I wanted to write a post today about an SEO technique which is actually as old as the web itself, but I rarely seen written about or even alluded to.
Although it is undoubtedly something that you do know about, I see so few people actually doing it, that I thought that it could act as a reminder to actually ‘do it’.
In forums and salespages, I always here about the ‘new thing’ which is meant to help you with SEO, but at the end of the day, it does come back to the essentials, which is what this post is really about.
I think that a lot of people don’t really think logically. Do you not think that Google realizes how easy it is to blast out thousands of spammy links on blogs or forums? Or that when you are bookmarking, that is only done for SEO purposes and will (almost) never actually help anyone?
I am not saying, that these links don’t count. What I am saying though is that a proper link is worth many multiples of a manufactured link.
So, here goes…I know it’s basic stuff, but trust me it works. This really is how I have the most success with traditional SEO – but it does take a bit of work.
Step 1 – Choose a keyword (we will use ‘ironing boards’)
Step 2 – Go to google and do a search for that keyword phrase
Step 3 –
a. Go through the top 5 sites which are NOT obvious authority sites or sites about a general topic, but are sites about a topic which is highly relevant to your search term.
b. Go over to yahoo.com and type in for each url link:domainname.com
eg. link:betterlifestyleproducts.com
c. Click on inlinks
d. Go through each of those links and see if you can get a link from them.
The first one weirdly crashed my browser.
But the second one: http://www.thecherryblossombeauty.com/ has an email address there right at the bottom.
The eight one: http://www.killerstartups.com/Site-Reviews/5581/ has a way where you can submit your site to them to be reviewed
If you through those 27, I can almost guarantee that you will get some really high quality links
Step 4.
In the search from Step 2, go through the top 100 and see which of those sites you can get a link on.
Step 5.
Send an email to all of those potential link partners. I generally keep it ‘non-spammy’ and personal.
For example:
—————————–
Hi,
My name is Ben Shaffer and I am the owner of Killer Ironing Boards.
I came across your page at:
http://www.domainname.com/directory/page.html
and enjoyed your information about ironing covers.
I wondered if there was a possibility of putting a link to my site at:
http://ikillerironingboards.com
as I am sure that your visitors would find it interesting to find out about
the actual ironing boards if they are look for information about ironing
boards [ed. or whatever]
I look forward to hearing from you and thank you in advance.
Best Wishes,
Ben Shaffer
—————————–
Is it sexy? No
Is it salesy? No
Is it personal and personal? aha
Does it work? Yup
So, what’s my point?
I am not Google, but through my own SEO efforts, I have found again and again that building up highly relevant links one by one is far more effective than using spammy or automated or artificial techniques.
And one of the great things about it, is that it DOES take time so most other people will NOT be doing it.
Back to basics, or a waste of time?
Would love to hear your SEO tips below.
Keeping it real in an unreal world,
Ben Shaffer