“There should be no shoes or slippers lying around outside the main door of every house.
Remove them if you can.
Allow that space at the main door to be free and clear.
Now, allow me to tell you why.
The chi (energy) rides with the wind and will bring all the smells from those shoes and slippers into your house causing sickness.
The chi then travels about in your house looking for water to stay, but if there are no water fountains or fish tanks, then the chi will be dispersed by the wind.”
What’s on your mind right now?
Laughing?
Confused?
Ran off to hide your dirty shoes?
And that’s precisely how I feel about Google, SEO, and link building in particular.
“DON’T do any SEO, or we won’t rank you.”
“DO SEO, or we won’t rank you.”
“Just dance to the Google drum and we’ll let you know if you make it.”
To that I say:
1. Follow these instructions.
2. Stick your tongue out as far as you can.
3. And now…
(you have no idea how much time I’ve just wasted putting the pictures above together; no wonder I don’t get anything done!…)
If you dig this post and think this would be valuable to your followers, tweet the ish out of it for me, okay?
[share][/share]
Thanks!
Moving on.
Feng Shui Link Building
All jokes aside, one thing is for sure: Google wants to see us rise in our search engine rankings naturally, organically - feng shui style.
And I’d like to believe that that’s possible as well.
And let’s say that we do just that: churn out great content, hang out on social media sites, leave great blog comments - you know, the usual stuff.
…..
Are the links pouring in yet?
Has Google escorted your blog to the top of their search results yet?
Of course, these are meant to be rhetorical questions.
And pigs won’t be crying “Wee, wee, wee!” all the way back home any time soon.
Unless Geico has anything to do with it, of course:
You Rain, It Pours
So Google wants to see natural, organic, uncultivated, feng shui link building.
And that’s exactly what Google will get.
However, no rain start without the first drop.
No fire starts without a spark.
What I am getting to is this:
Ask (for links) and you shall receive (links).
How to Get Links from Traffic Generation Cafe
Important note:I don’t mean to imply in any way that if you do the things I mention below, I WILL link back to you.
I am simply giving you a road map to stand out and be noticed.
But more than anything else, your CONTENT will make the biggest difference in getting links from me or anyone else.
Many times I come to my readers’ blogs and struggle to find a single piece of content that would be good enough to be shared on my blog or Twitter or Facebook.
GREAT CONTENT + GIVE TO OTHERS = RECEIVE
********
I can’t control whether YOU link to me or not.
I do hope you will because of my unprecedented wit and stellar content.
But I CAN tell you what it takes for me to link to YOU.
1. Send Me Traffic
Every month I publish my income reports and in every income report I recognize the top five (sometimes ten) blogs that increased my website traffic the most for that month.
If you think your blog is too small to do that, you underestimate yourself.
I’ve had some larger blogs send me a lot of traffic; true.
But more often than not, it’s the smaller (and just as bit as good) blogs that honor me by sharing their traffic.
So feel free to share my posts with your readers, don’t be afraid to send them over here (I’ll go easy on them - promise), and I might end up sharing my traffic with you.
Side note: even though I temporarily stopped publishing my income reports, I still recognize the blogs that send me traffic in my weekly marketing skinnies.
2. Link to Me
WordPress trackbacks and pingbacks are a way for WordPress to notify other bloggers when you link to them.
Every time I get a pingback, I visit that site to see who and why they are linking to me.
Many times I actually find some interesting new blogs, sprouting bloggers, and hot discussions.
Rules of thumb when linking to others:
1. DON’T link to their home page - WordPress doesn’t send pingbacks when a link goes to the home page; only post pages.
2. DON’T rely on WP pingbacks to do the leg work for you: it doesn’t always send (timely) pingbacks.
For instance, I could get a pingback from someone who published their post 8 months ago.
Or not get a pingback from the original post, but get it from a scraper who scraped that original post.
3. ALWAYS send them an email to let them know you linked to them (but don’t ask for anything in return, of course).
This also happens to be a great way to build relationships and alliances - something that your business can’t survive without.
4. Link to both bigger and smaller blogs.
Mention the popular blogs to gain credibility.
Mention the small blogs because they are most likely to be the ones to return the favor.
Either way, mention them because they are worth it and NOT for the sake of link building/baiting.
(the image comes from an interesting take on guest blogging from AJ Kohn)
5. DON’T expect anything in return.
Because most likely you won’t get anything anyway.
Link out with that in mind and, if and when the recipient returns the favor, it’ll be like frosting on a cake.
3. Comment on My Posts
Commenting DOES work!
Especially when you comment on CommentLuv enabled blogs, since you are given an extra shot to draw someone’s attention in the CL link.
Especially if you know how to write killer blog post headlines.
Examples:
1. That Andrew Rondeau’s post The End Of The Backlink – Long Live Backlinks I mentioned towards the beginning - I got to read it after Andrew left it as his CommentLuv link in his recent comment at TGC.
2. Last week, I wrote a whole post based on a CommentLuv link that lead me to this hilarious video.
And I visit blogs with catchy CommentLuv titles on a daily basis.
Rules of thumb when using CommentLuv:
1. Write better titles!
I know I already mentioned that, but it is that important.
2. Make sure your CL links are relevant to the host blog.
I am not very likely to click over to a sports memorabilia site from a blog that talks about traffic generation.
3. Obvious, but often disregarded: Leave a great comment.
4. Get on My Email List
No, this is not a cheap shot at building my list quicker.
Being on my list is a two-way street.
It’s not about me talking AT you through my emails.
You, too, have direct access to me.
Use this chance to let me know who you are, what you/your business is all about, and don’t be afraid to show me what you’ve got.
I am much more likely to visit your site => read something interesting => mention you in one of my posts, if I know who you are.
There were countless times when a subscriber would tell me their story, or ask an interesting question, or simply say something in an email that inspires me to write a post about it.
So yes, joining great email lists is not the same as cluttering your inbox.
It’s a chance to connect, learn, and build relationships.
Use it.
Get my free website traffic report here.
5. Leave Me a Product Testimony
I recently started using Hesham Zebida’s (founder of FamousBloggers.net) awesome Author Hreview plugin to help my review posts stand out both on my blog and search engines.
One thing that the premium version of the plugin does is allows my readers to send me a testimony for any product I am reviewing on my site.
Take for instance my review of SEMRush or CommentLuv Premium.
You get your picture with a link back to your site in my review post, my readers get yet another take on the product in question - win-win.
Remember: you DO need to have used the product before sending me your testimony and just because you do, it doesn’t mean that I’ll use it in the review.
Just look for the testimonial forms in my review posts.
I haven’t added them to all my past reviews yet, but I am working on it.
Marketing Takeaway
How’s that for natural link building?
Trust me, I’d rather link to my readers’ awesome posts as additional resources from my blog over any blog I found using Google search on the topic.
So stick around, get to know other people in Traffic Generation Cafe community, let me hear your awesome input, and the rest will come.
Hey Ana,
I think I’m doing or have done all of the above (naturally and organically) anyway, but great post all the same.
love the pictures 😉 especially Chewie,
a bientôt,
Alan
You certainly did, Alan, and I hope I sent a few visitors your way as my way of saying THANK YOU.
There are a lot of things I love about this website, but it’s the mix of high value information with a twist of humor that I really appreciate - something I find myself doing on my own blog - so far I haven’t had any complaints.
99.99% of websites are a complete humor free zone - straight information content is great, but why is everyone so deadly serious all the time?
I know humor should be used with caution, but the occasional wry side comment keeps me amused anyway, and my readers don’t seem to mind. Some of them even say they like it.
Happy to hear you appreciate my fine sense of humor, Carol; most people just give me puzzled looks. lol
I love this particular type of post. It really just reassures people that nobody is out of reach, and just being kind, considerate, courteous but also pro-active will help you gain links naturally. And I fully agree.
One thing I took on board was really writing something interesting (as I’ve only recently decided to start blogging properly - no more half-assed efforts) and on the first really good post i wrote i received two comments and an e-mail. Which for me was the first interaction and appreciation i really had.
Long story short, things like this do work! Nice one Ana!
You are right, Michael - no one is out of reach, even though it might take a few efforts to get through.
Congrats on your first true interaction; I still remember that day as well and how excited it was. 😉
Look forward to seeing you around.
Haha brilliant, thanks!
I look forward to being noticed…
Man oh man - Ana, you’re an IMMENSE source for all things SEO and internet marketing/blogging related!! Wow, I’m definitely bookmarking you, and I also sent an email your way requesting your thoughts on consulting for my own blog.
Thank you for all you give away, and for helping others on a mission to follow their hearts to be successful in business and life!
I mean that.
Sincerely,
Jeff Emmerson
Thanks for coming by, Jeff.
Nice article Anna, i’m interested your tricks and thinking, and always i’m waiting your new post. lol
Ana,
This is a really insightful post with some very practical, but overlooked ways to get noticed.
I want to play “devil’s advocate” here for a second, what do you tell the blogger who has no connections. How would they go about emailing and getting the attention of a “big-time” blogger?
I hear that objection all the time, I have my own methods for getting email addresses and making contact, but what would you advise?
We all started from scratch, Dewane - two years ago I was in those same shoes.
Here’s what worked for me:
1. Great content. You can start talking to people when you have nothing to show them.
2. Great blog design. It does matter. I didn’t say expensive, but it has to be professional and unique.
I had people coming to my blog from all over the place within a month or two and they had no idea that I was brand new at this. That’s the power of establishing your authority with authority, Dewane.
You need to be able to command attention and then back it up with your blog.
As far as getting attention is concerned, there are no magic tricks.
In the beginning, I just introduced myself in the comments or social media. Be active, share. Then you could politely ask (let’s say for them to share your stuff - again it has to be great!)
Another great post, Ana.
I just finished reading through all the comments, which is something I enjoy doing(Yeah, I have some strange hobbies)!
Some good points about Google’s view on acceptable linking strategies…
I would imagine many sites are being hit as we speak, due to having accumulated great masses of ” not so natural” links…
Currently, Google seems to placing a lot more emphasis on ” Content relevance” (relevant content)….they have always used this as one of their important ranking factors, though, it looks as if it is far more important than any time previously….
Google is said to placing less importance on Keywords, and giving more weight to content relevance, in determining how it ranks websites(pages)…….
Keywords are said to be still relevant, though, not to the extent they once were….
Oh, and I did go and check out the List builder plugin, through your newsletter link(to the warrior forums product promo) …
It does look like it would be a very handy plugin……
Daniel - you MUST get an avatar!
If nothing else urged you to do it until now, consider this: I am in the process of redesigning TGC and could definitely use your picture.
Now on to the relevance factor: you are very right and I just published a post addressing that very issue: https://trafficgenerationcafe.online/what-is-seo-relevance-authority/
Thank you! For some reasons, the link you mention on your post (http://www.webuildyourblog.com/end-backlink-long-live-backlinks/) doesn’t even load on my comp, both IE and FF, and neither does their site. I don’t know if it’s your site or someone else’s though.
Excellent post, and loved the unique take on it as well. You’re one of the most genuine folks I’ve kept in my inbox, as I’ve steadily unsubscribed or spammed just about all the other emails I get regularly.
What I love the most … your site isn’t just for the folks who are into traffic generation as part of their bread and butter, but great for us little guys who need to target our niche blogs better.
I adore CommentLuv - I’ve been fighting with myself over posting the CommentLuv Premium and the Triberr commenting plugin (You’re on Triberr aren’t you?) … The problem is that the Triberr plugin tends to take all the attention and appears before the CommentLuv commenting system - plus I think having two commenting systems is confusing. But I get comments using both systems … aye aye aye!
You should totally write a post about that next so I can see your thoughts on the matter *grin*
I so truly appreciate the compliment, Kat - always here to help every way I can.
I have used Triberr commenting system for a few days at TGC, but quickly stopped for that specific reason: it’s bound to turn away many commentators and I refuse to have two systems.
That’s why I stopped using FB comments as well.
I’d stick with CL and the native comment system.
Yes I have been thinking strongly about inactivating the Triberr commenting system. I hate to do that since I have a few others who like to reblog special updates sometimes, but they could copy and paste just as easily … I just think it’s too confusing having more than one commenting system and I’m nowhere near ready to get rid of CommentLuv (I paid decent money for it and I hate to waste money LOL)
Take care and keep on being awesome Ana - you and your blog are greatly appreciated!
I agree - especially for a niche blog like yours with a bit less tech-savvy readers, Kat…
Hahah! Awesome, Ana! I loooove that you do a lil photoshop for your posts. Plus it was a punchy, funny intro.
I sum up the Google sitch like this:
Google is aiming to be natural, organic traffic direction, reflecting what society values.
To co-operate with them, employ natural, organic techniques that society values.
To fight against them, and ultimately get rocked, hard — try to game them, use unnatural, inorganic, black hat techniques that society does NOT value.
It might work, for a bit.
And to anyone going that route, I say, good luck.
As usual, great post with great actionable items (and if you’re looking for “great content from your readers” — swing by Ryze anytime — I always deliver 😀
Certainly appreciate your thumbs-up to my Photoshop ability, Jason (but I do know it sucks. 🙂 )
The only thing I’d like to see Google do is to learn to show the search engine results fairly and let the best blog win!
Hopefully, that’s exactly what they are doing with all the latest updates.
So nice that whenever I get frustrated and feel absolutely lost when it comes to doing anything online, I can come here to get some advice or tips that generally make me feel better and give me some new ideas.
It saves me from thumping my head on the desk. :/
Keep up the good work, Ana. Sometimes what you talk about makes my head spin because I don’t get it right away, but I always leave your blog feeling like I got new info and ideas. 🙂
It’s good for the energy, you know . . . lol!
It’s always my pleasure to do all the “thumping the head on the desk” for you, Lindsey. lol
Are you making some changes to your blog? It seems to look differently to me…
If you don’t mind a suggestion: I’d love to see you make your blog more about your readers than you.
If I come to your blog for the first time and I have no idea who you are, why would I be interested in learning how YOU make or don’t make money online - I want you learn how I can make money online.
You know what I mean?
When a reader comes to your blog, they want to read about themselves, not you.
Yes, I’ve been making some changes. I’m trying to get a professional design for it that is a little more “me” so I can brand myself better.
And yes, I think I do know what you mean. I’ve been trying to write more inspirational stuff that people can relate to and that can help them, but now that I look over things I see how there’s too much “I” and not enough “you.”
Thank you for the tip. I’ll see what I can do to improve it. 🙂
I don’t think I told anyone about this, Lindsey (not that it’s a secret), but the very first domain name this blog was started under was “MeetAnaHoffman.com”.
I quickly decided though that my own name wasn’t the best choice for what I wanted to make out of it, and good thing! lol
Not that I am saying you need to change the domain name, but much simpler things like your tagline (make it about them) and make your name smaller font and your tagline bigger font.
Oh I can’t believe Ana Hoffman that you included my blog too. I am very happy because I follow your blog very closely and I am big fan of you. Once again Thanks for including.
That is really a great ideas Ana and an awesome way to build relationship with other bloggers.
If we link to their post and let them know about it without asking for anything in return, they will surely be appreciated and will link back to one of our post. This is something which bloggers should do because there’s benefit for both of them.
Thanks for the great idea and I’m surely going to get in your list 🙂
Ehsan U.
I’d love that, Ehsan - look forward to seeing you around.
So I came looking for a backlink and 2 things happened. First, I saw your pix and realized I was following you on Twitter ( you have cool eyes/hair combo) and second I never knew what a Pingback was.
Glad I could brighten your day with my looks and my knowledge of pingbacks, Jason. lol
Look forward to seeing you around.
You know, I think the bottom line really is to create great content, and interact with and help others as much as possible. It seems that when those things are in place, much of the link building happens naturally.
It seems that those who really do desire to help people naturally get recognition, though sometimes it takes a good long while for it to happen.
Ana, relationships are the key. I have found some great blogs and have been networking with your Comment Luv readers. It is a much better approach than going to Google and finding people in my niche. I like to think of it as a large auditorium. We are all in our individual seats and part of the blog world community.
I installed the code you shared on my Thesis theme and am interested to see who likes my blog articles!
Now I have to go read your newest post! I was out on the golf course yesterday and I enjoy being free from a JOB. Working for myself is the only way to go! Entrepreneurs are what drives creativity in our world!
So glad to hear that, Danielle!
Golf course… Sometimes I feel like my laptop is glued… well, to my lap. Hard to leave it behind. And not really because I have to, but because I love what I do so much.
I suppose that’s another blessing of choosing what we loved to do over what we are paid to do.
As someone who works with SEO for a living, backlink building is a cause for some serious headaches. This post really illustrates the work it takes to get a good link these days. If you can find easier ways than this to get links, they’re probably not links that you want to have anyway.
Very true, Matt - link building is becoming more and more about quality and getting other relevant bloggers to link to us is the best (albeit sometimes time-consuming) way to do it.
Thanks for coming by!
This must be one of your longest posts Ana 🙂
Link building has been one of the most difficult tasks when it comes to online marketing, and especially creating a system that works. Usually, I get most of my backlinks from commenting and from guest posts (and from some of my readers linking back to my posts). But I really do need a system.
It’s awesome that you point out how we’ll get links from you, and your links are worth a lot. It’s not only the link juice, but the quality traffic it brings. It’s awesome 🙂
I need to come by more often, Jens - some of my most recent posts were 2,500 words and longer. lol
I can’t agree more Ana, as always you’ve written another wonderful post. Yea, the first thing every blogger should think about is how to build relationship with others because if you scratch my back, i will surely scratch yours. And the more reason why i like you is that you always practice what you preach, I could remember when i included you in My Top 12 Most Admired Bloggers post, and you commented and tweeted it.
I love reading your post always because I’ve learnt alot from you lately.
Thanks for sharing.
You are definitely right, Theodore.
And another thing to remember: doing all these things builds our brand and presence whether the blogger reciprocates or not.
Other readers still see our comments adding value, our links, etc.
Ana,
Everything you mention is spot-on and there is one thing in common: Relationships. ‘Scratch back’ comes to mind.
Here’s an alternative headline for your post:
“Get the Feng Shui scratchy back approach to building backlinks”
And thanks for the TWO mentions to my back linking blog post - I really appreciate it.
Andrew
That’s what networking comes down to, doesn’t it, Andrew - scratching each other’s backs.
Love the new spin on the title and appreciate you coming by.
Hi Ana, I really like to comment on your post and visit your blog again and again as I get a lot of knowledge and great quality backlinks from your blog. I appreciate your work. Thanks for this article. 🙂
And I do appreciate it, Avi.
What a great introduction to your post - loved it, especially the Yoga Roar (that really resonated with me)! Yep, staying in line with the Big G gets harder every day - certainly keeps us on our toes! Always enjoy your posts - thanks for your great input!
Much appreciated, Midge; thanks for coming by!
Hello Ana,
Feels good to comment here again.
Of course these techniques are great for natural link building except when people starts linking to you just for the chance of getting linked to.
For example:
From the comment above:
“Will try to think of a way to link your site to my next blog post (a bit tricky since I usually jabber away about health and nutrition)”
While I know you’ve written this all good intention, you may have just literally increased the number of unrelated links you’ll be getting.
It’s important you let your readers know that it’s not just about sending links or getting links. A big part of the natural flow Google is looking for is for related to go with related. When a site on health starts to link to a traffic site; even if the content being linked to is great, there won’t be anything natural about that link. Moreover the only reason Google is bringing out search update after update is because they are trying to make sure as many searchers as possible get value when they use the net. So if we’re linking out to a site or page from any post we want to make sure the people who will be interested in such post will find that link relevant. So it becomes an added resource and the site being linked to can even get some traffic from that link.
Also we should keep in mind that linking to a site is automatically putting a seal of approval on the site. So we want to make sure that we ONLY link out to a site we’re proud to be associated with.
Finally, do not over do things. No one single page should link out to too many sites at a time. Hence it may become hard for the engines to differentiate it from a links page.
Now it’s all back to the basics, you find an interesting article, share it, comment on it and link to it if it happens to be relevant to a post you’ve made or about to make. Honestly help contribute to providing value on the web and the web will favor you too.
P.S. Ana, don’t you have a Google plus account? I just finally created one and came to your blog to find a link to your account and follow you but couldn’t find the link. So I settled for reading this article 🙂
Very good point, Karo - relevancy is extremely important.
I doubt it that I’ll get too many unrelated links as a result of this post. You know how much easier it is to think about doing something vs actually doing it.
Also, I never said I’ll link to anyone in any ONE particular post; just the fact that if my readers have a chance of me linking out to them, these are the ways to get my attention.
By the way, Kayus from Nigeria left a comment just before you; you might want to take a look at it - sounds like he needs a bit of help.
“You know how much easier it is to think about doing something vs actually doing it.”
Yeah I got you.
Kayus? I scrolled through all your comments and can’t find anyone by that name.
Thanks Ana,
I have left a reply on that post. I hope he sees it because I have only been able to reach him on FB. And I am not sure how frequently he uses FB.
If he added an email to that post maybe you’ll want to contact him and ask him to contact me. I am always willing to make myself available to anyone who really wants to improve him or herself.
I really like how you made this post so direct. We are in a really interesting time when it comes to link building. I am really starting to wonder how all of the continual Google changes are going to affect SEO companies in the next 6-12 months.
What do you think?
Thanks, Scott, and pleasure to meet you; I don’t believe I’ve seen you around here before.
Future of SEO? Might sound against the stream, but I really prefer to go with the flow.
Since my blog is not about SEO exclusively, my brain cells are much better used to do things that will hopefully always be in vogue: great content and strong networking.
Like this idea and thought I would give it a try. I just added a pingback to one of your posts that I absolutely loved and did implement after reading it. 🙂 Let’s see how this works out. Thanks for all your helpful posts..You’ve helped me become a better blogger, that’s for sure.
Just got back from your post, Ashley - you blew me away! You are an SEO consultant!
Checked out PBFingers as well. See how much goodness you spread with just one link to me?
Now imagine what a dozen of links would do? lol
LOl. Yep I am. I have always done web marketing but got hired last year to do SEO. During my research about SEO I found your site and have been a faithful follower since. 😉
Hi Ana.
You are without doubt the most helpful and most probably the best looking SEO guru in cyberspace. Seriously…
You have helped me a lot, through your blog writing and I often refer people verbally to your site and I have social media/seo site we are building at the moment and I will definitely link to you…
For no other reason than the usefulness and good spirited, generous nature of your content.
Thanks
Geoff
I always appreciate the thought, Geoff - and thanks for coming by!
Not sure if my previous comment worked as this site crashed, but really interesting post as always. Will try to think of a way to link your site to my next blog post (a bit tricky since I usually jabber away about health and nutrition) 🙂 Have a great day!
My blog crashed? Wow, good thing it must’ve gone back up quickly.