Let the Link Building Begin!
Your new website just went live so you’re now enjoying the fruits of your labor and admiring the exceptional job you and your team did on design and development. The project is finally over and it is time to settle back and wait for your website traffic to climb to new heights.
Reality check! I repeat – it is time for a reality check. You’re about half done with your quest for internet dominance. The research, website design, build out, and on-page SEO are all only part of your ongoing battle for visitors and conversions. Link building is not only necessary – it’s critical! It is the only way to maximize your website traffic and get the most ROI out of your web design project.
Why Do We Need to Worry About Link Building?
Consider the internet like the homecoming queen contest. To win the crown (or page one ranking), you need to be pretty, have some depth, and have a lot of votes by your peers. A website is no different. It needs to be functional, have unique content, and it needs to have links pointing to it from other websites so Google and Bing know it is of value. The links represent votes and these votes help provide a method by which the search engines and their algorithms can score authority. Without incoming links, it will be impossible to win over the search engines. We SEOs call this off-page SEO.
Why Do We Wait for Link Building Until After Go-Live?
In an early blog post, titled Ten Steps to Quality Link Building and Strong Organic SEO, I discuss the need for a structured link building plan and map of your keyword to page strategy. This is critical because you need to build links into your home page, but also pages and posts. If you’ve followed my website design plan (my previous blog posts), each page of your website will have a specific keyword focus. You’ll need this list and the final page URLs before you can start link building and this list isn’t finalized until after go-live.
How on Earth Can We Find Linking Building Opportunities?
There are a lot of ways, although not all links are as beneficial as others. We SEOs talk a lot about “do follow” links and page authority and PR rank. Most regular people don’t get our SEO babble and they don’t need to get it. What they need is basic link building and a decent list of link building opportunities.
Link building opportunities include, but are not limited to the following:
Search engines
Social media websites for company or personnel profiles
Blogs and microblogs
Blog directories
Guest blog posts
RSS feeds
Blog comments
Press release distribution
Local listings and directories
News, bookmarking, and tagging websites
Review websites
Groups and forum interaction
Industry publications
Associations
Event listings
Presentations and document sharing
Image sharing websites
Wikis
Videos and podcasts
You’re probably feeling a little overwhelmed right now, but you don’t need to be. Link building is not so much difficult, as it is time consuming. When I first started link building, I spent hours every Friday working on this task. It was painful. Back then there were not a ton of helpful bloggers or SEO consultants giving out free advice. I had to research opportunities and find potential links by turning myself into Nancy Drew. Nancy Drew surfed the internet for websites related to our keywords, watched our competition, and did a whole lot of random queries.
These days link building is much easier. There are lots and lots of sources of information and lists of link building opportunities for generic and/or industry specific links. Liking you as much as I do, I’m going to give you a jump-start and provide a slew of websites to get you started.
Link Building 101
Website Name
Category
Focus
URL
://URLFAN
Blogging & RSS
www.urlfanx.com
5 Minutes for Mom
Blogging & RSS
Women Only
www.5minutesformom.com
5z5
Blogging & RSS
www.5z5.com
Alltop
Blogging & RSS
www.alltop.com
Bizsugar
Blogging & RSS
www.bizsugar.com
Blloggs
Blogging & RSS
www.blloggs.com
Blog
Blogging & RSS
www.Blog.com
Blog Bunch
Blogging & RSS
www.blogbunch.com
Blog Catalog
Blogging & RSS
www.blogcatalog.com
Blog Clicker
Blogging & RSS
www.blogclicker.com
Blog Collector
Blogging & RSS
www.blog-collector.com
Blog Digger
Blogging & RSS
www.blogdigger.com
Blog Flux
Blogging & RSS
www.Blogflux.com
Blog Folders
Blogging & RSS
www.BlogFolders.com
Blog Gapedia
Blogging & RSS
www.bloggapedia.com
Blog Hub
Blogging & RSS
www.bloghub.com
Blog Listing
Blogging & RSS
www.bloglisting.net
Blog Pulse
Blogging & RSS
www.blogpulse.com
Blog Search
Blogging & RSS
www.blog-search.com
Blog Tree
Blogging & RSS
www.blogtree.com
Blogarama
Blogging & RSS
www.Blogarama.com
BLOGbal
Blogging & RSS
www.blogbal.com
Blogged
Blogging & RSS
www.blogged.com
Bloggeries
Blogging & RSS
www.bloggeries.com
Bloggers
Blogging & RSS
www.bloggers.com
Bloggers Base
Blogging & RSS
www.bloggersbase.com
BlogHer
Blogging & RSS
Women Only
www.BlogHer.com
Bloglines
Blogging & RSS
www.bloglines.com
BlogRollCenter
Blogging & RSS
www.blogrollcenter.com
Blogs
Blogging & RSS
www.blogs.com
Blogs by Women
Blogging & RSS
Women Only
www.blogsbywomen.org
BlogSpot
Blogging & RSS
www.googleblog.blogspot.com
Blogville
Blogging & RSS
www.blogville.us
Feed Age
Blogging & RSS
www.feedage.com
Feed Fury
Blogging & RSS
www.feedfury.com
Feed Listing
Blogging & RSS
www.feedlisting.com
Feed Nuts
Blogging & RSS
www.feednuts.com
Feed See
Blogging & RSS
www.feedsee.com
Feedagg
Blogging & RSS
www.feedagg.com
FeedBurner
Blogging & RSS
www.feedburner.com
Feedcat
Blogging & RSS
www.feedcat.net
Feedgy
Blogging & RSS
www.feedgy.com
Free Webs
Blogging & RSS
www.freewebs.com/blogotion/
Globe of Blogs
Blogging & RSS
www.globeofblogs.com
Golden Feed
Blogging & RSS
www.goldenfeed.com
Ice Rocket
Blogging & RSS
www.icerocket.com
instablogs
Blogging & RSS
www.instablogs.com
Jordo Media
Blogging & RSS
www.jordomedia.com
LeighRSS
Blogging & RSS
www.leighrss.com
Liquida
Blogging & RSS
www.liquida.com
Live Journal
Blogging & RSS
www.LiveJournal.com
Loaded Web
Blogging & RSS
www.loadedweb.com
MetaFeeder
Blogging & RSS
www.MetaFeeder.com
Million RSS
Blogging & RSS
www.millionrss.com
Mom Bloggers Club
Blogging & RSS
Women Only
www.mombloggersclub.com
My Blog 2U
Blogging & RSS
www.myblog2u.com
Networked Blogs
Blogging & RSS
www.networkedblogs.com
News To Watch
Blogging & RSS
www.NewsToWatch.com
On Top List
Blogging & RSS
www.ontoplist.com
Oobdoo
Blogging & RSS
www.oobdoo.com
Place Blogger
Blogging & RSS
www.placeblogger.com
Plazoo
Blogging & RSS
www.plazoo.com
Quick Blog Directory
Blogging & RSS
www.quickblogdirectory.com
Read a Blog
Blogging & RSS
www.readablog.com
Regator
Blogging & RSS
www.Regator.com
RSS Buffet
Blogging & RSS
www.rssbuffet.com
RSS Micro
Blogging & RSS
www.rssmicro.com
RSS Mountain
Blogging & RSS
www.rssmountain.com
RSS Network
Blogging & RSS
www.rss-network.com
Search Sight
Blogging & RSS
www.searchsight.com
Small Business
Blogging & RSS
www.smallbusiness.com
Solar Warp
Blogging & RSS
www.solarwarp.net
Spicy Page
Blogging & RSS
www.Spicypage.com
Super Blog Directory
Blogging & RSS
www.superblogdirectory.com
Syscon
Blogging & RSS
Technology
www.sys-con.com
Technorati
Blogging & RSS
www.technorati.com
The Blog Frog
Blogging & RSS
www.theblogfrog.com
TheVital.net
Blogging & RSS
www.thevital.net
Top Blog Area
Blogging & RSS
www.topblogarea.com
Top Blogging
Blogging & RSS
www.topblogging.com
Total Blog Directory
Blogging & RSS
www.totalblogdirectory.com
Tumblr
Blogging & RSS
www.tumblr.com
Twingly
Blogging & RSS
www.Twingly.com
Webloogle
Blogging & RSS
www.webloogle.com
Wil's Domain
Blogging & RSS
www.wilsdomain.com
WordPress.com
Blogging & RSS
www.wordpress.com
Work It Mom
Blogging & RSS
Women Only
www.workitmom.com
Xanga
Blogging & RSS
www.xanga.com
XMeta.net
Blogging & RSS
www.XMeta.net
Yahoo Blog Directory
Blogging & RSS
dir.yahoo.com/News_and_Media/Blogs/
Your Weblog Here
Blogging & RSS
www.yourwebloghere.com
Zimbio
Blogging & RSS
www.zimbio.com
Amplify
Bookmarketing
www.amplify.com
Delicious
Bookmarketing
www.delicious.com
Digg
Bookmarketing
www.digg.com
Folkd.com
Bookmarketing
www.folkd.com
Give a Link
Bookmarketing
www.givealink.org
Jump Tags
Bookmarketing
www.jumptags.com
My Link Vault
Bookmarketing
www.mylinkvault.com
Newsvine
Bookmarketing
www.newsvine.com
Ping.fm
Bookmarketing
www.Ping.fm
Reddit
Bookmarketing
www.reddit.com
StumbleUpon
Bookmarketing
www.stumbleupon.com
WIKIO
Bookmarketing
www.wikio.com
Docstoc
Content Sharing
www.docstoc.com
Issuu
Content Sharing
www.issuu.com
Scribd
Content Sharing
www.scribd.com
Slideserve
Content Sharing
www.slideserve.com
SlideShare
Content Sharing
www.slideshare.com
SlideSix
Content Sharing
www.slidesix.com
Flickr
Image Sharing
www.Flickr.com
GigaPan
Image Sharing
www.GigaPan.com
ImageShack
Image Sharing
www.ImageShack.com
Imgur
Image Sharing
www.Imgur.com
Minus
Image Sharing
www.Minus.com
Pegshot
Image Sharing
www.Pegshot.com
PhotoBucket
Image Sharing
www.PhotoBucket.com
Pinterest.com
Image Sharing
www.Pinterest.com
TinyPic
Image Sharing
www.TinyPic.com
TwitPic
Image Sharing
Twitter
www.TwitPic.com
Contracted Work
Job Sites
www.contractedwork.com
eLance.com
Job Sites
www.elance.com
Find a Freelancer
Job Sites
indafreelancer.com
Freelance Switch
Job Sites
www.freelanceswitch.com
Freelanced.com
Job Sites
www.freelanced.com
Freelancer.com
Job Sites
www.freelancer.com
Guru.com
Job Sites
www.guru.com
iFreelance
Job Sites
www.ifreelance.com
oDesk
Job Sites
www.odesk.com
PeoplePerHour
Job Sites
www.peopleperhour.com
Project4Hire
Job Sites
www.project4hire.com
Absolute Michigan
Local Listing
Michigan Only
www.absolutemichigan.com
Angies List
Local Listing
www.angieslist.com
Bing Local
Local Listing
www.bing.com/local/
Brownbook.net
Local Listing
www.Brownbook.net
City Search
Local Listing
www.Citysearch.com
City Squares
Local Listing
www.CitySquares.com
Discover Our Town
Local Listing
www.DiscoverOurTown.com
Foursquare
Local Listing
www.Foursquare.com
Google Places
Local Listing
www.google.com/places/
Hotfrog
Local Listing
www.hotfrog.com
Infogroup
Local Listing
www.Infogroup.com
Insider Pages
Local Listing
www.InsiderPages.com
Judy's Book
Local Listing
www.JudysBook.com
Kudzu
Local Listing
www.Kudzu.com
Local
Local Listing
www.Local.com
Localeze
Local Listing
www.Localeze.com
M Live
Local Listing
Michigan Only
www.Mlive.com
Made in Michigan Movement
Local Listing
Michigan Only
www.madeinmichiganmovement.com
Magic Yellow
Local Listing
www.MagicYellow.com
Manta
Local Listing
www.Manta.con
Map Quest
Local Listing
www.MapQuest.com
Merchant Circle
Local Listing
www.MerchantCircle.com
Michigan Malls
Local Listing
Michigan Only
www.michiganmalls.com
MichiganBusiness.us
Local Listing
Michigan Only
www.michiganbusiness.us
Mojo Pages
Local Listing
www.MojoPages.com
Super Pages
Local Listing
www.SuperPages.com
Switchboard
Local Listing
www.Switchboard.com
Yahoo Local
Local Listing
local.yahoo.com
Yellowbot
Local Listing
www.Yellowbot.com
YellowPages
Local Listing
www.YellowPages.com
Yelp
Local Listing
www.Yelp.com
1888 Press Release
Press Releases
www.1888pressrelease.com
24-7 Press Release
Press Releases
www.24-7pressrelease.com
Before Its News
Press Releases
www.BeforeItsnews.Com
BigNews.Biz
Press Releases
www.BigNews.Biz
Biz journals
Press Releases
www.bizjournals.com
Drop Jack
Press Releases
www.DropJack.Com
Express Press Release
Press Releases
www.express-press-release.net
Free PR 101
Press Releases
www.freepr101.com
Free Press Index
Press Releases
www.FreePressindex.Com
Free Press Release
Press Releases
www.FreePressrelease.Com
Live PR
Press Releases
www.Live-pr.Com
My PR Genie
Press Releases
www.myprgenie.com
Online PR News
Press Releases
www.onlineprnews.com
Open PR
Press Releases
www.openpr.com
Pitch Engine
Press Releases
www.pitchengine.com
PR Inside
Press Releases
www.pr-inside.com
PR Log
Press Releases
www.prlog.org
PR USA
Press Releases
www.pr-usa.net
Press Media Wire
Press Releases
www.pressmediawire.com
Small Biz Trends
Press Releases
www.smallbiztrends.com
Wide PR
Press Releases
www.widepr.com
All Experts
Q&A
www.allexperts.com
Answers.com
Q&A
www.answers.com
AOL Answers
Q&A
aolanswers.com
Ask.com
Q&A
www.ask.com
ChaCha
Q&A
www.ChaCha.com
Focus
Q&A
www.focus.com
Form Spring
Q&A
www.formspring.me
Friend.ly
Q&A
www.Friend.ly
Google Knol
Q&A
knol.google.com
LinkedIn Answers
Q&A
www.linkedin.com/answers/
Mahalo Answers
Q&A
www.mahalo.com/answers/
Mamapedia
Q&A
www.mamapedia.com
Quora
Q&A
www.quora.com
Stack Overflow
Q&A
www.stackoverflow.com
Wiki Answers
Q&A
www.wiki.answers.com
AskSearch.me
Search Engine
www.asksearch.me
Bing
Search Engine
www.Bing.com
Blekko
Search Engine
www.blekko.com
Clusty
Search Engine
www.Clusty.com
Deeper Web
Search Engine
www.DeeperWeb.com
DMOZ
Search Engine
www.DMOZ.com
Dogpile
Search Engine
www.Dogpile.com
Duck Duck Go
Search Engine
www.DuckDuckGo.com
Excite
Search Engine
www.Excite.com
Google
Search Engine
www.Google.com
HotBot
Search Engine
www.HotBot.com
Info
Search Engine
Info.com
ix quick
Search Engine
www.Ixquick.com
Mamma
Search Engine
www.Mamma.com
Metacrawler
Search Engine
www.Metacrawler.com
Stumpedia
Search Engine
www.stumpedia.com
WebCrawler
Search Engine
www.WebCrawler.com
Yahoo
Search Engine
www.Yahoo.com
123 People
Social Media
www.123people.com
About.me
Social Media
www.About.me
AboutUs.org
Social Media
www.aboutus.org
All About Site
Social Media
www.allaboutsite.com
All Business
Social Media
www.allbusiness.com
B2B Yellow Pages
Social Media
www.b2byellowpages.com
Biznik
Social Media
www.biznik.com
Business Card 2
Social Media
www.businesscard2.com
Business Exchange
Social Media
bx.businessweek.com
Business Insider
Social Media
www.businessinsider.com
Card.ly
Social Media
www.card.ly
Congoo
Social Media
www.congoo.com
Connect.me
Social Media
www.connect.me
CrunchBase
Social Media
www.crunchbase.com
DirectoryM
Social Media
www.directorym.net
DISQUS
Social Media
www.disqus.com
Domain Tools
Social Media
www.domaintools.com
Ecademy
Social Media
www.ecademy.com
Empire Avenue
Social Media
www.empireavenue.com
Entrepreneur
Social Media
econnect.entrepreneur.com
Follow Friday
Social Media
Twitter
www.followfriday.com
Friendster
Social Media
Friendster.com
Global Spec
Social Media
Industrial
www.globalspec.com
Google Plus
Social Media
plus.google.com
haystack
Social Media
www.haystack.com
hi.im
Social Media
hi.im
Hubpages
Social Media
www.hubpages.com
Identica
Social Media
www.Identica.com
Internet Evolution
Social Media
Technology
www.internetevolution.com
internettagger
Social Media
www.internettagger.com
jayde
Social Media
www.jayde.com
LinkedIn
Social Media
www.LinkedIn.com
List Company
Social Media
www.list-company.com
Listorious
Social Media
Twitter
www.listorious.com
Local Search
Social Media
www.localsearch.com
Local Tweeps
Social Media
Twitter
www.localtweeps.com
MeeMi
Social Media
www.meemi.com
Mom Logic
Social Media
Women Only
community.momlogic.com
My One Page
Social Media
www.myonepage.com
MySpace
Social Media
www.MySpace.com
Naymz
Social Media
www.Naymz.com
Orkut
Social Media
www.orkut.com
Peek You
Social Media
www.peekyou.com
Plaxo
Social Media
www.plaxo.com
Plurk
Social Media
www.plurk.com
Posterous
Social Media
www.posterous.com
ProSkore
Social Media
www.proskore.com
reverseinternet
Social Media
www.reverseinternet.com
Ryze
Social Media
www.ryze.com
Scribnia
Social Media
www.scribnia.com
ScrnShots
Social Media
Designers
www.scrnshots.com
Social Moms
Social Media
Women Only
www.socialmoms.com
Social URL
Social Media
www.socialurl.com
soup.io
Social Media
www.soup.io
Spoke
Social Media
www.spoke.com
Sprouter
Social Media
Start Ups
www.sprouter.com
stuffgate
Social Media
www.stuffgate.com
Tagged
Social Media
www.tagged.com
Toolbox
Social Media
IT, HR, & Accounting
www.toolbox.com
TweetMeMe
Social Media
Twitter
www.tweetmeme.com
Tweetwawa
Social Media
Twitter
www.tweetwawa.com
Twellow
Social Media
Twitter
www.twellow.com
Twibs
Social Media
Twitter
www.twibs.com
Twitaholic
Social Media
Twitter
www.twitaholic.com
Twitiq
Social Media
Twitter
www.twitiq.com
Twitter Moms
Social Media
Twitter
www.twittermoms.com
TwitterPacks
Social Media
Twitter
Twitterpacks.pbworks.com
Twtrland
Social Media
Twitter
www.twtrland.com
Viadeo.com
Social Media
www.viadeo.com
Vois
Social Media
www.vois.com
XING
Social Media
www.xing.com
YouTube
Social Media
www.youtube.com
ziki
Social Media
www.ziki.com
Zoom Info
Social Media
www.zoominfo.com
Alexa
Website Directory
www.alexa.com
BizWeb
Website Directory
www.bizweb.com
Feed Plex
Website Directory
www.feedplex.com
Fyber Search
Website Directory
www.fybersearch.com
Gozoof
Website Directory
www.gozoof.com
Grokodile
Website Directory
www.grokodile.com
Michigan Business Directory
Website Directory
Michigan
www.michiganbusiness.us
Michigan Web
Website Directory
Michigan
www.michiganweb.com
Web to Thumb
Website Directory
www.webtothumb.com
Webotopia
Website Directory
www.webotopia.org
Bizwiki
Wiki
www.bizwiki.com
MyWikiBiz
Wiki
www.mywikibiz.com
wiki
Wiki
www.wiki.com
Wikipedia
Wiki
www.wikipedia.com
Don’t forget about the anchor text when link building. Anchor text is the text used to identify the link. You don’t want to use “click here” because it isn’t descriptive for the user or the search engines. Use words that relate to the destination page and make sure you have a good mix of phrases or terms.
Did I miss any great link building opportunities? Okay I’m sure I did, because this list can really be endless. If you have a great link I missed, please leave a comment and tell us about it.
Related Posts:
Ten Steps to Quality Link Building and Strong Organic SEO
Why You Should Treat Your Website Like the Family Dog
Social Media Isn’t Just a Buzz Word
Web Design Ain’t Over Until the SEO Sings
Local Search Will Become the Golden Child in 2011