- PPC (pay-per-click) Links
Benefits:
PPC campaigns can be initiated within 1 day and can provide immediate traffic if required. Cost of traffic is relatively inexpensive when compared to traditional marketing methods. Target marketing can be very precise as link ads only appear on pages contextually relative to the ad. Traffic is generally pre-qualified due to the nature of clicking links - people are interested in or looking for what the link leads to.
- Purchasing Links on Other Relevent Sites
Benefits:
Link purchasing provides direct traffic that is typically pre-qualified since links are generally purchased and placed on sites with content relevant to the link - users are already on these sites for topical interest. Non-PPC links from outside sites also provide value to SEO as search engines value links highly in their ranking algorithms. Also, you can control what the link text says, which is also very helpful to search engine optimization.
- Directory Listings
Benefits:
Directory listings such as; Yahoo directory, DMOZ, Best-Of-The-Web.org, business.com, bCentral.com, etc. provide very valuable links as they can be implemented relatively easily, and inexpensively (some charge an annual fee). In addition to the major directories, it is also beneficial to be listed in industry directories and local 'yellow-pages' type directories, etc. Search engines consider links from trusted directories to be the one of the most valuable types of links they categorize - these directories are well-established, well-visited, well-maintained, and useful resources - they are "trust-worthy", so if they link to you, you must also be "trust-worthy".
- Association Listings
Benefits:
Association links are very similar to the benefits of directory links, and although they are generally free they typically take longer to be implemented (they're free!). Examples of association links are: Chamber of Commerce, Board of Trade, industry associations and organizations, clubs, committees, sports teams, arts and entertainment groups, social groups, ethnic and cultural groups, pensioner associations, environmental groups, etc... these association websites are typically well-established, focused, maintained, and useful resources - they are "trust-worthy", so if they link to you, you must also be "trust-worthy".
- Competitor Analysis
Benefits:
This is an excellent method of determining a source of links that are recognized to be highly valued by the search engines. Doing a "link:www.competitorsite.com" link check reveals who links to your competitors. After doing a little research, you can determine which of these sites will most probably link to you, and that will also pass on a high amount of "trust" value - also known as "TrustRank". If a request for a link from this type of site is fulfilled, your overall "trust-worthiness" increases, thus increasing your rank in the search engines, beating out your competitors, using their resources. :)
- Outside Blogs
Benefits:
Benefits of links from outside blogs are can be numerous, but generally; popular blogs can drive a flood of traffic over-night through one link. As the blog post ages traffic will subside, but, the link remains - thus passing on its "trust value". Outside blogs generally link to corporate sites for specific reasons such as; news items, resources, references, and for items of interest. Creating these 'reasons' on your site increases probabilities of a blogger noticing your 'reason', then linking to you, which, because blogs are read by other bloggers, creates the potential of acquiring more links from other blogs. Blogs typically spread links in a viral nature.
- Corporate Blogging
Benefits:
Creating your own corporate blog has many marketing benefits in itself, but in addition to the main benefits of links from your own corporate blog (direct traffic, passing on 'TrustRank'), you have complete control over frequency, position, and function of the links (link text) within your posts that point to your main site.
- Press Releases
Benefits:
Press releases are typically posted on "trusted" news syndication sites, as well as local and regional, or industry specific news sites. Because most often you will have written the release - if not edited - it will allow you the flexibility of keyword placement and usage as link text. News sites are generally well-established, well-visited, well-maintained, and useful resources - they are "trust-worthy", so if they link to you, you must also be "trust-worthy".
- Article Syndication
Benefits:
The benefits of links from article syndication are numerous in addition to the general benefits of syndication including; increased brand awareness, establishing your site as an authoritative resource, and relationship building. The benefits of links from your syndicated articles are;
1. Direct traffic to your site through 'by-line' or 'signature' links where author credits are given
2. Links increase your TrustRank on major search engines - increasing rankings
3. Articles can have multiple links to your site, allowing you more control to use variations of keyword text for maximum semantic saturation
4. Articles are typically archived thus maintaining the lifespan of the links
5. Articles syndicated on high PageRank sites (not only get ranked well so your article gets increased exposure) - they provide your site with increased PageRank through the links
- Quality Content Generation
Benefits:
In producing quality content on your site, you produce a reason for others to link to you. There are many methods of producing quality content for your site, but some well proven examples are; top-ten lists, helpful tools, noteable news items, expert advice, surveys/studies, reviews, interviews and more. The benefits of links derived from creating quality content are; links usually point to the resource page - providing 'deep-linking', these links are usually keyword saturated (by nature - they describe your content), the link anchor text is usually varied due to multiple sources - avoiding spam penalties.
- Social Networking Sites
Benefits:
Links from social networking sites have huge benefits, if they are in the right place. Social networking sites like MySpace, Digg.com, del.ico.us, etc. can provide enormous amounts of direct traffic if they are on popular pages, and because these sites are highly regarded and trusted by the search engines, these links pass on trust value for SEO purposes as well.
- Reciprocal Links on Related Sites
Benefits:
If links are traded between sites of relevant or related topics, this can add value to the score of your page since the topic of the page linking to you is a major factor considered for rankings by the search engines. Be aware not to trade links for the sake of garnering more links - this can hurt your ranking if too may are 'off-topic' (this is a spam indicator). Reciprocal links must be traded on the basis of providing mutual traffic within a related field. These links generally establish both sites as helpful resources in the eye of users.
- Partner Websites
Benefits:
The benefits of links from partner websites such as; strategic partners, suppliers, contractors, etc. are much the same as reciprocal links mentioned above, but these links typically instill a higher level of trust in the user because they signify 'partnership' - this is the ultimate level of trust, next to self. Partner links also produce many of the general benefits of linking such as direct traffic, increased trust by search engines, longevity, etc.
- "Link-To-Us" Action Items
Benefits:
Every website serious about link building MUST have a readily apparent 'link-to-us' call-to-action item. This can be in the form of a page with a very simple request to have others link to your site, or the page can contain more complex suggestions for linking to you. You can provide banners, pre-scripted links, link suggestions, or as mentioned - a simple request. The benefit of offering the link code is that you control what the link says - the link anchor text. The benefit of having others create their own link from your suggestions is that this creates variation in the links pointing to your site - which is desired - it is more natural. Also, just having this type of call-to-action item inherently increases the probability of others linking to you - you're 'suggestive selling'.
- Link-Baiting
Benefits:
Link-baiting is becoming regarded as one of the most effective methods of link building, but, it is also one of the most difficult to perform effectively. Here are the benefits, and thusly the reasons why link-baiting has it's difficulties:
1. If the link-bait is valuable, acquiring links is very easy to do - no requesting or direct soliciting is required.
2. Quality link-bait produces exponential growth in link development from an initial original effort, most times very rapidly.
3. With exponential link growth comes expontential direct traffic through those links.
4. The resultant linking structure or tree is very organic, natural - not recognizable or identifiable as contrived for SEO purposes.
5. Links resulting from link-baiting are typically from websites that are updated regularly - like blogs, forums and news, and these types of sites are generally well trusted by users and search engines, thus passing their trust on to you.
6. Link-bait links are typically deep-linked to a key 'bait' page within the site, rather than the home page. This is good for passing PageRank to inner pages.
7. If properly executed, the sheer volume of links created alone can produce the greatest ROI than any other link building technique.
