Eric Ward received an interesting request for proposal and devoted a post to his dilemma: is a performance-only based link building assignment on a very short term a no-win? Several people took time to chime in at Sphinn, and explained why they would (or wouldn’t) take the offer. My $0,02? If the site has no penalties, all expenses are paid for and the pay-out of possible rewards is guaranteed (not AWOL), I’d definitely consider taking the offer…

After reading recaps of sessions titled ‘Real-world, low-risk, high-reward link building strategies‘ or ‘Linkfluence: How to buy links with maximum juice and minimum risk‘, and after seeing interviews with Aaron Wall and Eric Enge, I have definitely added PubCon to my next-year wish list.

• Debra Mastaler was interviewed by Eric Enge and shared quite a few link building tips
• Arnie Kuenn stated that an SEO is not a link builder
• Saad Kamal wrote a fairly basic, but complete link building walkthrough
• Tad wrote up a few tips for everybody who drops (dofollow) comments as their main link building strategy
• Angela Moore tried to explain the difference between a link development expert and a link development specialist
• Brian Turner explains why there are no free permanent links

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Everybody who works for an SEM agency, has worked for one in the past, or just visits Fortune 500 company websites from time to time, has probably had this thought at least once or twice; “If only they got it…”. Some websites have much potential, but almost seem to refuse it.

Although topping the SERPs was much easier in the past, we still live in a time where small websites still stand a chance. In about five years, developing a website from scratch and making it profitable within two years (without touching AdWords), will be pretty hard. Why? Because within the next 5 years, most large companies will finally “get it”. These companies will finally realize what they have, how they can use it, and what they can do with it.

Domain age

A lot of Fortune 500 company domain names were amongst the first 10,000 domains that were registered. Do you seriously think that it would be hard to outrank your 1999 lcd tv related domain? Think again. Take a look at Philips, for example. This manufacturer of electronic appliances registered their domain name back in 1987. Try outranking that.

Links

Websites that have been around since the mid 1990s, have probably been attracting links since the mid 1990s as well. Not only will 15 years of link attraction result in a LOT of links, but a lot of OLD links as well. With Philips again as an example, you’ll see that they have over a million links pointing to the .com domain alone. They have around 75 tlds with unique content and unique links. Another great example is Nike, with just under 2 million links.

Now think of what would happen if they’d actually start leveraging these links, let alone optimizing them. No matter if they keep or ditch the Flash, I’m pretty sure that Nike would finally be topping the SERPs for ‘running shoes‘. And this is even without having to obtain new links…

Content

The problem with most Fortune 500 websites isn’t a lack of good content, but the enormous amounts of country selections, Flash, redirects, session IDs, CMS URLs and other search engine barriers blocking this content. If these barriers are removed, not only search engines will be able to find (and rank) a lot of extra content, but visitors will find it as well, through these search engines. The same goes for the linkerati.

Press

I mentioned links before, but the ease of getting attention in the media is worth mentioning as well. If you have developed one of the most brilliant products or services ever, you will find that -even then- it’s pretty hard to get attention or coverage in the media. For some companies, there are entire (and popular!) websites dedicated to news and rumors about new products. Even bad news, such as a big layoff, can result in hundreds of new links from authority news websites.

People

Whether it’s a team of link developers, web designers or marketeers, large companies have lots of them. Bunches of ‘em. And if they’re still short of well-skilled personnel, they tend to just hire a few extra, either directly or outsourcing via an SEM agency. Large companies have complete departments that can develop stuff in a single day, that would’ve taken you (or your team, if you’re lucky) at least a few weeks.

Money

Massive paid link budgets? Not a problem. Developing a kick-ass piece of linkbait for several thousands of dollars? Not a problem. Hiring top notch experts from every internet marketing related field to provide input? Not a p… you get what I mean. Don’t you just love it when money isn’t an issue? Well, for most large companies, this almost seems true. They’ll probably have to convince only a few folks and the money tap will be turned wide open.

Being small has advantages…

Like I’ve mentioned before, being small has its advantages as well. Massive companies will never beat a small business owner on passion, dedication or speed. This is where small websites still have an advantage, but that’s about it.

My advice for everybody who is thinking about developing a website? Do it now! Before all large companies suddenly “get it”.

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It’s been a pretty crazy week, with the SMX and all, so this week’s edition of Link Building this Week is a bit late. There’s still lots of link building goodness worth mentioning, though…

Eric Ward got interviewed by Wordtracker’s Rachelle Money. During this link building masterclass interview, he provided lots of useful tips and solid advice, so make sure to check out the interview.

Another great article I came across is QualityGal’s 10 reasons why your website looks like spam. Make sure that both your own website AND the link targets you’re contacting don’t look like one of the examples that she’s provided.

And also:

• Ann Smarty has been pretty busy with writing link building tips for start-ups, a checklist for backlink research and advice for building links and awareness by pitching bloggers
• Julie Joyce explains why you need (a little bit of) HTML knowledge if you’re building links
• Peter DaVanzo mentioned why linking out is a good thing to do
• Navneet Kaushal shows how you can craft a good link request email
• Hans-Peter Manzenreiter covered every minute of the SMX link building session

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This week, during the Blow Your Mind Link Building Techniques session at the SMX in London, I had the opportunity to share a panel with Lyndon Antcliff, Tom Critchlow and Jay Young. It turned out to be an awesome session.

Overview of the SMX, by Mark Bovenkerk, MarkBovenkerk.nl

Lyndon kicked it off with a breakdown of his famous 13-year-old-hooker-bait and explained which psychological factors the story contained. He made it perfectly clear that his story wasn’t just a lucky shot, but that every aspect of it was a well thought through. His lemon-colored Powerpoint has to be one of the best ones I’ve seen during the SMX.

Up next was Will Tom Critchlow, who showed a loophole in the (British?) tax system, that lets you buy links on charity websites tax free. Of course, you shouldn’t buy them for the link, but to support the charity. He also discussed how expired pages, abandoned websites and even bankruptcies can be (or lead you to) possible link targets. He closed off with a few examples of how niche forums (did you know there are even forums for lemon juice fanatics?) can be awesome sources to pick up linkbait ideas.

After Tom, it was my turn to do some stuttering on stage. The attendees didn’t start throwing lemons at me, so I guess I did an acceptable job for a first timer. I’ve included my presentation below. I know watching just a few sheets isn’t the same as attending the session, but it’s the best I can do

Jay Young closed it off with a presentation about negotioting links and other useful tips. His points that intensifying your link building efforts during seasonable peaks (to look more natural) and to adjust your anchor text every now and then are worth highlighting.

After these four sessions, Rob unleashed a discussion about paid links. Bottom line of this discussion: buying links is something that you should do with care and variation, and you should be aware of the risks.

The SMX has been pretty interesting (and LondonSEO was excellent as well), so I’m already looking forward to next year’s edition.

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Especially during a recession, when people seem to have less time, lots of folks try to take the Link Building Easy Route. However, there is no easy in link building and short cuts, such as acquisition services, almost never work. In stead of trying to take the easy way or asking yourself unanswerable questions like how many more links you need, you’re better of using solid, proven techniques.

WeBuildPages launched their new blog and started of with a few excellent posts. My favorite is Ninja Jen’s explanation of why building links is like picking up a girl. I compared SEO to sex once, but that one’s even better. So, how do you pick up a girl? Be hot and/ or different. Girls will ask your phone number and call you back for more.

And also:

• Shaun Anderson shows once again that only the first internal link counts in Google
• Gab Goldenberg set up a free link building report template for you to download
• Tamar Weinberg picked up a few excellent religious link building tips at WMW
• Rand Fishkin explains how thinking vertical can earn you links
• Justilien Gaspard talks about why humor and link marketing are a great match

On a different note, I will be speaking at the SMX London next week, together with Tom Critchlow, Lyndon Antcliff and Jay Young. This -combined with several time consuming new clients at Tribal and a few other projects- partially explains the light posting of the past few weeks. I expect it to be back at an acceptable level in November…

Oh, and Happy Halloween

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Dave “The Gypsy” Harry captured the most interesting highlights from Google’s webmaster Q&A. If you’re just interested in the answers to the link related questions, you can Ctrl+F for ‘Link Building’ as well.
At Site-Reference.com, Dave published another great post, where he listed several interesting Google queries, some of which are pretty useful for link building.

And also:

• Debra Mastaler answers two frequently asked link building questions
• Jane Copland provides a few excellent tips for link baiting ideas in not-so-interesting industries
• Peter DaVanzo gives yet another example of a bad link request and explains how you *should* send out a (link) pitch
• Eric Ward gives his view on doing backlink research
• Shaun Anderson shows why it might be better to keep your anchor text under 55 characters
• Andy Sernovitz provided a few tips for email marketers to do word of mouth, but most of his tips work for link marketers and link bait as well
• Darren Rowse listed several tips to get blogs link to your content

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