SEOmoz.org columnist discusses the Tough Links – and How to Get Them

In his first column for SEOmoz.org, "How to Get Links in Tough Industries," Paddy Moogan of Distilled UK discusses a perplexing problem: Just how do you persuade notoriously stingy sites (or product categories) to link to you? He provides a list of traditionally tough customers for providing free links: veterinarians, jewelry ecommerce sites, iPhone apps for SEO, electric bikes and more. In each case, Moogan provides a possible plan of action for attracting the attention of the business before asking them for a link. It all starts, Moogan says, by asking yourself four questions:

1: Who am I asking for a link?

2. How will I get their attention?

3. Why should they link to me? (This is the question most people forget to ask themselves.)

4: Are there any quick wins?

He also reports that the most popular "tough" site that many people want to include in their website link building strategy is the very site he's writing for: SEOmoz.org. Then he even offers tips on how to make that most elusive link happen for you. It's a three step process: 1) Get your MOZ points score over 100; 2) Write a blog post. If SEOmoz.org likes it, it could be published with a link back to you on YOUmoz. Plus, if it's a really good post, the site may promote it in the main log -- which means thousands of new links and readers.