Link building. It's the topic that just won't go away; the ultimate SEO time zapper. And as search engines move towards more eloquent and sophisticated link analysis algorithms, link building will continue to be to be a main stay in SEO.
But with such enormous emphasis placed on quality backlinks, and with so little hours in a day to acquire them, how can webmasters optimize their link building to get more links in less time?
The answer lies in Pareto's Principle: By observing the 80/20 rule.
Here's why.
Many "high returning" link building methods that you hear about within the expert SEO-sphere are also high risk; especially for a novice or intermediate SEO. A high quality, relevant article takes time to concept and to write. If submission at your channel of choice doesn't pan out the way you hoped, (say it gets buried on Digg) your options become severely limited. Meaning, you've now got duplicate content on your hands, and no one wants duplicate content. If not risky, distributing content manually over multiple channels is, at best, time consuming.
Other examples of link building time zappers are surprisingly some of the most tried and true methods: Forum marketing and directory submission.
While these are totally viable and effective link building methods, (assuming you choose reputable and high PR forums and directories) they also can yield diminishing returns. The value of a few forum and directory links just isn't justified by the time spent manually acquiring them, time that could be spend on methods charged with producing 80% of your returns.
So where, then, should you concentrate this magical 20%?
Syndication.
Let me say this again:
Syndication.
I'm not talking about just creating an RSS feed for your blog. I'm talking about transferring a good portion of all of that link building time and energy into time spent understanding, targeting and leveraging a good content syndication strategy.
Understand that RSS is compounding function; one that can increase your backlinks exponentially. An RSS link is the link that keeps on linking... so of course you want to maximize its effectiveness. You can do just that by following a few simple guidelines that, when applied within the context of the 80/20 rule, will gain you more backlinks in less time:
First, identify the audiences you should be reaching, and then maximize that reach. For example, encourage your customers to receive updates about your business from a "what's new" section of your website or reach your peers and top business referrers by offering a feed from your industry related blog.
Leverage your resources by expanding your web properties and setting up feeds for them. Cross link accordingly and point back to your main domain within some your feed items. Identify new topics and resources appropriate for content syndication, and research sites that pull content from your genre (so you can submit your content there!)
Leverage other people's resources.
Wanna be picked up by Google News? Submit your article to a site that's syndicated with them. It's surprisingly easy to get published with some of these sources (americanchronical.com is one example,) and if you're picked up you could gain backlinks in massive quantities, not to mention invaluable exposure.
Optimize, promote and track your feeds.
Make sure your RSS systems automatically notifies RSS search engines and news feeds of your recent content adds. SEO your feed templates and create a linking strategy to and from your feed content. The importance of enlisting subscribers from your website can not be overestimated; continually experiment with new ways to call your visitors to action within your blog content and create metrics to understand how your efforts are working to achieve maximum subscribers.
RSS aside, the 80/20 rule applies to all areas link building, not just syndication. A theoretical formula for approaching a link building strategy from Pareto's perspective can be reduced to this:
20% of your link building time will result in 80% of your links. It therefore stands to reason that figuring out what that 20% winner is, and then expanding it, is the most viable means of getting more back links in less time.
Megan Carruth, a.k.a. "BizDev Marketing" is an online marketing and business development consultant who helps small businesses make their mark online with customized, full-scale online communication solutions. You can view her free website link building strategies at The Link Kitchen and Women In Business - how to gain respect and communicate like a pro Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Megan_Carruth |  |
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