No BS Link Building for E-Commerce Websites

No BS Link Building forE-Ecommerce Websites

Because it’s hard to do!

Jon BallPage One Power

SES NYC 2012 | Page One Power www.pageonepower.com | Jon Ball

Who I am and Why You Should Listen to Me.

PhotographerGraduated Brooks Institute

Portrait studio for 11 years

Extensive online marketing. Loved it.

Portrait IndustryDwindled significantly

Who I am and Why You Should Listen to Me.

Started Page One Power with Brother Zach

SEO’s until we realized that link building was the critical piece ofthe pie. So we focused on link building.

Custom Link Builders– Each project is unique.

In house teams of writers/researchers/link builders



Why are we talking about link building for E-Commerce sites?

They are challenging to build links for because nobody wants to link to a page full of products.

So you have to get creative.

We are going to discuss creative ways to keep a steady stream of quality links coming your way.


Today’s Plan

Old school link building Link Building Today 7 Foundational link building philosophies 6 steps to a link building plan 2 keys to build links effectively 23 link building strategies that you should consider


Old School Link Building

Article spinningReciprocal LinkingSitewidesSocial bookmarkingBuying posts on

questionable blogs (black blogs)

Hiring teams in India to blog comment

Link farmsBuying footer linksBasically….


SPAM

SPAM=Working for robots.

If your work is only meant to be seen by robots and it’s not intended for humans; It’s

probably spam.

“This website is very relevant…” -robot


Link Building Today…

Working with Humans

Today’s link building is meant for both humans and robots.

• Relationships• Content• Sharing


Our Foundational Link Building Philosophies

1. In a world without Google.

2. Content is King.

3. Website owners are people and people link to people.

4. The most powerful link building tool is your brain.

5. Link Building is a team sport.

6. Forget viral.

7. FTBOM.


FTBOM

For

The

Betterment

of

Mankind


Link Building For E-Commerce Sites

BloggingGive LoveTestimonialsLocal UniverseWidgetsInfographicsGuest PostsTrade ArticlesInterviews

CrowdsourcingMuseumsGlossaryStudy/SurveyResource page outreachBadgingSponsoring non-profitsBlog Commenting

DIY SitesForumsGive Stuff awayPinterestReviewsWebcams

23 Link Building Strategies

Make a plan…


Without a plan you do Random Acts of Link Building

Buy mass directory submission service

Get a link wheel

Hire your kids neighbor to do some link building

Read Blog Posts and “try” some stuff

Buy some text links

Buy blog network anchor text links (bad idea)

Bill’s Story

3 days 3 links. Gave up. Many people make the simple mistake of underestimating the task at hand.

“Dude, we need to build some links!”-Website owner


Don’t underestimate it.

People underestimate the enormity of the task of link

building and the time that it really takes to do it right.

Fail to planPlan to fail


Make a Plan

5 Steps to Make a Link Building Plan

1 List assets

2 Research

3 Strategize

4 Schedule

5 Adapt


Make a Plan

Step 1: List Assets

List all of the assets on your site.

Textual information

Videos

Photography

Services

Unique features

List your offline assets

Customers

Staff

Friends

Connections

How can you leverage them?

You Gotta Get Creative


Make a Plan

Step 2: ResearchThere are no secrets in Link Building. Your competitors

can’t hide their links.

Download competitors links from Majestic SEO or Open

Site Explorer.

Also research associations and wikipedia for you keywords

Export to excel. Organize into Strategies/categories.


Make a Plan

Step 2: Research

As you research make notes. Be creative. Talk with someone about your ideas. Work as teams, it’s hard to do this alone.

Always be thinking…

(golfer/journalists)


Make a Plan

Step 2: Research

Make lists of Industry sites– Associations, News Sites, Blogs, Forums,Experts, etc…

(allergy association)

Use Offline resources


Make a Plan

Step 3: StrategizeLean Back in your chair and brainstorm.

Best if done as a team.


Make a Plan

Step 4: SchedulePut your strategies into a monthly schedule. Be reasonable about it. Don’t do too much too fast. Link building projects take time you can’t rush them.


Make a Plan

Step 5: AdaptDon’t be afraid to abandon a strategy that isn’t

working. Learn from it and move on.

When it didn’t go viral.When it didn’t work. Leave it alone.Move on.


2 Keys to build links effectively

Be SomebodyBuild Social Muscle


Before we talk strategy…

In my experience it’s much easier to get guest posts, placeinfographics, do outreach, and nearly every other link buildingstrategy if you are somebody.

If you are Noone from nowhere……… [email protected]

Become someone from nowhere with something going on

If you’re noone from somewhere ……[email protected]

Become someone from somewhere with something going on

Socially active, part of the conversation

Link building is much easier when you do.

You gotta be somebody…



[email protected] I have no blog, no twitter presence, linkedin or facebook. OR

[email protected] I have a great blog with comments, a healthy twitter

presence, full linkedin and an active facebook page.

Who would you link to?Who would you allow to guest post on your blog?

Who is going to win the link?

For example:

mailto:[email protected]




If you want your link building to really take off you need social muscle.

Build Social Muscle

Search twitter by your keywords. Follow those people, retweet their good stuff. Tweet original content. Tweet directly at them with. ENGAGE. These people are real and if they like your stuff they’ll promote it for you.

It takes time and persistence.Don’t give up!



Until you have social muscle and other ways to promote content

Build Social Muscle

Sponsored Tweets Sponsored StumblesOld Fashioned OutreachRent email lists (forums, associations, industry sites)PPC


Keywords and anchor text

A word about keywords and anchor text

Everyone wants exact anchor text with their keywords

“How would one’s life increase in overall quality factors without having aGood quality soft gel iphone case to use on your refurbished iphone 4s.”

Most of the time you cannot get links like this unless you bought the link or it’s outright spam. Do you not think that search engines know this?

Take what you can get. Be patient. We’ve gotten some choice linkswith anchor text but most of them are just plain links. That’s the wayIt is when you work with real people. Use Contextual links when possible.

Life’s just better with a great soft gel iphone case on your iphone found here.

http://www.ebay.com/








Link Building For E-Commerce Sites

BloggingGive LoveLocal UniverseTestimonialsInfographicsWidgetsGuest PostsTrade ArticlesInterviewsCrowdsourcing

MuseumsGlossary/Complete guideStudy/SurveyResource page outreachBadgingSponsoring non-profitsBlog CommentingDIY Sites

ForumsGive Stuff awayPinterestReviewsWebcamsGo Crazy

23 Link Building Strategies

Make a plan…


Link Building Strategies

Blogging – Vital to link building

1st Decide on audience: Ask yourself “who is going to buy my product?” That’s your audience.

2nd Determine categories

3rd Brainstorm titles from categoriesNever, ever, ever underestimate the value of a great

title. (negative emotion is my favorite)My Favorite Childrens Books of 2011

The Worst Childrens Books of 2011



4th Make an editorial calendar.

5th Promote your blog!

Use twitter, facebook and Google+. Blog directories, write for us, blog commenting, press releases, PPC for great titles, forums, email lists, etc…

6th Build Social Muscle.



Give Love



“keyword” news

“keyword” experts

“keyword” associations

“keyword” forums

“keyword” blogs

“keyword” trade shows

“keyword” events

Etc...

Dental classifieds

Research your “Local Universe”


Infographics

The best infographics are complex information (not just illustrated articles)

Decide on audience

Agonize over title

Do a series. Not just one.

schools


Infographics

Place it on a third party site

Make crowdsourced content (include others). Even competitors.

Make it Sexy and complex.

If it goes viral, it’s viral. Go for 50 links. That’s a great number. (what would it take you to get 50 links on good sites without this infographic?)



Write testimonialsEvery good business transaction.

Send them an unsolicited testimonial and picture

Mention them in your blog.

Give them some love.



Widgets

My favorite widget

Before you do a widget determine your exact audience and test it.

Promote it to death with your social muscle, your blog, PPC, sponsored tweets, sponsored stumbles. Everywhere.



WARNING: To do guest posting correctly be prepared to spend a lot of time.

Finding your target sites

Titles

Send personalized email with title of article or the actual article.

Send pictures. Do the work for them.

Plan to ascend

Show them your muscles.

Guest Posting



Trade articles

Industry sites will take your articles .



Interview experts and others

For SES Bruce Clays Blogger asked me to do an interview.

Did we give them a link?

Yes we did.



Crowd sourcing

Three questions: Four people

Twelve answers!

Four links?



Build a museum



Make a glossary

Make it good.

Promote it!

Press release

PPC

Blog

Outreach



Complete Guides

Make it good.

Promote it!

Press release

PPC

Blog

Outreach



Study/Survey

Survey your customers. Make infographic, article, whitepaper from study.

Promote it.



Resource Pages – Outreach

This is what people think of when they link build for the first time.

Still works. But very slowly.

Find the page.

Find the name of the actual person you’ll talk to.

Always call if possible (success goes up 20x)



Badging

Find sub categories to badge.

Top 10 lists

Reward best customers

Recognize experts.



Sponsor Non-Profits

All charitable originations need money. Many have donors pages

We’ve gotten deep links on high authority pages for as little as $50



Blog Commenting

Still works!

Don’t send it overseas.

Do it on real blogs with real comments.

Builds your blog, your persona and builds links.

Ignore nofollow.



DIY

Talk about content hungry

Old t-shirts



Forums

Be very careful with this one.

Go slowly.

Actually care.



Give stuff

Contests.

Giveaways.

Scholarships.



Pinterest

Pinterest is based on images. If you want to get shared and links you need great photos.

Hire a photographer. Please.



Reviews

Review everything in your niche and put it on your site.

Textual reviews

Photographic reviews

Video reviews

Promote your reviews


Webcams

If you have anything interesting to put on a dedicated webcam do it.

There are lots of webcam sites looking to list your webcam on them. Traffic and links


Go crazy

Will it blend?

The worlds largest periodic table of elements


Thank You

Jon Ball

5047 W. Parsons

Boise, Idaho 83714

Page One Power

@linkbuildingjon

[email protected]

www.pageonepower.com


Technology

No BS Link Building for E-Commerce Websites