When it comes to link building, frequently clients feel that “more is better”. They want to see results quickly. Everyone thinks that hundreds of quick directory submissions are what they want. It gives them a false feeling that they are getting the most for their money. Don’t get me wrong…submitting to directory listings is not a bad idea, as they can be a great foundation when beginning a link building strategy, but submitting to the directories that run automated software tools, that submit to over 1000 directories in about an hour is more damaging than you would think. Submissions should be done more naturally, manually inputted, and the directories listings you choose to consider your web site should be useful and selective to whom they include in their directories.
Getting a few appropriate relevant links, from the right places can be much more beneficial than getting 1000’s of links from the wrong places. The most valuable links are the ones that are relevant to your site, from the resources and sites that are the most suitable to yours. They don’t necessarily have to be about your “theme” of your website… they just have to be somewhat related. When searching for links, networking with trusted sites similar to yours can be very beneficial. Trusted sites may include those of friends, family, well known clients, video sites, blogs, reference sites, social media and more. You will want to link to these trusted sites, but to maintain your network you must work to be a well trusted site also. You have to remember that link building is most successful when you have a disproportionate amount of inbound to outbound links.
When you propose that another site add a link of yours to their site, you will need to provide them with something they feel is of value to them. If you have something tangible, your potential link host may like a sizeable sample sent to them, or you may try trading services. By exchanging products or services, you will attain more link juice than you would if you did reciprocal linking. The goal is to increase your site’s weight and thus it’s ranking, not to have the links wash each other out. Be as creative and ambitious as you can in your link building campaign and it will greatly improve your chances of being successful. Do remember the power of the few. Few links with greater relevance can be much more profitable to your site than hundreds or even thousands of weak or non relevance links.
