Blow Your Mind Link Building Techniques (at SMX London)

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.