Effective Link Building Techniques for Bloggers

It seems that bloggers are always jumping on the latest trend for link building, in order to boost their search engine rankings. But in reality, the most effective technique for link building has been around for years — and it will never change. It involves three things: (1) research, (2) content development and (3) an outreach campaign.

By the way, if you don’t know why links are so important to business bloggers, you might want to start with this article on search engine optimization for blogs. In a nutshell, gaining links from other websites will help you boost your own search engine rankings. And that brings more traffic and more success.

In this post, I’ll share what I feel is the most effective technique for building links (without resorting to some kind of spamming nonsense). I recently used this very technique to acquire more links to one of my real estate websites, and it worked even better than I expected. Here’s what I did…

My Preferred Link Building Technique

Don’t let the simplicity of this technique fool you. Search engine optimization firms try to make SEO seem difficult, because it helps them get clients. But nothing could be further from the truth. Link building, content development and other aspects of SEO are very straightforward. Without aside, let’s get to the link building technique I’ve been using for years.

As I’ve said, this effective approach to SEO requires three things — research, content development, and outreach. Here’s how I put these things together to acquire more than 100 quality links for one of my real estate sites.

1. Research – I started by choosing an idea for a new web page. My goal was to create a useful resource for a particular audience, with plenty of tips and tools. So I came up with the idea for a “Housing Market Snapshot” for first-time home buyers. Then I began researching all of the topics that would eventually go into the page. Next stop … content development.
2. Content Development — Once I had a “blueprint” on paper for my online resource center, all I had to do was gather the content. Basically, I listed all of the data and information a first-time home buyer would need to succeed. This included mortgage rates, market trends, housing cost information, recent news, frequently asked questions and more.
3. Outreach — This step is key for an effective link-building program. Once my resource page was complete (and incredibly useful), I began contacting people who might like to share it through their own websites and blogs. I created a short email that explained what the page was all about, and I emailed about 25 real estate folks every day for two months. These were one-to-one emails, mind you, and not blanket spam emails. This is another key to success with this link building technique.

In order for this link building strategy to work, you have to put a lot of effort into the online resource that you create. This is mission critical. If you don’t create something truly “link worthy,” then there’s no point in moving on to the outreach stage.

So there you have it — a simple but effective link-building technique that can help you increase your search engine rankings, traffic levels, and overall success. With a little imagination, this can be adapted for any topic or audience. And best of all, you don’t have to blog comment spam or any other sleazy techniques. It’s legitimate, and that’s why it works so well. Good luck.