no bs linkbuilding for e-commerce websites
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SEO, link building and marketing guru Jon Ball, co-owner of the Page One Power firm, presented this information at the last SES conference. It's great information for anyone looking to create a significant online presence for their company. pageonepower.comTRANSCRIPT
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
SES NYC 2012 | Page One Power www.pageonepower.com | Jon Ball
SES NYC 2012 | Page One Power www.pageonepower.com | Jon Ball
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.
SES NYC 2012 | Page One Power www.pageonepower.com | Jon Ball
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
SES NYC 2012 | Page One Power www.pageonepower.com | Jon Ball
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….
SES NYC 2012 | Page One Power www.pageonepower.com | Jon Ball
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
SES NYC 2012 | Page One Power www.pageonepower.com | Jon Ball
Link Building Today…
Working with Humans
Today’s link building is meant for both humans and robots.
• Relationships• Content• Sharing
SES NYC 2012 | Page One Power www.pageonepower.com | Jon Ball
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.
SES NYC 2012 | Page One Power www.pageonepower.com | Jon Ball
FTBOM
For
The
Betterment
of
Mankind
SES NYC 2012 | Page One Power www.pageonepower.com | Jon Ball
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…
SES NYC 2012 | Page One Power www.pageonepower.com | Jon Ball
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
SES NYC 2012 | Page One Power www.pageonepower.com | Jon Ball
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
SES NYC 2012 | Page One Power www.pageonepower.com | Jon Ball
Make a Plan
5 Steps to Make a Link Building Plan
1 List assets
2 Research
3 Strategize
4 Schedule
5 Adapt
SES NYC 2012 | Page One Power www.pageonepower.com | Jon Ball
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
SES NYC 2012 | Page One Power www.pageonepower.com | Jon Ball
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.
SES NYC 2012 | Page One Power www.pageonepower.com | Jon Ball
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)
SES NYC 2012 | Page One Power www.pageonepower.com | Jon Ball
Make a Plan
Step 2: Research
Make lists of Industry sites– Associations, News Sites, Blogs, Forums,Experts, etc…
(allergy association)
Use Offline resources
SES NYC 2012 | Page One Power www.pageonepower.com | Jon Ball
Make a Plan
Step 3: StrategizeLean Back in your chair and brainstorm.
Best if done as a team.
SES NYC 2012 | Page One Power www.pageonepower.com | Jon Ball
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.
SES NYC 2012 | Page One Power www.pageonepower.com | Jon Ball
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.
SES NYC 2012 | Page One Power www.pageonepower.com | Jon Ball
2 Keys to build links effectively
Be SomebodyBuild Social Muscle
SES NYC 2012 | Page One Power www.pageonepower.com | Jon Ball
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…
SES NYC 2012 | Page One Power www.pageonepower.com | Jon Ball
Before we talk strategy…
[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:
SES NYC 2012 | Page One Power www.pageonepower.com | Jon Ball
Before we talk strategy…
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!
SES NYC 2012 | Page One Power www.pageonepower.com | Jon Ball
Before we talk strategy…
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
SES NYC 2012 | Page One Power www.pageonepower.com | Jon Ball
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.
SES NYC 2012 | Page One Power www.pageonepower.com | Jon Ball
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…
SES NYC 2012 | Page One Power www.pageonepower.com | Jon Ball
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
SES NYC 2012 | Page One Power www.pageonepower.com | Jon Ball
Link Building Strategies
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.
SES NYC 2012 | Page One Power www.pageonepower.com | Jon Ball
Link Building Strategies
Give Love
SES NYC 2012 | Page One Power www.pageonepower.com | Jon Ball
Link Building Strategies
“keyword” news
“keyword” experts
“keyword” associations
“keyword” forums
“keyword” blogs
“keyword” trade shows
“keyword” events
Etc...
Dental classifieds
Research your “Local Universe”
SES NYC 2012 | Page One Power www.pageonepower.com | Jon Ball
Infographics
The best infographics are complex information (not just illustrated articles)
Decide on audience
Agonize over title
Do a series. Not just one.
schools
SES NYC 2012 | Page One Power www.pageonepower.com | Jon Ball
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?)
SES NYC 2012 | Page One Power www.pageonepower.com | Jon Ball
Link Building Strategies
Write testimonialsEvery good business transaction.
Send them an unsolicited testimonial and picture
Mention them in your blog.
Give them some love.
SES NYC 2012 | Page One Power www.pageonepower.com | Jon Ball
Link Building Strategies
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.
SES NYC 2012 | Page One Power www.pageonepower.com | Jon Ball
Link Building Strategies
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
SES NYC 2012 | Page One Power www.pageonepower.com | Jon Ball
Link Building Strategies
Trade articles
Industry sites will take your articles .
SES NYC 2012 | Page One Power www.pageonepower.com | Jon Ball
Link Building Strategies
Interview experts and others
For SES Bruce Clays Blogger asked me to do an interview.
Did we give them a link?
Yes we did.
SES NYC 2012 | Page One Power www.pageonepower.com | Jon Ball
Link Building Strategies
Crowd sourcing
Three questions: Four people
Twelve answers!
Four links?
SES NYC 2012 | Page One Power www.pageonepower.com | Jon Ball
Link Building Strategies
Build a museum
SES NYC 2012 | Page One Power www.pageonepower.com | Jon Ball
Link Building Strategies
Make a glossary
Make it good.
Promote it!
Press release
PPC
Blog
Outreach
SES NYC 2012 | Page One Power www.pageonepower.com | Jon Ball
Link Building Strategies
Complete Guides
Make it good.
Promote it!
Press release
PPC
Blog
Outreach
SES NYC 2012 | Page One Power www.pageonepower.com | Jon Ball
Link Building Strategies
Study/Survey
Survey your customers. Make infographic, article, whitepaper from study.
Promote it.
SES NYC 2012 | Page One Power www.pageonepower.com | Jon Ball
Link Building Strategies
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)
SES NYC 2012 | Page One Power www.pageonepower.com | Jon Ball
Link Building Strategies
Badging
Find sub categories to badge.
Top 10 lists
Reward best customers
Recognize experts.
SES NYC 2012 | Page One Power www.pageonepower.com | Jon Ball
Link Building Strategies
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
SES NYC 2012 | Page One Power www.pageonepower.com | Jon Ball
Link Building Strategies
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.
SES NYC 2012 | Page One Power www.pageonepower.com | Jon Ball
Link Building Strategies
DIY
Talk about content hungry
Old t-shirts
SES NYC 2012 | Page One Power www.pageonepower.com | Jon Ball
Link Building Strategies
Forums
Be very careful with this one.
Go slowly.
Actually care.
SES NYC 2012 | Page One Power www.pageonepower.com | Jon Ball
Link Building Strategies
Give stuff
Contests.
Giveaways.
Scholarships.
SES NYC 2012 | Page One Power www.pageonepower.com | Jon Ball
Link Building Strategies
Pinterest is based on images. If you want to get shared and links you need great photos.
Hire a photographer. Please.
SES NYC 2012 | Page One Power www.pageonepower.com | Jon Ball
Link Building Strategies
Reviews
Review everything in your niche and put it on your site.
Textual reviews
Photographic reviews
Video reviews
Promote your reviews
SES NYC 2012 | Page One Power www.pageonepower.com | Jon Ball
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
SES NYC 2012 | Page One Power www.pageonepower.com | Jon Ball
Go crazy
Will it blend?
The worlds largest periodic table of elements
SES NYC 2012 | Page One Power www.pageonepower.com | Jon Ball
Thank You
Jon Ball
5047 W. Parsons
Boise, Idaho 83714
Page One Power
@linkbuildingjon
www.pageonepower.com