Link Blog

All well-rounded linking campaigns must have not only an inexpensive, quick link acquisition program for the target site, such as Team Link Network, but also a strategy to maintain those benefits over the long term.

SEO and marketer Rand Fishkin (randfish), writing in the blog at SEOmoz.org, explains how their site earned more than one million links in less than three years.

Of course, he is talking about the long-term; you will still need to follow your short-term link acquisition program. These ideas will supplement that strategy.

In his explanation of how they accomplished this linking milestone, randfish points to three main keys that every webmaster should employ - Content, Community and Timing.

Content

Any web site's content should be developed not for "link bait," he writes, but for "link appeal."

In other words, the content you put on your site should appeal to your visitors in two ways. First, they should receive "value" from your content - that is, give them some benefit from your experience, or that of another expert, and present it in an entertaining way to appeal to their emotions.

Give your visitors reasons to come back and to link to your content. His five ways to help you accomplish this include:

1. Try something new. Offer your visitors a new experience, whether it's a quiz, advice from experts, or a list of resources in your field. Use your imagination. Put yourself in your visitor's position and think about what you would like to see on the site. Some of what you come up with will work, others will not, but the important point is to not be afraid to try something new.
2. Be timely and topical. Offer your visitors information on topic that are hot and new in your area.
3. Make it usable and attractive. The greatest content will not attract links if your visitors can't find it. Your site's design should also be appealing to the eye.
4. Present something different. Don't carry the same items everyone else in your area is covering. Find those items that aren't getting noticed. Put your own personality into what you write about.
5. Writing quality. Your writing must be of the highest standard; it is the main reason people cite for their decision to return to a site.

Community

Randfish is talking about the community you build up around your web site and the larger community of your industry when he refers to "link-earning success." He offers these tips:

1. Be sincere; don't pretend to care, really care.
2. Always send a follow-up email.
3. Don't gossip about others in your field. It will get back to them.
4. Find something about yourself that you could use for your own personal branding; something that will help people remember you. Can't think of something yourself? Ask your friends or family to help you come up with something. Randfish wears yellow sneakers. But it doesn't have to be your wardrobe; use you imagination, make it memorable.
5. Find a way to remember other people's names.

Timing

As a leader in your area you are aware of trends and upcoming changes. Use your position and share you knowledge to help in attracting links. Don't be afraid to change with the tide in your area. Be smart, be adaptable.

Remember what a wise man once said (and keeps saying) about the Internet: "The more you give, the more you get."

So, the sooner you start giving the benefit of your knowledge and experience, the sooner you will start getting those links.