Suggestions for GOOD (free) links for "SO-SO" site

[BaseballGuy]

I have a "so-so" site in my stable. It has some content, although it is nothing worthy of a DIGG front page or anything like that.

Is it possible to (legally and morally) obtain good links (without buying them) to a site with "so-so" content?

The site is not ugly or badly designed, it's just that content is hard to build for this particular niche. I have done the best I can do and in my opinion, it is crap.

Aside from commenting on do-follow blogs, submitting to a select group of directories (that aren't bad) and all the other small things.....What else is there?

Do you guys have any sites like this? Few affiliate links here and there, with no major content? How do you go about getting good links?

[LizaJane]

IMO - Good sites with desirable links generally do not link to so-so content. It diminishes their value as an authority on their content. Would you send your friend/customer to a so so site?
Think outside the box or ... er make that outside the diamond if it's a baseball site.

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[wheel]

I have friends that have some pretty butt-ugly thin sites that have some awful nice links coming from my sites. And I have a friend of a friend who's got a link I would never link to, that actually has a pretty nice link coming off my site.

In the first situation, I offered it to my friend. The site's related in a peripheral fashion so I'm happy to give him a link. In the second situation, a friend called me and asked me to do it as a favor for a friend of his. In fact the only time I've ever linked out from my main sites so far was due to offline relationships, that have nothing to do with the content on their sites. I don't link out due to content, sorry.

And there you have it. If you can't build link based on content, build links based on something else. Offline relationships are one place to start. Who do you know that you can call and shake down for a link? Your Mom? Your Mom's friend from church who has a son the same age as you who has a website that your Mom can ask her friend to ask her son, who shrugs and says sure, why not?.

Contact bloggers in your neck of the woods and run a contest. I posted a thread around here about having some success with that.

Or as LJ noted, actually put some decent content on your site. There's the top 10 list strategy that's already been noted. There's pricing information. There's technical information. There's historical data. There's lots of stuff.

At the risk of being overly general, sometimes you desire the link, then build the content to get the link. I do some, perhaps a lot, of this as well. Look at the site and think, what could I do to get a link? I bet they'd find this interesting. Do 'this', then ask for a link afterwards. Then ask anyone else remotely interested in 'this'.

[nealrodriguez]

most definitely! you have got to either write some hot content for that site or throw on the editor hat and tell them how to. it doesn't have to be digg front page hot; it could just augment or respond to what other sites are talking about. many blogs simply substantiate their posts by linking to mainstream news or other blogs; if you actually get an interview from an expert who could discuss what they are writing about, you'll have something to which blogs will link.

take on blogging as a journalist who tries to be objective getting opinions from experts on both sides of the story; many experts, like ph.d's, professionals, some political and company spokespeople, are not hard to reach, and welcome the opportunity to get any exposure. i've been able to interview nytimes best selling book authors just by mentioning it's for my "blog." publicists tell them to jump on those opportunities because they never know how popular you may be.