Link building is one of the more tedious aspects of SEO and yet it is also arguably one of the most important. Link building is the cornerstone of all SEO. No SEO campaign is complete without an assertive effort to build new valuable links, every single day. And no link building campaign is ever complete. As long as you have other Internet marketers and business owners trying to out rank in the SERPs (Search Engine Result Pages), you will need to continue to build more links.
It’s hard to understand how difficult and time-consuming link building can be until you’ve actually done it. You can spend an entire day digging up a handful of potential URLs to build or negotiate links from and get nothing from it. Successful link building comes with repetition and increasingly efficient methods. Link building is hard work, especially if you do it right.
In order to be successful with your link building, long-term, it’s important that you learn to scale your efforts. This is especially true if you’re working to rank for keywords alongside other big successful sites that have the resources to hire full- time link builders and media buyers.
1. Get links to multiple sites from each source
Finding sites that meet your link building criteria, contacting the website operator and negotiating a link deal all takes time. Website operators can be difficult to get in touch with and once you have an active conversation going it’s in your best interest to get the most from the opportunity. So rather than working for one link at a time, try to negotiate links for as many sites (or pages) as you can. Getting two links from a site operator, or webmaster, instead of one benefits you by doubling your return, imagine if you can get five links from each webmaster you work to contact.
2. Build a network of contacts with those who have provided links in the past
Once you have negotiated a link deal with a webmaster, hold on to him or her as a link building contact. This way, when you have a new site you need to build links from you can talk to him or her first, saving yourself the time of having to find brand new contacts every single time. Eventually, you will have a network of contacts that you can call on whenever you need more links which will increase your link building efficiency exponentially.
3. Use automation tools to build links to multiple sites simultaneously
A few select automation tools can be used to build links of mediocre value steadily over time. They can also be used to build links to as many URLs as you want, simultaneously. The links these tools build do not necessarily come from spammy blog comments or untargeted forum profiles, they can build targeted links complete with text, content and media. And they can build out tiers of links which help to create the natural link popularity you’ll need to get maximum value from each link.
This method is technically black hat, so it may not be suitable for everyone and is not recommended for linking directly to your primary website, but it can work well as a supplementary source of links.
4. Outsource your link building
There are a few aspects of link building that are especially tedious such as URL lead prospecting, finding contact information, initializing contact and implementing and monitoring links. All of these tasks can easily be outsourced, freeing up your time to do the actual negotiation of links and maintaining contact and rapport with your network of contacts.
5. Buy links in bulk
Buying in bulk not only allows you to buy links to more sites at once, but it often allows you to negotiate lower rates per link. This can increase the number of links you can afford, given your budget, and it will result in directly scaled link building. Buying links is also considered a black hat method and is not recommended for all websites. Also, it is not recommended to buy links from a network of websites. If you choose to buy links you should prospect your own sources and buy individually from very targeted and high quality websites.
More Tips
Staying organized with your link building efforts is crucial; it will allow you to work more efficiently and will allow you to scale your link building without hitting a wall. Keep a spreadsheet with all of your contacts and use it to monitor every single webmaster you contact, every URL you were interested in and keep detailed notes about when you first contacted them, the dates you followed up with them and notes regarding any correspondence you have with them. This will pay off in the future when you come across URLs or webmasters you recognize, you’ll be able to reference them against your spreadsheet and quickly see any past contact, or attempts, you’ve had with them.