Three Tips for One Golden Link

1.      Using Influencers

Find an audience of least resistance. You know who the influencers are in your industry. You know that they start the trends. Those who follow them will be more receptive to your message. Similarly while you look for a link from a top blogger or mainstream media outlet, you’ll have improved chances of success if your link is something that they have a history of linking to.

All you have to do is pay attention to the blogs written in your industry. Let’s say you provide a web-related service and you want me to link to you from my blog. What could you do? Well, you’ll notice that my most popular blogs are my ad reviews and I often call for ad submissions. You could send me an ad to review (which I probably would). Then I’d post the review on my blog with a link to your site.

Advertising techniques are a popular subject on my blog. Crafting Catchy Titles is one of my most popular posts. You could consider sending me a proposal to guestblog on my blog. If you are a sign company or billboard marketer this would be a great venue for you. You could also suggest I link to a similar article on your site.

2.      Sweeten the Deal

In my article on using influencers to increase sales I make suggestions such as sending over a free product for them to test and review or buying them dinner. (Food always wins people over. And I almost never say no to lunch or coffee. –Hint-Hint-)

Want to get a link from my website or blog? Work on building a relationship first. Follow me (or whoever is your influencer) on Twitter. Bonus points for saying nice things and tagging me. Link to my site. Chances are, I’ll notice it. (I do check my Alexa links regularly. And I get Twitter notifications right on my smartphone.) Although this in itself is not a guarantee of link back, it’s a start.

A link is like a gesture most people are inclined to reciprocate where realistic and appropriate (sorry porn and gaming sites need not apply.) 

3.      Be Direct

So you’ve got something linkworthy, you’ve started conversing with your top blogger or media outlet, and you’ve sweetened the deal. Perhaps they’ve seen your blog post and link on their WordPress dashboard, maybe you’ve tweeted. Now’s the hard part. Ask. What are you waiting for? The worst you could get is a no.

Send your blogger target an email. Make it something they want to read. Tony from ATailoredSuit.com suggested sending a private video directly to them. Mention that you liked their article on (your topic) on (the date it was published). Tell them you think they’ll like this link. If possible, also communicate the link on Twitter. Look for them to be active on the network and send them an @ reply. Tell them you just sent an email they might be interested in.

Have you had success in getting a powerful link? We’d love to hear it. Please share in the comments below.

How Social Media Helps SEO

*Special Guest Blog post by Sachin of websudasa.com

Social media is one of the most popular marketing trends these days. Social media can easily help anyone to raise brand awareness as well as to generate more targeted visitors to your website. Have you ever thought how social media can help you in SEO? 

Let’s explore some of the most famous websites in social media like facebook, twitter, YouTube, digg and many more. Click here to find list social networking websites. Yes, there are hundreds of social networking & bookmarking websites available which can help you in SEO. 

Generate Quality Links with Social Media

There are so many SEO activities we do for link building but social media is in one of most effective ways to build genuine one way links. As you know one-way links are of utmost importance in search engine optimization. 

Here’s an example

You can do a search on knowem.com for your brand.

“Search over 575 popular social networks, over 150 domain names, and the entire USPTO Trademark Database to instantly secure your brand on the internet.”

Let’s talk about some of the most famous websites. How these websites can help us in SEO, see the image below for your reference

We actively started focusing on some of the most popular social media sites to generate some quality one-way links.

So let’s talk about some of the most famous social media sites.

How to use facebook for SEO

Some of the activities we follow to generate quality one-way links from facebook

1.       Submit website link in facebook business page

2.       Website link in facebook profile

3.       Write facebook notes to generate some targeted traffic and links

4.       Share one or two links or status update in profile or business page

How to use twitter for SEO

1.       Create your company/blog business profile & add your website link in profile

2.       Share your blog or website links on twitter. As soon as your tweets became popular or get a good number of retweets, they become good links.

How to use YouTube or other Video Sharing Websites for SEO

1.       Create a company profile or personal profile where you can easily add your website link.

2.       You can keep adding some of the videos related to your products or. Add your product or website link in descriptions.

How to use Social Bookmarking Websites

1.       Create your personal profile as well as company profile on most of the social bookmarking websites.

2.       Maintain your account by adding some friends to your network.

3.       As soon as you publish any post on your blog you can bookmark those articles on these websites.

4.       You can exchange articles with your friends to submit different articles from your account.

5.       You should get some votes for your articles to get permanent links from these websites or they will remove your link after sometime.

How to use Webmaster to Track Social Media Links

1.       Login to your Google webmaster account.

2.       You can check traffic -> links to your site - >more where you can see all domains that have links to pages on your site.

3.       Here you can easily find social networking and bookmarking websites.

4.       You can click those websites for more details & found what kind of content is getting maximum links. Write that type of content for your blog.

As many genuine and targeted one-way links as you can generate for your website will give you higher chances to get top ranking for your keywords in search engine.

Author Bio: - Sachin Bhutani, Internet marketing consultant and founder of SEO company in India. Writes articles related to SEO, PPC, blogging and making money online. Email info@websudasa.com if you’re interested in having Sachin write a guest article for your website.

Finding the Right Keywords, Part I

“Because Words Matter.” That was one of my ideas for what to call this blog. It lost out to “Style AND Substance,” because design is important, too. Your website needs to have the right combination of aesthetically pleasing qualities, easy navigation, and meaningful content. No one will ever see that meaningful content, however if you don’t choose your words carefully. Keyword research is an important step of the process.

The right keywords must be targeted and in the right order. In addition to checking search volume, find the keyphrases that will get you the most traffic and highest return on your investment. Look for keywords that have low competition for faster gains. More competitive phrases will have a slower return.

Assuming that your site is well-developed and your content is good, the next step is research. Initial research should take you to Google’s AdWords Keyword Tool. You’ll want to search for each exact phrase (product type, brand name, etc). Also search any common abbreviations. When you have a list of keyphrases you’ve researched, evaluate them for value. What brand and product keyphrases have the highest ROI potential? Which items have the highest profit per sale? Which are most likely to lead to additional purchases?

Grouping and Prioritizing

Look for phrases that include words like “buy” or “online.” Very specific phrases including a color or model number indicate someone who already knows what they are looking for (and is therefore close to buying). Look for words with the right combination of search volume and profit margin. Put the keywords and their search volume, profit margin, and any other info you’ve gathered into a spreadsheet. Then look at competition levels of each of your phrases. That should give you a good indication of which keyphrases you’d like to target first.

Stay tuned for Part II.

You may also wish to read, Improving your Online Visibility.