Embed Size (px)
DESCRIPTION
This presentation was given at SMX Advanced on Link Building and
Citation preview
Show Me The Links:
Real Life Link Building
Presented by: Arnie Kuenn
(@ArnieK)
(@VerticalMeasure)
My Background
Doing Internet marketing for about 12 years Formed Vertical Measures about 5 years ago Primarily an Internet marketing company but
specialize in link building We have 80+ clients from all around the
world where we conduct SEO, link building, content & social media marketing
Twitter: @ArnieK @VerticalMeasure
Vertical Measures - Link Building Work
About 50% is Content Development & Promotion (w/SMM)
About 20% is Blog Post & Article Placement About 10% is Basic Link Development
(directories, comments, etc.) About 20% is Targeted Link Requests
Provide 5 examples of hard to get links, by putting in the extra effort and quickly building relationships
Notice NO magic bullets, link building takes time & effort
Twitter: @ArnieK @VerticalMeasure
#1 Pirate Costume Link
Number 1 competitor back link in Open Site Explorer
Emailed – ‘Ahoy Webwench, I like yer site..’ Rejected – ‘Cheesy Costumes’ Agreed with her but assured her there was
always Rum if she changed her mind!
Twitter: @ArnieK @VerticalMeasure
Result of Email Request
• Very relevant to topic
• Includes Keywords
• PR5 Page, PR7 Domain
• Over 250 links to page from 50 domains
• Likely to send qualified leads
“Argh, what the hell, I've added yer site”
Twitter: @ArnieK @VerticalMeasure
#2 Targeted Email Request
Site found through competitor backlinks. Researched site owner, saw he claims to be
able to always predict Miss America Pageant. Joked that we’ll have to call on him the next
time we’re trying to predict a pageant. Got us in the door. He added an in-content link and wrote a whole
paragraph about our client and how that product integrates with his services.
Twitter: @ArnieK @VerticalMeasure
Result of Email Request
• A PR 4 page
• Used targeted KW phrase
• First main content link on page.
• On PR5 domain with 2,055 links from 53 domains.
Twitter: @ArnieK @VerticalMeasure
#3 Targeted Email Requests Looked for direct contact information (not just
info@ but firstname@) Used link checking plug-in to find broken links Emailed webmaster on a first name basis, told
them about the broken links Suggested my link as a valuable resource for
their website Obtained link + thank you messages from
webmasters
Twitter: @ArnieK @VerticalMeasure
Result of Email Request
Twitter: @ArnieK @VerticalMeasure
#4 Content Dev & Promotion
Approached SayCampusLife.com branded Twitter account after finding their blog appropriate for our client’s site.
Worked with the client to develop a blog post that was informational and topical for SayCampusLife.com readers.
Used clients social media clout and following as bargaining chip to obtain opportunity.
Post went live and tweeted it to the client’s 35,000 followers.
Twitter: @ArnieK @VerticalMeasure
The Result• Over 20 backlinks to
this page, many RTs (some by VERY influential tweeters in the education industry).
• Able to use client keywords
• Strong domain (PR4), and page is now PR2.
• Very few other links on the page.
• Great piece of resourceful content.
Twitter: @ArnieK @VerticalMeasure
#5 April Fools Day Prank
We wrote a prank post about Google starting an “SEO agency” on April Fools Day.
Fast forward 27 days later: Newswire Associate Editor finds our ‘joke’ and mistakes for real news.
An SEO industry professional investigates Newswire release, writes post, and links to our blog alerting our staff of the April Fools joke turned ‘news’.
VM Staff quickly put together a plan to dispel rumors on forums, Twitter, personal blogs, etc.
Twitter: @ArnieK @VerticalMeasure
The Results• Over 800 combined
backlinks to April Fools post and 27 Days Later post.
• Matt Cutts tweets about our post.
• Created buzz in over 5 online forums.
• Topic tweeted over 200 times.
• Goes to show importance of looking at who is linking TO you.
Twitter: @ArnieK @VerticalMeasure
