It’s after 2:00 am, and I just have to get this down on paper, while I’m still bouncing off my chair. I’ve been working long hours lately to try and get my e-book finished and online, and am just putting the final touches on it here. I needed a break, and a few things have been on my mind over the last few days.
1. Should I invest more time in article marketing, or guest blogging?
2. How long should my blog posts be?
3. What price should I charge for my e-book?
So I took a break, and wandered over to my trusty search engine Google, and started wandering around. I found this site called ViperChill and a post titled “Blogger’s, this is how long your posts should be!” Now I’m pretty sure he wrote that just for me, but it already had some tweets and comments so maybe not?
I was leaning toward 1000 words, and he kind of reinforced that for me, and I came away thinking I’d like my posts to be meaty, and packed full of information my readers could sink their teeth into.
Now while I was there, I noticed in the sidebar where they feature a list of the popular blog posts, something titled “Guest Blogging: The Ultimate Guide” (Can you see why I thought this guy was writing for me?) and lo and behold it had 271 Retweets according to the counter. (I just had to check and see if it was broken, and added mine… It wasn’t!)
Again, I was floored by the depth of knowledge, and the scope of this article, and came away with the answer I was looking for.
Glancing over at that awesome little sidebar filled with so many winning headlines, I managed to spot what I thought might be the answer to my third question.
“How I wrote a 30,000 e-book” (and you can too) Now I know that one was written for me! LOL
Again, I came away with a firm answer in mind for a question I’d had in mind only moments ago. I’m pretty sure I left another comment!
Now it was at this point that I had to know more, so clicked on the “about me” page, and it turns out this fellow Glen was only about 21 years old. If I was amazed by the writing before that, I grew even more so.
Added him on Twitter, went over to check out his fan page, and of course “Liked” that. (Which turns out could use some “Like” Love, so help him out there if you can! Guess he’s not perfect after all!
I know I’m going to be up all night, seeing just what else he has to say, and I’ve made sure to subscribe to his RSS feed, so I don’t miss out on any future posts he makes, and now here I sit writing this post all excited about a young man, who came online, and built something amazing out of nothing more than his wit, writing talent, and perseverance.
The best part of it all is he’s now sharing what he knows and is learning along the way, in the hopes of helping others. Something that I can admire in another person with no trouble at all.
So let’s recap here for a moment shall we? Here is what he had when he started: A visitor, nothing more, looking for answers to questions I had.
Here’s what he ended up with in the end:
- I’ve read 3 posts, and only stopped in order to type this all out in excitement.
- Left 3 comments (think I’ll stop before he thinks I’m a spammer!)
- A follower on Twitter who has over 20,000 followers in turn and will be only happy to share his posts with my followers.
- 3 Retweets
- A new fan on his Facebook page
- A subscriber who can’t wait to see what he says next!
- And a post he couldn’t have bought complete with four backlinks to four of his pages on a popular website in his own niche. (Five if you count the logo)
And he got all this without ever knowing who I was.
So the next time you’re contemplating conversions, or how to get subscribers, add new followers, fans, or readers, I want you to remember this post, because there’s a lesson in here that isn’t too hard to find!
Backlinks: Why You Need Them, And Where to Get Them!
Why do I need backlinks?
Who cares if you have any backlinks! Well, actually the search engines do… quite a lot actually.
They take into consideration, how many sites link to your webpage, and consider it to be a kind of “vote” for your site. I mean who would link to a site that had no useful info on it, or provided no value?
Another thing that gets factored into the equation is the quality of those backlinks pointing at you. Do you have 30 PR0 sites linking to you? Perhaps you have twenty or so links from sites on the same IP? (All from your other websites, it’s assumed) Perhaps you have mastered the art of blog commenting to the 9th degree, and have 10,000 of those, and only those?
It’s a good idea to have a healthy mix of backlinks; your goal here is to target three things.
Building backlinks should be an ongoing part of any website’s marketing plans. Do some keyword research, calculate just what you need in order to rise to the next level, or SERP (Search Engine Ranking Position) and decide on the number of links you’re going to build on a monthly or weekly basis. If you’re not comfortable you can always outsource work like this to other companies, or even other website owners.
I have to be constantly building backlinks for my own sites, so I have no problem taking on a handful of clients each month, and adding their site into my own backlink building program.
“Remember! The more roads that lead to your website or blog the more potential traffic you’ll receive”
Where Do I find Backlinks?
There is one question that I seem to answer at least once a week.
“Where can I find more backlinks?”
Here are some of the backlinks I personally build for my sites, you can implement some, or all of them depending on your needs. Not all niches will need a ton of backlinks, if your company or website is in a specialized niche with very little competition, you may only need a handful of high quality backlinks to ensure a first page rank.
These are in no particular order, use the one’s you feel most comfortable with.
Forum Links – A good way to build traffic to your site (and pick up some backlinks) is to join a forum in your field, if you start answering questions in an online forum you will soon be considered to be an expert in your field, and people will be inclined to click on your signature link to visit your website.
Add a small link to your site at the bottom in your “signature” (remember to follow the forum rules, and don’t spam simply to get your link out there)
Social Bookmarking – Social bookmarking sites allow us to bookmark our favorite sites, stories, blog posts, pictures, etc, all around the web. Some of the more common one’s that I’m sure you’ve heard of are Digg, Stumbleupon, or Delicious. There are literally hundreds and even thousands more, and at each one you can create a bookmark (which is also a backlink) to your site, as well as any other you find interesting! I receive thousands of visitors a month to each of my sites from just one of the bookmarking sites I’ve listed above. Bookmarking should be a part of everyone’s backlink building strategy!
Article Marketing – This is probably one of the oldest methods for driving traffic, and building backlinks. There are thousands and thousands of article directories on the internet today. How do you get a backlink from them? It’s simple, just submit an article you’ve written, or have the rights to, and voila! You now have a backlink from their directory to your site. Remember, not all directories are created equal, start at the top and work your way down. Choose the highest quality article directories first. Again, decide on your backlink schedule, and build accordingly. Whether or not you decide on submitting to 20 directories or 200 directories a month, the most important thing is to try and stick to a schedule.
“Consistency is the key to a good backlink building strategy!”
Blog Comments – Commenting on blogs in your niche (or others) can also be a great way to build backlinks to your site, or blog. When leaving comments always go for quality over quantity, if you leave a comment that adds value to the discussion, or post then it’s much more likely that someone reading the comment will click through to your website where you will then have the chance to convert them to perhaps becoming loyal readers on your site.
Guest Blogging – Want a backlink from an authority site in your blogs niche? Write a great post and offer it up to the site you’re trying to get a backlink from. It’s a good idea to start by leaving some decent comments first as the site owner will then have an idea of who you are, and will know that you’ve already been contributing in some fashion already. Remember when you leave comments on a blog, your adding content. Who loves content? Google does! So you can be assured that a blog owner will value the added content and will be more open to the idea of having you guest blog for them. It’s a good idea to offer up your best work at times like these! (Hint – if the article you offer up doesn’t work for one site, keeps it and offer it up to the next blog on your list!)
Directories – There are a vast number of web directories out there. I take advantage of two different kinds, SEO friendly free directories, and paid directory listings. When looking at paid directories I’ll usually only consider a few like Yahoo, Best of The Web, or Eaton Web Directory. There are also some great free one’s, dmoz is one not to be missed, though in past years it’s been getting much harder to get included into their directory for one reason or another. Always be sure to choose the most relevant category to submit your site to. Directory owners receive dozens of submissions each and every day, and you don’t want them to click the “delete” button, simply because you’ve listed your site in the wrong category. It’s also a good idea to keep a list of sites you’ve submitted to, as well as another for sites you’ve been accepted into.
Press releases – Sending out a press release can be a great way to announce your website to the world. You will end up with backlinks, exposure, traffic, and possibly more sales if done right. It’s also a great way to announce new products or services you’re launching.
And there you have it; these are just a handful of methods you can start using today to build up your backlinks to your blog or website. There are many other one’s out there as well, but I’ll save those for another day!
Once again, thanks for reading, and have a great day!
Warren
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