This is the final post in my series on link building and although this subject has lots of different topics and has the potential to be my longest blog post ever I’m going to keep it short as feel I have given enough of my top tips out on the subject of link building.

So what is link baiting? Link baiting is the method used to obtain inbound links to your website by offering the linkorati something they couldn’t possibly refuse.

There are lots and lots of different things that could be considered as link bait but probably the most common are clever widgets. Widgets are anything that grab the attention of the potential link partner enough for them to want to link to it. They are usually based around a variation of one of the following:

• Online Tests
• Videos
• Games

This is where you can stand out from the competition and is where you can allow your creative juices to start flowing. The better your idea the more links you will attract. Probably the most important aspect when producing a widget is originality. There is no point in creating something that has been done before as nobody will link.

Articles, blog posts and great on site content can also be used as effective link bait but to succeed with these your content has to really be first class not to mention 100% original and as current as possible.

Videos have fast become quality link bait especially since You Tube was born. It is so easy for anybody to post a video up today you can find allsorts on there. Don’t ignore the power of video. Another top tip when creating a video is to go with your original idea as people will generally pick up on a staged video and will not link.

Sorry for the UN structured post on this subject but it’s that big I could have gone on all night and anybody who has read any of my previous posts will know that I tend to go off track and then come back.

In summary I believe that link baiting will be the preferred form of link building throughout 2010 so I suggest that you start reading up everywhere you can on the subject and to start getting creative.

For SEO Manchester or anywhere else in the world give us a call or check out the Web Vitality website for further details of how to get in touch.

Finally to subscribe to future blog post from the Web Vitality crew just click here and follow the on screen instructions.

Ok, so I know it’s been a long time since I first started the series on link building, and after reading back through some of my old posts I could re-write them as things in the SEO world change so quickly. That said I suppose the basics are still the same so still definitely worth the read.

So where am I up to? Articles and Press releases. These methods for link building in my opinion can be very hit or miss. Anybody can string a 500 word article together with very little research, and then push it out through hundreds if not thousands of article directories. So how do you make this type of link building effective?

I can only speak from my own experience, and perhaps there are people out there who will disagree with me, but I feel that the only way article writing can be effective is if you put the time and effort in to making a top quality read that then gets re-published on quality sites or blogs.

Simply churning out a run of the mill 500 word article which is the same as every other article out there will not benefit you or your client at all, because the only place it will sit are on the directories that you submit them to, or useless blogs that just grab articles indiscriminately.

There are no short cuts for longevity in the SEO world and anybody who tells you there is should be ignored. Yes I agree shortcuts can get you rankings in the short term but long term you need to take it seriously and put the time and effort in. For tips on how to write a good article check out Jamie’s first post on the subject Writing? Boring?.

I’m sorry for such a short post on this subject but there isn’t really much to say other than do your research before writing an article, then do some more, then read Jamie’s article and finally take your time and write something that is worth re-publishing.

For SEO Manchester or anywhere else in the world give us a call or check out the Web Vitality website for further details of how to get in touch.

Finally to subscribe to future blog post from the Web Vitality crew just click here and follow the on screen instructions.

Here is the next in my series on link building. I don’t want to go to mad in this post as I am aware that my previous posts were a bit text heavy. I promise I am going to keep this post fairly simple, short and to the point.

Ok, social bookmarking and networking what’s all the fuss about?

With the introduction of Web 2.0, the social aspect of the web has exploded. Websites such as Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, and Digg have taken hold of the internet world and people now flock to them in their millions.

So much so you would be absolutely stupid not to take advantage of this market. Most social bookmarking and networking sites immediately "No-Follow" any links on their sites, so you may be wondering what benefit to your SEO campaign you can achieve by spending the time adding a link on one of these sites. It’s quite simple, the main aim of social networking is to do just that, network and interact with like minded people.

The beauty of social networking is that you are opening yourself up to a highly targeted audience. There are many like minded people out there, so if you take the time to explore the networking sites you will find fan pages in your niche area. By taking part in conversations, posting status updates, posting articles etc on these pages, people will begin to get to know and trust you.

Why is this important I hear you scream? The more you take part, the more confidence and trust you will gain from the other users. As they are all like minded to you and are also participating on a fan page in your niche, they are more likely to click on your links....Ah ha the penny has dropped.

So, going back to my original question i.e. how can social bookmarking and networking benefit my SEO? Well it’s not in terms of higher rankings, but in more click throughs to your website, which ultimately is what we all aim for.

It doesn’t end there with social bookmarking though. There is also a plus side in building quality followed links. By participating you will be conversing with other people who may have websites that are directly related to yours. By making friends with them they will be more open to adding a link on their sites to yours. Bingo.

To summarise, social networking is the way forward. The golden rule is to genuinely take part and not use it as a portal solely to gain links. By taking part properly you will reap better rewards and build valuable relationships for current and future projects.

The next topic is reciprocal linking. Generating reciprocal links is the most common and probably the easiest form of link building there is. There is a lot of debate out there as to how effective reciprocal linking is, but my opinion is that done properly it can be really beneficial.

First of all, you need to ensure you have done your research properly and identified the sites that you want a link from. Don’t set your sites to low here as one link from a great site can benefit you much more than 10 links from just any old site.

Ok so you now have your list so how do you get the links? Its common practise when reciprocal link building to send an email to the webmaster of your targeted site explaining how good your website is and how important it is to swap links blah blah blah blah. If you are anything like me the first thing you do when you get this type of email is slam it in the recycle bin. Fortunately this method is dying out and SEOs have to become more cunning.

HOW TO OBTAIN RECIPROCAL LINKS

First of all be prepared to put in the time. If you have chosen your target sites well your time and efforts will be rewarded. I know I keep banging on about content but first on your checklist needs to be the quality of the content you want to get links for. Rubbish content will result in rubbish links and none of the big boys will touch you.

Stay away from link farms and link exchange sites. I will cover these types of sites in more detail in another post but for now take my word for it and steer clear. Join some social network sites related to the niche you are working in and start to participate frequently. This may sound like a nightmare but by participating UN selfishly you will begin to build up a nice contact list of people related to your niche area that once you have built up confidence in can approach them for a link exchange. People are more likely to link to you if they feel like they know you.

Have a really good think about everybody you know and what jobs they do. You never know you could just remember that professor that is really high up in a university who is really good friends with the University web master. You get where I am coming from here.

Get a blog and start blogging. It’s more difficult to offer reciprocal links from within your website so a blog is a great way to build up top quality content that you can then use to link out to people in return for a link in. Blogs are especially great because there are no limits as to what you can blog about. The more you blog the bigger the buzz will become around your blog attracting more subscribers. The beauty of this is that if somebody has taken the time to subscribe to your ramblings they are obviously interested in your subject so yet another good candidate for a link exchange.

This list can go on and on and I couldn’t possibly give all my secrets away here but the main point I am trying to make is that you need to do your research and be prepared to put the time and effort in to make reciprocal link building more effective. If you just trawl the net obtaining reciprocal links from any old site, although you will see some short term benefits, as Google continues to improve its search algorithm you will waste your time long term.

The quest for links is ever ongoing and everybody strives for the holy grail of links - the one way link. Dependant on the PageRank of the site linking to you, it's always best to receive a one way link rather than to reciprocate, although I'll talk about that in another post.

This may sound daft but a one way link is as simple as site "A" linking to your website and you not linking back (sorry I had to explain that.) Why is this good I hear you say? The answer is because site "A" is obviously giving you a selfless thumbs up, an extra vote if you like.

There are many reasons why site "A" would do this but we are hoping that they have done it because they really do feel that your site is worthy of sending traffic. The key thing here is great content. As hard as it is to believe if you produce great fresh and original content, people will link to you naturally, so bear this in mind when creating any new site or when taking a fresh look at your current site.

Unless you provide top quality content on your website I'm afraid there is no chance of people giving you one way links. The moral of this post in obtaining one way links is produce great original content

"CONTENT, CONTENT, CONTENT IS KING"

Other ways to obtain one way links include social bookmarking, article marketing, forum participation, link baiting, and blog posting all of which will be covered in other post.

Ok, our new site has finally gone live so I had better start blogging. I need to come up with something good so Chris doesn't shout at me. I'm going to talk about all sorts of weird and wonderful stuff, but to begin with I want to talk about link building.

Link Building is without a doubt one of the most important factors when optimising any website and is a subject I can talk for hours on end. Instead of boring everybody with one huge post I will break it up over the coming weeks. Now as I'm sure you will start to see I tend to go off subject when I blog so please bear with me I will get there in the end.

There are lots of blog posts out there on the subject and lots of different opinions on how to obtain top quality links. All I can do is offer my spin on the subject. So where do I begin?

WHY LINK BUILD?
Link building is important as each link that points to your site is like a thumbs up from the other site saying your site is a good resource. Basically the more thumbs up you get the higher your website will rank. Sounds simple doesnt it?

Back in the day before search evolved into the clever little beast it is today, it really was as simple as that, and those black hatters out there went away and obtained links from everywhere under the sun in a bid to obtain high rankings for their own sites and clients sites. They didn't care where the links came from and it became a big battle as to who could obtain the most links. This couldn't continue so Google introduced the PageRank Algorithm which made link building more of a skill, and gave more weight to links that were actually relevant to the websites they were pointing to.

Although some people still argue that quantity still out weighs quality, Google still claims that it doesn't so I will keep my post in line with Googles thoughts and save the other argument for a later post. Getting back to it, it's important to obtain relevant links to your website in order to gain higher page rank which will in turn raise your rankings. This is why it's important to link build, as without lots of top quality and relevant links pointing to your website, you may as well give up (unless your website is extremly niche that is, and by extremely niche im talking about a website that is about pink and gold spotty dogs with only one leg, for example).

WHAT ARE MY LINKING OPTIONS?
There are many differnt types of links out there and I have listed a few of them below. I will go into details on all of them in future posts:

• One Way Links - Links that point to you but you dont link back
• Reciprocal Links - Links whereby somebody links to you and you link back to them
• Social Bookmarking Links - Links obtained through social media
• Article/Press Release - One way links obtained through articles and press releases
• Link Baiting - Links obtained through offering something useful to the end user

Link Building is without doubt a skill that any SEO must be good at, as it's extremely difficult. It requires a lot of patience and a lot of relationship skills. It isn't something that is going to go away so check back here for future posts on the various types of links, as listed above.

Hello and welcome to our fantastic new blog.

This is the first of many posts from both myself and Chris. Hope you like the design?

Over the coming weeks we will be working hard to produce our new and exciting website to go with this fantastic blog.

Our aim is to post as often as possible on subjects related to our roles within Web Vitality. We may even throw in some fun stuff to, so keep checking back.

I will be covering a whole host of SEO related topics to begin with, including:

• Keyword Research
• Onsite SEO strategies
• Social Networking
• Link Building

And many many more. No doubt I will rabbit on about lots more stuff and will link to other useful SEO topics as and when I come accross them. For now though all your SEO related information and gossip can be found here. Dont delay bookmark this blog today. Feel free to post your comments and thoughts also.