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?”
If what I see on my sites is any indication, it seems the majority of webmasters can’t seem to grasp this concept. Or, they can’t be bothered to make the effort required to put together a decent post. And by decent post, I don’t mean…
“Great site! I have a site too – click here to read about my weight loss journey!”
With that said, let me talk a little bit about utilizing this link building strategy properly. Done right, it’s worthwhile. Done poorly, it’s a waste of time…
First and foremost, no quality blog is going to allow you to muddle up an intelligent discussion by posting tripe, material that provides no benefit to the site’s visitors, or material that has no obvious purpose other than to obtain an in-pointing link.
As a webmaster, I see this as an attempt to piggyback on the success and the traffic of my sites, but without the willingness to provide anything of value in return. Frankly, I find it insulting.
Bzzzzzzzt. DELETE.
If you can’t provide anything of value to a discussion, don’t post for the sake of posting. You’re wasting both your time, and the site’s moderator.
Second, just because you can’t add something of value to a quality resource right now, doesn’t mean you’ll never be able to. I recommend using a RSS reader (I recommend the free FeedReader) to stay on top of new posts on quality blogs, so you can jump in and make a relevant post when and if you can. Just find the “RSS” button and sign up to the site’s feed, and you’ll automatically be informed of any new content.
Third, in some cases, it may be worthwhile to create a brand new article that supplements a discussion, just so you can legitimately obtain an in-pointing link from that resource.
Fourth, take some time and put a little effort into your post. Remember, you’re essentially asking the webmaster of the resource for the right to piggyback on his/her traffic and credibility. S/he does not know you, and does not owe you any favors. If you want a link, earn it.
Here’s an example of a post that I made recently. Notice how it adds some additional, relevant material and is a valid attempt to add real value to the discussion? How could a moderator refuse this?
For great resources, don’t hesitate to offer a link from your own site, or some kudos to the webmaster… this does not go amiss either.
Take a look at this example, for instance. I was thrilled to find this great quality resource, and had no reservations about telling the webmasters that. In this instance, I also added a link to a relevant, high quality article on UltimateFatBurner.com, and as a service to my visitors, added their site to my Blog roll.
Bottom line?
If done properly, you can use this strategy to obtain quality in-pointing links from similarly themed blogs or hub pages. But it’s not a quick fix solution. You need to have something worthwhile to link back to, and you won’t always have that. In both examples outlined above, I knew I had an article that would be a perfect match for the topic in question. Had I not, I wouldn’t have made these posts.
In that case, I would have simply added both sites to my RSS reader, and waited until they covered a topic for which I could provide a link of value.
Badda-bing, badda-boom.
Easy as pie. If you do it right.
Do it right.
Related posts:
Great site! I have a site too – click here to read about my internet marketing tips!
Just kidding
Guess you missed to write about the ways you detect related relevant blogs? It appears that for such task one should engage some automation, SEO software tools. So, once we start using tools to facilitate our link building, we are actually not concerned of adding any real value to the other people blogs, but finding some intelligent ways to improve our own SERP rank. Bottom line is – posting even intelligent comments on related blogs is aimed for our own marketing benefits, and as such may very well drop into “BS Marketing” class of its own. Intelligent BS Marketing. Pardon my English.
Please don’t put link to my site, I wrote this just to add value to YOUR blog