Link building is the boring, never ending duty that most of us website owners have to engage in. I've mentioned before about some link building ideas which have worked for me, including using snail mail.

Get Links Without Asking

Here's another idea which I have used once or twice with mixed success, but the good bit about it is, you don't have to actually write one of those grovelling emails asking for a link.

Here's what you do - you just link to the site that you want a link from. Easy, huh? Give it the ideal anchor text you think they would like, and even click on it a few times too if you want to up your chances of getting that link back.

If the site you are linking to is a Wordpress blog, the site owner will probably see your incoming link when they login to the admin page, where inbound links are listed on the front page. I think something similar might be in place for Typepad blogs but I'm not sure. Also, if the site owner has any kind of stats package in place, they should see that you have created a link to them and naturally be curious as to this source of new traffic, possibly be flattered and may well consider linking back to you.

Keep an eye on your own traffic logs and see if you see any clicks from the target domain, possibly including from the Wordpress admin pages ("/wp-admin/) or from an Awstats type page. If you notice they have checked you out, and haven't linked back within a week or so, you can abort that mission and take down your own link (unless of course you think it really is good and deserves a link). If you don't see any sign they have looked at your site, just give it a few weeks and double check their links page or blog roll and, again, take your own link down or leave it up if you think they deserve it.

Basically all this is doing is notifying another webmaster of your sites existence through creating a presence for it in their stats, and hoping there's enough goodwill to get you a link back. If you don't get one, nothing has been lost, and if you do - great, move on to your next one.

Write A Blog Post Asking For Links

Put a post on your blog saying explaining that you are looking for incoming links to your sites. You might want to explain what site you have, and what kind of site you want a link from... just like this:

• I have a website about Mayfair in London and am looking to trade links with any London centric sites, or travel sites and blogs.
• I have a website about designer watches and am looking to trade links with any fashion sites, such as clothing or accessories.
• I have a website about Toys and am looking for links from any related sites.
• I have a website about personalised gifts and am looking to get links from any gift related sites.
• I have a website about a hit US drama and am looking to trade links with any other TV program sites.

Got a site that could link to any of those? Email me for more info on the URLs and you can check them out.

Labels: link building