All of the lists are valuable but IMO, the best list comes from Ask.com. Why? Because they list the top questions people used as search queries on  Ask.com. The list is divided  by category and includes the top ten questions asked. Here’s an example of one of the categories:

This kind of information is priceless when it comes to SEO and link building for a couple of reasons:  …. (read the rest of the article here on Link Week/Search Engine Land)

We talk a lot about back linking competitors/authority sites as a viable linking method and for the most part it is, but if you’re only going after what you see in back links, you may be leaving a lot of marketing power on the table. 

 Let’s take a look at this link building method and see how we can squeeze more link juice out of back linking our competitors and authority sites.

Who’s on First?

If you’re unfamiliar with the term or process of “back linking” it means to look at the inbound links to a specific webpage.  You can do this any number of ways, I tend to use Yahoo’s Site Explorer (free) or one of the SEOBook (some free, some not) arsenal of tools.  With the tool you can see who’s  linking to a page, what anchor text they’re using and what URL they are linking to.  All important stuff if you’re in the game to try and get links from the same sources.  Why?  Well, knowing who is linking to your competitors and/or the authorities in your niche is a good idea for a couple of reasons:

1.  Inbound links influence rankings so knowing who is linking out helps you target them as a possible source as well and,

2.  Inbound links drive traffic and expose brand, both necessary to build reputation.  If you’re looking to pimp your rep, you’ll want to get similar links.

OK, that’s pretty standard yada-yada but if we’re only looking at those back links as rank boosters and traffic streams we’re missing out.  Knowing  who is linking is good but understanding why they’re linking is better and the key to besting the competition.

Use The Heck Out Of The Back Links You Find

Once you’ve back linked a list of sites, look hard at the host sites and take note of what they’re linking to and where  those links are pointing.   If the links are pointing to a press release:

• What did the competitor do to generate the release?    

• Can you develop a similar event or announcement and issue through the same channels?    

• Run a snippet from the opening paragraph of your competitors press release and look for locations hosting this content.  Contact those sites and offer an exclusive before you run one of your press releases through a media services like PRWeb.  Bloggers and media outlets like having information before it’s made public.

Or, are the links pointing to a piece of content with  WOW factor?  If yes,

• What’s the piece about?    

• How did they launch it, via press release or through blogger outreach?    

• Who thought enough of of the piece to link to it?   

• Was the piece promoted on Digg, Twitter Facebook etc?

If you answered yes to any of those questions, you have many opportunities to find new outlets to host your content.  Get busy writing a different/better wow content and promote it to the same sources.  (Tip:  info graphics are all the rage…)

This tactic isn’t always a bed of roses, sometimes we  find tons of crappy (translation:  paid) links pointing at our well ranked competitors.  If  it appears they’ve purchased  links does that mean you should do the same?  Tough question and there’s no easy answer.  No two sites are equal  so what’s working for one might not for another.  Look hard at those links and weigh possible consequences against the outcome. 

Competitive research does show us who is linking to our rivals but it doesn’t explain why.   Look for the why, it will help you gain additional links and create new partnerships to host your link embedded content.

Good questions but hard to give stock answers to so I went looking for an example to illustrate the point.  Found a good one after reading a press release today from the Cable & Telecommunication Association for Marketing.  Let’s take a look at how ”thinking outside the box” can help you find credible  resources and build links.

Recently the  CTAM  released a report analyzing four generational groups and their online behavior.  No surprises overall save one as it relates to the Mature (age 65+) market.  Here’s some of the findings:

Seniors aged 65 and older (also referred to as “Matures”) have made the Internet an integral part of their everyday lives. In a recent study, 77 percent report that they shop online. In fact, Matures lead all other generational groups when it comes to this online activity. They regularly use email (94 percent), go to the Internet to look up health and medical information (71 percent), read news (70 percent), and manage their finances and banking (59 percent). Matures also turn to the Internet for gaming, approximately half (47 percent) of online Matures regularly play free online games.  

Bold in red mine because it’s the part that raised an eyebrow and got the link brain going.  People 65 and older are playing games online? At first I was surprised since I equate “online games” with things like WarCraft and WhackAToad  but then I remembered hearing how intellectually stimulating activities such as crossword puzzles, SuDoku and word search have the potential to keep Alzheimer’s at bay in older people and it made perfect sense.    Here’s where the “thinking outside the box” kicks in.

Developing a widget for a crossword puzzle, or daily email blast would be easy, helpful and a great passive tool to expose your brand to a segment of the market with a lot of disposable income.  If you’re catering to this crowd, create the puzzle (do something different)  and make a lot of noise (be creative) when doing so:

• Launch a media blitz
• Take out an ad in on/offline magazines
• Get involved on social networking sites like Eons, ThirdAge
• Get involved on blogs like Aging Hipsters 
• Co-partner with another company selling to same demographic, drop puzzles in items e/mailed 

The demographic itself may not link since they tend not to have websites  but all the organizations who cater to them - will.   This is the “thinking outside the box” part. 

The real secret to good link building isn’t about redirects or directories or librarians, it’s about opening the box and looking beyond the obvious for opportunities and openings.   Might be time to start unpacking!

Earlier this month the Wall Street Journal ran an article on how businesses were using Live Chat to make incremental sales. 

This bit caught my eye:

 In late April, home improvement e-tailer Improvement Direct Inc., of Chico, Calif., used a chat feature on its site to converse directly with customers about its products and services. The response was overwhelming. “We got flooded,” says Brandon Proctor, vice president of marketing. “We couldn’t believe how many chats we were getting.” In July alone, the company had more than 300 chats daily and converted them into sales at a rate of 9%

Way to go Improvement Direct!    Since I suffer from link tunnel vision I immediately started to wonder how I could use the live chat application to get people to link.  Here’s what I came up with:

1.  At the end of every chat have the operator ask the customer if they’d like to have a permanent discount code for the product you’re selling.  All they have to do is link to your site and you’ll send the code.

2.  If you have a product requiring assembly instructions or a “how to use guide”  provide these links in the chat.  On the pages hosting these “how to” guides, make a push to link to your site.

3.  Do an email blast to current customers annoucing the new chat feature on your site.  In the correspondence drop the “link to us” offer and include a giveaway as a thank you.

4.  Issue a press release annoucing the new feature and your company’s committment to customer service and using advanced technology.  

While it’s a good idea to look at everything as an opportunity to promote your website,  it’s not a good idea to go overboard and become a pest asking for links.    Keep the number of times you ask to a minimum and use  the elements with the highest visibililty for a better chance of link building success.

P.S.  If you’re interested in the technology, the article mentioned Meebo as a free live chat software and search on the phrase “live chat software” for the paid companies.

As a link builder I’m not enamoured with YouTube and do not recommend using it as a primary way to build links or as an integral part of your SEO program. 

 Why?

• Videos on YouTube are on YouTube so any optimization effort you implement helps YouTube and not your website/pages.     

• YouTube contributes to the pinking of the ‘Net/Web (uses nofollow) so any link you insert to guide people back to your site passes no link popularity. 
   
• While traffic from YouTube can be beneficial, you have to optimize the content on YouTube like any other in order for people to find it.  This is time better spent elsewhere.
   
• Efforts to make a video go viral begin with the webmaster, not YouTube
    
•  It’s doubtful you’ll build a brand following on YouTube unless the public is already aware of your brand.      

•  By-n-large people look  for information on a search engine first, they don’t search on YT for a place to buy baseball cards.  There is a reason Google has become a verb and YouTube a pastime.

But the number one reason?

• YouTube results bump web pages down in the general search results and web pages make sales , videos don’t!

Want to see what I mean?  Look here, here, and here  and notice how the videos are all ranking in the top five but the sites they represent - don’t.    Yes the exposure is nice but where is there opportunity to make a sale??    Throw in local search results and images showing up and it can take a while to get to a static search result.   If your goal is to make your website an authority in your industry/niche, you should house and promote the videos on your site, not YouTube.  This will help with algorithmic authority, branding and traffic.

So is using YouTube to build SEO  links a wasted effort?   Pretty much which is why I don’t recommend using it to increase your link popularity but I wouldn’t totally discount using the number two search engine on the Net to build awareness.  Consider doing this: 

• Make shorter versions of your video’s and insert on YouTube, longer vid stays on your site

• Create those shorter versions as teasers and as a lead-in to promotions/information on your site

• Be sure the start and ending frame of the vid include the URL to your website

• Optimize your YouTube listing with your keywords

• Be the first one to leave a comment/review under your vid, include the URL to your website and explain a longer more detailed version of the vid exists on your website

• Encourage everyone you know to drop a comment/review on the video  (re/views help push your vid to the top for your keywords)

• Create a video area on your site just as you would a media room and promote it to the media, your customers, vendors etc.

• Make the vid’s on your website available through Creative Commons, make full descriptions embedded with kw rich links part of your attribution.

You need to decide what’s best for your site and if having YouTube video’s come up in the serps for your keywords is your goal, power to you.  But if you’re in business to make a profit and plan to use video to attract links, know the links you point at YouTube will have little to no effect on your overall rankings. 

Use YouTube or any image/audio hosting site wisely and they can be your greatest ally  and not a ranking enemy.

(photo taken from Zazzle.  Buy a tee shirt!)

I came across a social media  service today called SayNow;  they give away free telephone numbers people can call to hear personalized recorded messages from their favorite celebrities.

Once they’ve heard the message fans can leave a note for the celebrity and the celebrity can either answer personally or broadcast to his/her “followers”.    Right now the service is entertainment and athlete dominated but that’s changing as anyone can sign up for a number and start calling.  SayNow allows you to make your calls public or private, integrate with Twitter, Facebook and MySpace  and send out mp3, photos or text messages.  With  over 10 million registered users, SayNow has some impressive numbers if you consider they had five million in November 2008. 

My linkey senses went all tingly as I started thinking about how I could use this tool to deliver a targeted message and drive links naturally.  I came up with two ideas to start:

1.  Since the tool is integrated with Twitter and Facebook, tweet your SayNow telephone number and encourage your  followers to call in.  Create a welcome message and include

 an incentive redeemable at your site

 a retweet request  of your SayNow account  and most importantly

 a  request to link to your site. 

2.  I’d also recommend you:

write a press release announcing your SayNow telephone number, include info on the incentive program

email the press release to current customer and vendor list as well as your association and Chamber memberships

issue release through service such as PRWeb

highlight being an early adopter of the concept (make yourself look smart!)

encourage people to “fan” your SayNow account to receive automated updates

 If you sell to the teen market, this might be a service to try since teens are known to be into cell phones.  From the NYTimes:

But studios and stars are turning more heavily to the phone as a marketing tool as new services like SayNow pop up; cellphones become more ubiquitous; and evidence grows that their most crucial customers — teenagers — are not all that enamored with the likes of Twitter. A voice message is more intimate and authentic than a status update.

 And even if you don’t, marketing your SayNow telephone number to your customers, your Twitter followers and your Association  can put any future link building promotions squarely in their hand-held telephones :)  Hey it’s free, what do you have to lose?

No link building post here, just a HUGE air punch for William & Mary, they beat
The University of Virginia (UVA) this evening in an exciting season opener in Charlottesville.  It’s the first time WM has beaten a FBS (football bowl school) school since 1998 so KUDOS to the green and gold.  Go Tribe!!

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It’s common knowledge certain markets are harder to build links for than others. For the most, part highly competitive industries are tough because they’ve been worked to death, but less competitive markets can also be difficult because of the demographic behind them. Such was the case for a client we took on awhile back in the financial services industry. He sold a very niche product in a very competitive industry, known to be populated by busy corporate executives. He came to us with a new website which needed back links to support ongoing SEO, build his company brand and drive traffic to the site. No small feat considering the market he was in.

Today’s edition of Resource Shelf  listed a report from PEW on how Americans were using the Internet to cope with the recession.  This bit caught my eye and got the link brain going:

Some 69% of all Americans have used the internet to cope with the recession as they hunt for bargains, jobs, ways to upgrade their skills, better investment strategies, housing options, and government benefits. That amounts to 88% of internet users.

First off, the numbers the article references are huge, 88% of American users are turning to the Internet to find certain types of information.  If that doesn’t scream “CONTENT and LINKS” to the enterprising webmaster I don’t know what does.

For newbies with no clue what I’m talking about, let me explain.

There are a bunch of Americans using the Internet to find solutions to problems.  If you have content that’s good and will help them, they may link to it and/or pass it along to others they know will benefit.  The excerpt above is pretty specific in what they’re looking for so your job is now a little easier in trying to figure out what to write.  To refresh your memory the specifics the article showcased were:

they hunt for bargains, jobs, ways to upgrade their skills, better investment strategies, housing options, and government benefits

Is there a way you can write content on any of these subjects as it relates to what you offer?  I bet there is.  If people are actively looking for it, why not write about it  instead of another stupid top ten list ?

Here are a handful of  promotion ideas to get the link ball rolling:

1.  Email your mother, brother,  sister and your current and past customers with a link to the article.  Encourage linking and ask they pass it on to others who may benefit.  (these people already like you so they’re prone to respond positively.  This is why it pays to be nice to siblings

2.  Write a press release announcing the new article, be specific in describing what problem/issue your article will discuss and provide solutions for.

3.  Be sure to include a quote/link to the PEW report as a credibility builder in the release.

4.  Be sure to include a quote/link to the PEW report in your article as well.

5.  Take a shorter version of the article and pimp it to a handful of bloggers in your niche. 

6.  Include social media buttons like “share this” under the article on your site.  Encourage your mother, brother, sister and past/current customers to socialize the material.

7.  Tweet the link, encourage RT’s (RT = retweets.  Here’s a how-to RT article)

There’s more you can do but this should get you started.  With 88% of Americans searching for a specific type of information be the one they link to for answers. 

Added:

Please read the comments with this post, someone brought up an article written on Search Engine Watch yesterday and I’ve responded since I think the article was a piece of crap.   Thanks ~  debra.

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I spent a couple of days painting last week and was reminded of an old post I did in 2006  so I’m running it again.  ~ Debra

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I spent most of last weekend painting the living room, dining room, and hallway of a house we’re trying to sell. I had never understaken a paint project before so I wasn’t aware of the labor intensive set-up and prep work that needed to be done before the first coat of paint could go up. Even deciding on colors, supplies and types of paint before we started was a chore; new colors needed to complement those already in place, the paint had to be washable and within our budget… Nothing about this was easy.

The goal of any link building campaign is to find, cultivate and keep a loyal base of quality customers linked to you. Tactics vary but the prep and research needed before implementing a link campaign are the same, even for simple programs like Directory submissions and article writing. Use surveys, ask questions in all correspondence and of course review your stats often.

This information alone doesn’t net links but it does help paint a clear picture of what sites to target when link building. It also helps make the process of link research and planning a linking campaign manageable - unless you can schluff it off on someone else of course!

Market Segments.

After it was all over I decided that link building and painting had a lot in common - you have to invest a lot of time and sweat equity in the set-up to see an effective end result.

Regardless of the link tactic used, if you stay connected with your customer you’ll find link success. If you have a good handle on the who, what, when and where of your customer base, you’ll be able to find partner sites with similar characteristics and a similar customer base to secure links from. Go where your buying public frequents when they’re not buying from you, get links from those sites.

This means you need to be very familiar with the people buying your products in order to determine their common characteristics. Break it down by market segment and look for commonalities. For example:

Demographics. Age, income, gender, etc.

     Are your client’s baby boomers? Women? Hispanic?

Geographics. Physical locations. States, countries, zip codes etc.

     Sales trends to the South? 90210 zip code?  London or New York City?

Lifestyle. Are your customers animal lovers, tree huggers or sports enthusiasts?

Look for trends, patterns, and reoccurring themes from your customer base. Ask for feedback often and keep an eye on the major lifestyle publications and blogs within the different demographic segments for signs of change or fast breaking news and use what you find to either create content that will attract links from your customer base or get links from the popular sites. 

At least with painting there is a beginning and an end.  With link building - not so much