It’s an appealing thought…

Build hundreds, even thousands of targeted backlinks to your web site in minutes by using software that “searches out” blogs targeted to your niche, and automatically submits your comments (and your link). Some of these software services claim to be able to randomize your material, thus submitting numerous, but all entirely viable versions of your comments to the various resources.

Riiiiiiight.

If you think this is a viable way of building links, let me provide you with a real life example. As you know, I run a successful online business in the sports/weight loss supplement niche (with UltimateFatBurner.com & Real-Customer-Comments.com). Both of these sites make use of the WordPress platform to some extent – as a content management system, and to leverage the power of visitor comments to build fresh and relevant content. And yes, we have a honest-to-goodness blog which is updated daily.

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A short while back, I talked about how posting comments on quality, related blogs can be a great link building strategy if implemented properly (regardless of the “no follow” status of any blog).

Naturally, the most obvious next element of this discussion is…

How do I find superior quality, theme-related blogs?

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Sigh.

Here I am, talking about link building again. It seems like every second article is about link building in one  form or another. Nevertheless, link building is a vital element of SEO, especially for relatively new sites. So it has to be talked about (if you’re familiar with my articles, perhaps you’ve already read my “linking fundamentals” article. If not, you’ll probably want to review it now).

To recap my “take” on link building; the most important element of any successful campaign is to begin with a web site of exceptional quality and sufficient depth of material. If you don’t have this, you need to take a link building chill pill.

If you’ve got this in place, you’re ready to investigate strategies to build up your in-pointing links.

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These days, it’s no longer an option to publish an RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feed. You absolutely, positively, unequivocally MUST publish one.

There is no simpler way to syndicate your content, keep your visitors instantly informed of your site’s updates and obtain some in-pointing links in the process. (If you’re not using RSS yet yourself, download FeedReader for free, and then visit this URL. Open FeedReader, and click…

File > New > Feed

… to add the No-BS-Marketing feed to your reader. Now you’ll be updated instantly every time there’s a new post on this site. Cool, huh? And that’s really all there is to it!).

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Sometimes I just shake my head in disbelief. Like this morning, for instance.

I received an e-mail (regarding UltimateFatBurner.com) from an individual at a recognizable Search Engine Optimization firm that went like this…

“I cam across your article on a websites and we would post an article of yours on one of our weight loss related websites if you would post our article on your website.”

Now I don’t want to sound like a prude here, but if you are going to send me an e-mail soliciting some sort of venture, the first thing you want to do is to make sure you spell check your message, and (gasp!) use proper grammar.

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It would seem – on the surface, anyway – like a pretty simple, “no-brainer” link building strategy….

Find high quality blogs and hub pages that are related to your niche and/or theme, and make relevant posts that provide real value to the readers of these resources. If applicable, provide a link back to a related, quality article on your site – but only if it genuinely supplements the article.

(Regardless of whether or not a “no follow” protocol is followed on the resource in question, obtaining in-pointing links on credible sites is a worthwhile venture, not only for the referred visitors, but the credibility they impart on your own site).

Notice how I said “it would seem like a no-brainer” link building strategy?”

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It happened again.

Someone sent me a reciprocal link exchange request for a site in an obvious “under construction” state. It was a web site definitely NOT ready for links.

I’m at a bit of a loss as to why this happens so much.

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You want traffic? You gotta have in-pointing links. Rankings in the dumps? You need more links. Sales on a downward spiral? Beg, buy, borrow, or steal some links.

It’s pretty much the online marketing mantra.

Links, links, links. It’s enough to drive you crazy. And of course, every online marketing expert on the planet has an opinion; here’s what YOU need to do to get the links you require. Others have software tools to help you accomplish your link building goals. You’ll need to pay for those, of course.

With all the commotion, I figured it was a good time to get back to the fundamentals and examine exactly why it is that you need links, and what you should be doing to get them.

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Writing press releases and submitting them through various online distribution centers has long been recommended as a strategy for building in-pointing links. It isn’t one I’ve ever experimented with before; it’s not cheap, and when you’re working full time on other ventures, it’s difficult to get the time to create something “press worthy” to write about.

Since I’m pretty much focused 100% on UltimateFatBurner.com and Real-Customer-Comments.com these days, and since there’s lots of new stuff to talk about, I thought it might be something worth revisiting.

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Here’s a great example of what could be a pretty good link building strategy, blown by half-assed execution. Over the last two days, I’ve received the following e-mail twice, each sent by a different individual…

My name is XXXXXXX. I came across your Ultimatefatburner.com in the search
engines.

Great job!  I have signed up to your newsletter and can’t wait to receive your
great information

As I am in the same niche as you I was wondering if you would be interested in a
business partnership. Don’t worry,this will be of no charge to you and will not
take any commissions or anything like that. I just love to teach people how to
lose weight and want to get my training out there on the net.

My proposal for you is that I provide you with quality, and I do mean quality,
content on weight loss as and when you want it. Every week if you wish. You
can send the article/articles to your email list or add them to your web site.

This will help to build your relationship with your subscribers and site visitors
even stronger because as we both know there is a lot of rubbish out there
with regards to weight loss. All I ask in return for this is you include my link
at the bottom of the article.

If you would be interested please email me on this address.

Whether you decide to answer this email or not thank you for your time and the
information on your web site.

Kind regards

XXXXXXX

P.S. You have a very informational website! I like it!

On the face of it, this is a pretty smart strategy. I, the webmaster, get “one-off” quality articles created specifically for my site, and the author gets to “piggy back” on the popularity of my site, receiving exposure, credibility, and an in-pointing link per article.

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