Friday, September 5, 2008

Reply to Link Building Best Practices Question: How do I determine good link targets?

Asked by Steve...

"What signs do you look for to determine what a good link is?"

First my generic answer then I'll be more specific. Generic answer: A good link target will be different for every site you are seeking links for. Specific answer: For example, let's say the site you are seeking links for is devoted to everything about the history of Jazz music, like this one http://www.apassion4jazz.net, then an example of an absolute highest quality and trusted target site would be
http://www.wku.edu/Library/dlps/rsrchguides/dept/html/music.html

Why? Many reasons. First, always look for the INTENT of the target site. In my example above the intent of this library based music web guide is pretty evident. That site isn't there to sell links, barter links, swap links, trade links, triangulate links, or any other silly link scheme. The intent has nothing to do with any search engine. That site exists as a resource to help people. And whether or not this target site EVER sends even one visitor to apassion4jazz.net, really isn't important from a link building standpoint. What's important is that a link from that site and others like it send incredibley powerful signals of trust to the search engines.

The beauty of this is it doesn't take many such signals/links to get to a point where the engines will then, by extension and association, trust apassion4jazz.net as well.

And as this search result shows, they obviously do.

Eric Ward
Link Building Best Practices


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About The Link Building Best Practices Q and A
The Link Building Best Practices Q and A is provided free by Eric Ward. For sites with high value content, I offer several fee-based strategic linking services on a project basis.

Tuesday, September 2, 2008

Link Building Best Practices - How Failure Makes You Better

Life here is good again, and I'm taking new business in selected verticals. I'll also be speakng at SMX East in New York, in October.

However...

When I don't manage my business well, I admit it. When I fail my clients, I admit it. And I also send them money back. And it hurts.

This past April, May, June, and July, were torture. The scheduling challenges posed as a result of assorted family emergencies really came home to roost. I take the blame. The idea that I could keep clients happy while going dark as I tended to family matters across the country was foolish.

I should have pulled down my site, or at least the paypal buttons, until I was ready for new business. The bottom line has two parts. Part One is I let too many client communiques slip through the cracks. Part Two is I refunded many clients for consulting calls that have not been able to happen at the speed and depth with which I'd hoped. So I've lost income and annoyed clients at the same time. Ouch.

Lesson after lesson after lesson learned the hard way. I have failed wide and deep for three months running.

But...I'm back and I'm not budging until I make it right. That's how you do it. So come back. There's a bonus in it for those who do.

Eric


NOTE: To ask a link building related question, click the
Comments link below, or the Post a Comment link at the bottom of any individual post.

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About The Link Building Best Practices Q and A
The Link Building Best Practices Q and A is provided free by Eric Ward. For sites with high value content, I offer several fee-based strategic linking services on a project basis.