SearchEngineWatch.com’s Gary-Adam Shannon: White Hat Honesty is almost Never the Best Policy

In a column that many industry insiders may find brave for someone to write, Gary-Adam Shannon has news for White Hat link builders that they probably don’t want to hear. In “White Hats: This is Why You’re Getting Beaten,” Shannon makes this statement:

“With all things being equal, budgets matching and balanced resources, there is absolutely no way limiting your strategy to white hat will ever beat a black hat strategy.”

Shannon goes on to say that combining “white hat” and “black hat” procedures in link building (or Grey Hat) is not only the way things get done these days, it’s the only way things get done. He says someone with a lot of experience in Black Hat can skillfully combine his tricks to make them look white hat.

The stories you hear about black hat link builders going bad, Shannon says, are usually stories about inexperienced beginners. Having an experienced black hat builder on your team is vital in today’s fiercely competitive market.

If the idea of black hat makes you nervous, Shannon suggests creating a new webpage; one that uses black hat techniques. Then compare its performance over your current white hat site. If for some reason, your black hat site get’s tagged and penalized, you still have the white hat side to fall back on. Shannon says your chances of even being caught using black hat techniques anymore are next to nil, due to Google and Bing trying to outdo each other.

Shannon’s main point is that it’s time for link builders to evolve. Or as he puts it, “Life isn’t fair, and neither is the search business.”

Dustin Brady Reports on Building Links the Google Way

In his article “What Google Thinks about Your Link Building Efforts,” FathomSEO.com’s Dustin Brady addresses one undeniable fact: Despite what your SEO firm says is the most important link building strategy, Google has the only opinion that matters. “Google decides which links matter and which don’t,” he says, and with that in mind, he lists the best and worst strategies in the eyes of the search engine giant.

Among the best strategies, Brady suggests becoming an expert in your field and contributing to blogs and forums. However, you need to keep your content useful. Don’t spam sites or shamelessly promote yourself. This is because the best quality links come from developing relationships in communities. Brady also suggests publishing compelling content. This is a very broad category and can include tutorials, white papers, tools, videos, graphics or anything you believe will be linked to by other sites that are relevant to yours.

Brady also suggests using humor for an “immediate traffic bump.” We all know how well humor works in social media. Just make sure that what you post is truly funny, or it won’t get you any links at all. The worst strategies in Google’s eyes include reciprocal links and mass submissions to link directories. For the latter, Google much prefers submissions to relevant directories.

Van Iderstyne at SearchEngineWatch.com Knows Why You’re Not Getting Any Links

Nobody said link building was easy. But if you’ve been at the link collection game for your site for a while, with limited results, Jennifer van Iderstyne at SearchEngineWatch.com may know “Why No One is Linking to You.”

She says one of the most common reasons why your site may not be getting any links is that it doesn’t have any worthwhile content on it. In fact, it’s the most likely reason why you’re failing. These days, it’s simply not enough to have a company history, a product page, etc. Everybody has that. You need to add new, informative content frequently – content that people will want to link to. Coming up with that content may be hard, but link building wasn’t meant to be easy, she says.

Another reason why you could be sabotaging your link building strategy is that nobody knows you’re there. It’s tough to be noticed – and that’s why social media is as popular as it is today. It’s a great way to get exposure. Van Iderstyne recommends reading up on how to get a Twitter following or how to get more friends on Facebook.

Finally, Van Iderstyne cites “technical difficulties”. If your site has broken links, error messages, etc., no one will be interested.

Let’s Talk Dirty: Van Iderstyne Lists the Five Dirty Words of Link Building

Debra Van Iderstyne, writing for Search Engine Journal, says that while there are a lot of dirty words use to describe people in the SEO business, there are 5 dirty words in link building that she hears all the time– that is, they’re words that should never be used or said in polite company when discussing link building. The first one is “Hundreds” – as in buying hundreds of non-relevant links at once. Or “signing up for a few hundred links on ‘book marking’ sites.” “Hundreds” of links is a sure way to raise suspicion about your site.

Another dirty word is “Exchange – as in “link exchange.” The very phrase implies underhanded doings. The third dirty word is “Worthless.” Collecting “worthless” links on the gamble that they’ll be worth something to you in the future is a waste of money.

The fourth word is “perfect.” If it’s “the perfect site” to link to, there’s probably something wrong with it. Links can always be made better. Or as Van Iderstyne says, “Anyone who promises perfect links is perfectly full of crap.” The final dirty word in the list is “guarantee,“ for many of the same reasons that “perfect” is on the list. It can’t be guaranteed. No one can guarantee that any link building strategy will work.

Wake Up and Smell the Tweets: Writer Sounds Death Knell for Traditional Marketing

Old marketing habits die hard. But Abigail Rossbach, writing at FathomSeo.com, says that to make your marketing efforts work for you, the time has come to forget everything you learned about marketing in a pre-Facebook, what’s-a-Twitter world. Content marketing, Rossbach says, is where it's at and where it’s going to stay.

"Traditional marketing methods have officially lost their influence," Rossbach writes, adding that in a marketing world filled with blog posts, video portals, tweets, etc., businesses need to take an entirely different look at how they conduct business online. In short, they need to commit themselves to content marketing. This means producing and distributing, entertaining, relevant and informative content on a regular basis.

This content will attract potential customers and provide them with something of value. In so doing, it will also provide a constant boost to your link building efforts. Rossbach stresses that this new approach can mean resisting the urge to push for the immediate sale. This can be hard for many marketers to grasp but it’s the way of the world now. Educate the buyers about your product first, she says, and they will look to you as a trusted source when
they’re ready to buy.

If you’re wondering what general topics to write about, Rossbach suggests starting with a recent article by Rand Fishkin at SEOmoz.org for ideas.

What’s in a Meme? Only the whole concept of Viral Marketing, Zarrella Says

Social media scientist Dan Zarrella could easily become one of those marketing experts who speak well above the heads of everybody in the room. But he takes great pleasure in explaining internet and social media concepts in a
language that might surprise many link building experts of his stature: plain English.

For example, his article “Introduction to Memetics: What is a
Meme?” at danzarrella.com explains exactly what a meme is and how it relates to the entire concept of link building strategies and viral marketing in the form of memetics. In a nutshell, Zarrella defines a meme as “Ideas
that spread from person to person… jokes, fashion trends, urban legends, folk sayings and gossip.” Applied memetics, then, is “the science of understanding what makes a meme successful, which is the core “problem” of viral marketing.” He then connects the idea of memes to the marketing world with the term “going viral.”

Viruses are a good metaphor for memes, since viruses “infect” a host and then are transmitted to others. He cites research into the “reproduction rate” (popularity) of various memes. The higher the rating the more likely the meme in question is going to spread to others and remain in common knowledge. Zarrella says online memes come in many forms, from viral videos to chain letters to video animations that promise one thing but turn out to be something totally different.

New to Link Building? Les Alford at Gather.com Presents Three Keys to Success

Les Alford, writing at Gather.com, offers up three Link Building Techniques to Help You Succeed. For starters, he highly recommends social media sites as a great way to get backlinks. You’re allowed to put links to your site to your profile page. Every profile you open should have a user name that reflects your business in some way – the actual name, your brands, a corporate description, etc. Next, Alford recommends using voting and social bookmarking websites to raise awareness of your site. He refers to these sites as currently being “all the rage,” since they are constantly being updated.

So submitting your links to these social bookmarks means you have the chance of acquiring backlinks from authority sites. Plus, the more you’re voted for on sites like Digg and Reddit, the more the search engines see you. Finally, Alford suggests submitting your site to web directories. While it takes a lot of time to do, it’s time well spent because directories usually give you plenty of good backlinks for all of your work and time. Overall, he says that any link building strategy will work best when you take your time. Don’t arouse suspicion in the link spiders by building links too quickly. It could come back to bite you and spoil all the time you spent doing it right.

Garrett French Helps You Maximize Your Link Building Potential

All opportunities to add to your link building strategy can be helpful. Garrett French of Ontolo.com recently revealed 5 steps to maximize the value of every opportunity on searchengineland.com. The first step is to identify link prospects that require some outreach. This includes requesting resource additions to available lists and roundups. These sites may add your link to their site if they find that your content is worth reading and recommending.

It is also important to gather as much information about your potential link partners before you reach out to them. This information is usually easy to obtain but it can take some time to collect and absorb. The next step is to create link building outreach emails that are customized to each company you are trying to contact, with information on why they should connect to your site. Ultimately, you can receive four possible responses: an approval, a refusal, a counter offer or no answer at all. Be prepared to react to all four.

For an approval, immediately send a thank you note and do other things to start building a relationship. Send a note as well to the refusals, and find out what’s keeping them from linking to you. If you get a counter offer, be prepared to send out one of your own. An “ignore” could mean your subject line was lousy, your prospect is away or one of a million other reasons. Follow up with another note calling attention to the fact that you never heard from them. Finally, keep intrinsic notes for further follow-ups with all four groups. These steps will all help you to grow and benefit from your more quickly and efficiently.

Link Building 101 - How to Build Links Effectively

While links are still vital to your search ranking survival, you may have noticed that attracting relevant one-way link building to your site has become much harder these days. Many webmasters are discovering that simply asking for links, even on relevant sites, is proving to be more futile. Everyone is developing a "What’s in it for me" policy.

Many sites are so overrun with link requests that the webmasters are just as likely to delete e-mail requests without even reading them. As a result, one of the newest methods of successful link building is what is called "relationship links." In other words, you first build working relationships with potential companies that you would like to have provide a link to your site. Call them. Buy a banner on the site. Whatever it takes to start a relationship. This will allow you to get to know the webmasters on those sites. Plus, as you build that relationship, you become friends. And friends are more likely to offer one-way links to other friends than they would somebody who comes in from the cold. Relationship links do require more strategy than other link building services. But they’re certainly worth the time and effort.