Forum Moderators: martinibuster
I have a new niche site and have been looking carefully at getting links from directory listings. I've just started doing this so I don't expect fast results (a million visitors in 2 days).
Anywho, I wanted to know if I'm doing this right. I have a way to look at backlinks from my browser and have been following them from relevant sites to find where to place links.
Here's the thing, it seems to take a looooong time doing this by hand but I've read some really nasty junk about using one of those linking programs. Does anyone have suggestions or can recommend a program that I can edit before it just starts sending out link requests at random?
boring process and a pain in the butt - but it's one of those necessary things needed to assit with ranking in the serps. I too have heard stories about how easy it is to get thousands of links - it's clearly not as it takes such a long time to do.
Many will talk about the ease of it, but few can do this without these 2 things:
Press release and buying links.
The best way to get exposure fast is the press release. Nothing comes close to reaching a vast audience in such a short space of time as this - so please forget and banish any other technique as most advice on link exchanging is false.
You could buy a ton of links, but you need lot's of cash. If you really want to do this, then I suggest you buy 10 directory/SE links and at least these are with established companies and are safe.
Ofcourse, if you really want to know the reality of free link exchanging, why don't you try doing 500 exchanges today, and see how far that gets you in 4 months time. I think you'll find I'm correct. Even if these are 100% targeted,it still won't get you hardly any results, the web is just too big for a measly 500 links to make you stand out.
Problem is that people are impatient, they don't fully understand how the web works, and they rush off with the first bit of advice and expect massive results - it won't happen. People will link to you, but it takes time, and is a far longer process than people really tell you.
Just avoid any of these 'magical' bulk programs - they will probably get you banned or be next to useless.
There is nothing wrong with using these programs to quickly gather a list of potential link partners to then look at individually and send personal emails to, IMO.
For example, for real estate sites I might do searches on home inspectors. Seems like home inspectors might be prone to giving you some links.
For insurance (my niche), I found blogs from underwriters and actuaries who will occassionally hand out some pretty nice links.
I just stumbled across a small related industry - actually a network of activists sites and approached some for some links (all my emails are personally addressed, I tell them where I found them, mention some specific pages and why their visitors might like a link) and I got one response asking me for a banner graphic (now running at the top of this guy's site, for free :) ). When I emailed him the graphic, he replied that he'd also just emailed 30,000 members of his group with my link.
In short, my best links - and really, the easiest ones I find to get - I develop through knowledge of my niche, then branching out to related industries.
Excellent post wheel.
