subject: Link-Building Checklist [print this page] Link-Building Checklist Link-Building Checklist
Link-Building Checklist
There are several elements to running a well-rounded link building campaign. So many, in fact, that it can be easy to forget one or two in the daily routine of things.
But it's important to build your links consistently if you want your campaign to really work. Google needs to see that your site is relevant if it's going to rank the site well in its pages. One of the main ways--perhaps the main way (nobody knows for sure)--that Google checks your site for relevancy is by the number of links pointing towards it.
Here is a quick checklist to keep you on the ball, along with tips and advice for each method.
Social Bookmarking. Don't just link to your homepage. Practice "deep linking" and link to your new pages, shortly after they appear. Get accounts with several sites and stagger the links. You don't even have to maintain your user profiles if you don't want--just get those links!
Press releases. Are you putting out press releases about news in your niche? Write--or pay someone to write--a press release about news in your niche. Find a way to link it back to your site. Press releases can often rank at the top of the page if people are looking for news in your niche. Try some free ones and experiment with some paid ones. Even if the paid ones aren't worth your money, the free ones will at least build backlinks from reputable sources.
Website content. Update this regularly--at least once a week. Bookmark it shortly thereafter. Keep in mind that one new page of content can mean a whole lot of backlinks, if people like it enough. You won't hit the jackpot every time, but consistent updates will make you more likely to grab a "traffic pot of gold", more often.
Article marketing. Article marketing is not dead! Bio boxes still add backlinks to your website. And you can still get a trickle of highly targeted traffic from these sites.
Web directories. Article directories aren't dead either. Use them. Just don't use them all at once--don't submit your site to 100 of them in a couple of days. A few links a week from these sites should do you just fine.
Finally, link consistently--but not too consistently. Constant incoming links will tell Google that your site has continued relevancy. But if your site gets the same number of new links every day, day in and day out, it's going to look like you're buying links, buying bookmarks, etc.
What does Google do to sites that buy links? You know and I know...so vary your linking pattern a little bit. As long as you're adding regular new content, submitting articles, and not bombing each page with new social bookmark links every day, you should be in very little danger.
