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Link building is a much discussed topic with several definitions all of which can be true. Tradionally link building has been all about getting links to your site to boost page rank and search engine rankings.
In the not so good old days marketers used automation software to blast thousands of worthless links from forums or auto approve blog comments which thankfully have been hit hard by the penguin update and this strategy will now will get your site penalized or in some extreme cases, even deindexed.
Too many marketers still look at link building as a strategy however to improve rankings and fail to miss the bigger picture.
To become successful at link building requires the marketer to first of all create a linkable asset. This is the starting point for any link building for any site big or small.
After all you are hoping to get links from other quality websites in the same niche as yours; you therefore have to provide something worthy of linking out to from a webmasters point of view.
This is where many mistakes are made and it is no longer enough to leave a blog comment or forum post that has no quality or substance to link back to. You can bet every blog comment, forum post, article submission etc is followed back to the posters own website by the webmaster before they grant a link back to your site.
We all have to be vigilant now and try as hard as possible to ensure we are only linking out to reputable websites that are providing value to our own readers, without this you will never get any valuable links and therefore will always struggle to rank.
Put very simply it is some form of content that a webmaster will find of value to pass on to their own readers, this is the first hurdle to overcome, without the webmaster on board and buying in to your theme you are not going to get results.
You have a website with content which can be in the form of videos, posts, pages of information etc and you have expertise in your chosen niche.Ask yourself what you have to offer or what product or service could you put together from your existing content to create a valuable linkable asset.
The word asset is very important because done correctly, this linkable asset can produce quality inbound links for years to come providing it offers value to your visitors.
To create a linkable asset ask yourself 3 main questions
You are obviously looking to build quality inbound links but what else are you hoping to achieve by creating this asset,
So the first step is to clearly define your objectives beyond the link building step.
Your linkable asset therefore has to provide real value to the webmaster you are hoping to link to, can they see obvious value in your content, is it going to increase their reputation and standing in the community by linking to you and can they see future potential for their own business by engaging with you to build up a relationship.
You could post an amazing reply to a very complex question posted in a professional forum or comment on a high traffic blog with the best response ever but if you have not provided the webmaster with something worthy of adding their backing to you will struggle to build links.
You are creating this linkable asset to engage with people and build relationships. You therefore need to make sure you provide some actual content that is providing a missing bit of the jigsaw. You might consider any of the following to help you create this work of art
Take a step back and consider what you wanted when first starting out, what information was not easily found but much needed and you should be able to come up with a couple of strong ideas.
Once you have the concept for this linkable asset the next step is to create it. This is where you get back to basics and let your passion and enthusiasm shine through.
What got you into this business in the first place, do you think saving money is key, it may be helping to protect the environment, problem solving, product creation, the list is endless but the passion you undoubted had when first starting out (and hopefully still have) needs to be evident in your content, whatever that content might be.
The options are enormous, you could create a simple video showing the top 6 ways to achieve something others find difficult in your niche, it might be a funny clip, a “how to guide”, a new strategy to increased sales of your product, the only thing it has to be is unique to you, professional to attract other webmasters in your niche and of genuine value to the end user.
Your aim now is to create this piece of content and get as many eyes to it as possible, you will syndicate it using social media and drive traffic to it publishing related posts, videos etc.
For immediate direct interaction you should be using blog commenting on high traffic blogs from major influencers in your niche and I have just created a brilliant software that will provide a real solution to finding “do follow” blog commenting and guest post opportunites.
You now have created a piece of content that if evergreen in nature can produce high value links for years to come. The viral effect will multiply and just a couple of pieces of this type of content can drive your websites to the top of the SERPS very quickly.
If this excerise took you a full day to complete, it might just turn out to be the best days work you have done so I hope you look at your link building efforts in a slightly different light and get those assets working for you.