important. That way Google, MSN, Yahoo, and all the rest know you're a “real” site with “real” value.
However, I won't steal Susanne's thunder. I'll hand the stage to her.
What's the Buzz about Link Building?
By Guest Blogger Susanne Myers
I’m sure you’ve been hearing a lot about link building lately. Every six months or so it suddenly becomes the “hot” topic of the week usually at the same time some new course or piece of software is released by one of the big internet gurus. But here’s the thing… link building is something you should be doing consistently throughout the year.
Nicole was nice enough to invite me to talk to you about link building for the next couple of days. We’ll talk about what link building is and why it is important today. The next post will be about what you need to have in place before you ever start to build links to your site and then we’ll chat a bit about effective link building and how you can fit it into your busy schedule.
What Is Link Building
Definition for Beginners: Link building is the process where you go out to other websites across the internet and through various methods (many of them are free) and get them to link to one of the pages on your website. This can be done in a variety of ways.
Here are just a few examples:
Link Exchanges – These used to be all the rage and worked very well a few years ago. You would simply ask a website owner to link to your website and would offer to do the same for them.
Article Marketing – Every time you write and submit an article to an article directory or another website, you are including an author resource box with a link back to your site. That’s a link building strategy – a really good one in fact and one I am dedicated two lessons to in my 13 week link building class.
Guest Blogging – Do you remember when Nicole went on her guest blogging tour last summer? She gained a lot of exposure and traffic, but also a lot of powerful links to various pages on her site. Guest blogging is another great link building strategy.
Link To Me Page – Something as simple as setting up a page on your blog or website that tells people how they can link back to you can be effective over time. You’ll be surprised how many fans of your site would love to help spread the word for you but don’t realize that they can link to you.
Those are just a few link building strategies.
If you’d like to learn more, I invite you to take my beginner link building class were we’ll cover those strategies and more in great detail.
Why Is Link Building Important
But why do you need to worry about building links in the first place? Let me answer that question with another question. Could you use some more traffic, more people to your website and thus more subscribers and more customers? I’m sure you could, I know I can.
Link building is how both visitors and search engines find you in the first place. Think back on a time (maybe even today) when you were surfing the web, going from page to page, clicking on links and coming across some really neat stuff. You wouldn’t have found those sites if other websites didn’t link to those.
More importantly though, incoming links will help you rise in the search engine rankings. Let’s say you sell an ebook on underwater basket weaving. Just imagine how much traffic and how many buyers you could get to your website if you were the first page to come up in Google anytime someone types in “underwater basket weaving”.
Link building is one of those things that should always be on your mind and more importantly something you should do on a regular basis. Let me share with you how I go about building links and how I was able to accumulate well over 70,000 links pointing to just one of my niche websites.
Sign up today at How to Get Links: A Course for Beginners
Thanks, Susanne, for stopping by. I look forward to more posts from you this week.
Warmly,
Nicole Dean
PS. I'm an SEO geeky type person. But, when I have a question about SEO, I go straight to Susanne. So, if you're ready to rise up through the Search Engines, be sure to check out her course. 🙂
Angie - The Work at Home Wife
May 3, 2010 at 7:34 amThanks Nicole and Susanne for the easy explanations. I was a little scared to look at the price tag, but I cannot believe how affordable it is!
Susanne
May 4, 2010 at 3:26 pmThanks Angie, I’m glad you enjoyed the article and were pleasantly surprised by the course 🙂
canihelp
May 4, 2010 at 5:46 pmDear Nicole
I emailed you last week and was shocked when you replied! I asked you a few questions and you were gracious enough to get back to me. Thank you. It’s nice to be able to be responded to and that’s why I continue to be a subscriber to your newsletter.
Mark
Nicole
May 4, 2010 at 5:59 pmDoes this make me 2 for 2? 🙂
Thanks for reading!
Nicole
canihelp
May 6, 2010 at 9:57 amHey there Nicole: You are definitely
2 for 2!
Mark
Greg Martin
May 6, 2010 at 2:14 amNicole, I am liking your content. I get your emails too. I also use RSS for back linking as well which is probably beyond the level of what you want to teach here. Keep it coming… Greg
Susanne
May 6, 2010 at 12:49 pmHi Greg, you’re absolutely right … RSS for back linking is definitely a bit more advanced than what I cover in my beginner course. It is however in the curriculum of the advanced class I’m working on. Glad you are enjoying the content even though you’re more of a pro at link building.
Liz - Buy Shoes Online
May 25, 2010 at 7:48 amLink building has never been one of my favorite things to do but it’s one of the most important things you can do for your online biz. It can be time consuming but so worth it in the end as Susanne points out. Thanks for the info 🙂
Terri Brooks
June 9, 2010 at 8:50 amGreat information Suzanne and Nicole! I find that link building is one the things I easily forget about, but definitely the most important thing I can do for my online business.
Thanks for the reminder!
James Artre
June 9, 2010 at 11:45 amThanks Nicole, for sharing Suzanne with us. And thanks Suzanne, for sharing some really great tips on link building.
Blessings to you and yours,
James
Jason Jumat
September 9, 2010 at 9:36 amGetting 50,000 links in about 2.5 years, Nicole, requires some great deal of commitment – and talking about self-discipline! I don’t think I would be able to work off of a plan at a constant level – now that is the actual problem I KNOW I a m making but not stopping. Suzanne – your beginner link building class might save me! Thanks!
William Rose
March 23, 2011 at 4:09 amLink building is a constant process and so important to SEO. Thank you for the great read, I’ll be sure to follow your blog.
Alicia
April 21, 2012 at 5:56 pmThis article really helped my understand link building. Thanks!
Nica Mandigma | Virtual Assistant
August 17, 2012 at 9:28 amI realize that this post was published before the Panda- and Penguin days. These days, Google frowns upon article submissions/marketing and link exchanges. Aside from guest blogging, what other link building strategies do you recommend?