CONNECTIONS

–Vinh Bui, WebMaster

Part Six: The Rules for “Linking Up”

To recap, in the previous issue of Connections, I provided a brief historical perspective on Google and the concept of “search” as it pertains to the worldwide web — also explaining why all links are not created equal. In this issue, I’d like to explore the basics of orchestrating a proper linking campaign — one that benefits your search engine rankings for your website and your market.

Getting other related websites to link to you isn’t as difficult as you might think. Gentle coercion is the key. As in the real world, it helps to spruce yourself up and do a little flirting. Just remember, though…there are rules.

Rule One: Be a “Giver.”
Build your site to be as informative, as interactive and as content-rich as is humanly possible. This constitutes the foundation for a useful linking campaign. A resource-filled website will benefit your business in two very important ways. First, people will link to you because your content is useful and informative and they want to “spread the love” to you and their own site visitors. Sooooooo, simply put, you should look like you have a lot of “love” to give. Second, content-rich sites with a lot of text give Google and other search engines more…more to index, more to love. That gives you better search rankings. Everybody wins.

Rule Two: Be Sociable.
Seek out related websites. As a business owner who’s website is an essential part of their business model, you must be open to seeking out and spending time with others. The idea here is to build your own community — and become a part of other, larger online communities, e.g. forums, blogs, news networks, portals. When contributing/posting replies to these online communities, always include links to your site.

NOTE: Time pressured? Of course you are. Being a website “Sosh” can be time consuming and often monotonous…so get an intern to do it! That being said, make sure that intern (or whoever) has some writing skills and can assume a variety of “character” roles. “Savvy” is a must. The number one priority here is to make posts look authentic (not “ad-like”) – and to avoid offending forum members.

Rule Three: Take Advantage.
Of Web 2.0, that is. The term “Web 2.0″ is often thrown around as if it represents the arrival of some kind of internet messiah. In reality, all it refers to is the use of API’s (Application Programming Interfaces) to create interactive websites. These websites provide visitors an active and instantaneous role in the community and website. To you the website owner, Web 2.0 is important because it gives you the means to access, advertise in and link into high-traffic websites such as stumbleupon.com, reddit.com, myspace.com, facebook.com, twitter.com (to name a few).

And then there’s blogging. If I haven’t previously mentioned putting up a blog to go along with your website (and I think I have), I can’t stress enough how effective a marketing tool this can truly be. Believe it.

And one more thing. Make it as easy as possible for people to connect your site or page to social or “web 2.0″ websites — like digg.com or del.icio.us or others. Include “one click add to DIGG” – like buttons. You’ll notice these on many new blogs and websites — colorful little trifles or mini-icons usually found at the top or bottom of a web page or article.

Rule Four: Buy Friends.
I’ll leave you to think about this one. Next time around, we’ll talk in-depth about buying links in directories, link networks and search engines. See you then.

Vinh Bui is a webmaster in Los Angeles, CA. His firm — Omnipresence Web – designs high-value, search engine-friendly websites for all manner of client and purpose – including online marketing (SEO and SEM).

626.429.9407
vinh@omnipresenceweb.com
www.omnipresenceweb.com (new website coming soon)

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