The Foundation of a Good Backlink

When it comes to backlink building too many marketers tend to just go out and use some type of SEO service without having any real plan in mind. While you may get a few good backlinks you are really just wasting your money. Before using any type of backlink building service you want to know and understand what type of backlink you want built.

See my Top Manual Backlink Building Service Review Here!

There are several factors to take into account when creating backlinks. First these links need to be relevant to your site. Just because you can get a PR4 link to a gardening site you shouldn't proceed if your site is not in this niche. When Google views this link they do not attach any relevance to it, in fact it can do your site more harm than good.

Some of the best and easiest places to get a good quality backlink is by listing your site and business on Google Places and Google+ Local. Then from here you want to plan out what sites and who can offer you the best backlinks.

This is where relevance comes into play. Spend some time researching the key players in your field. Dig out their blogs and social media profiles and see what the best ways to connect with them would be.

You don't want to rush into backlinking instead approach it with a good plan of action in mind. For example don't just start sending out guest posting requests to all the top blogs in your field or niche. Instead start reading these blogs on a regular basis and begin by leaving helpful comments. This will get your name seen by the blog owner.

Then after a period of time you can suggest a relevant blog post topic. Of course you would make your post unique to this person, don't use the same post for anyone else! When you do initiate contact the blog owner is more likely to recognize your name and approve your request.

As you can imagine this process does take more time than just going out and using a backlinking service of any kind. The end result will be a much higher quality backlink that can really help boost your own page rank. An additional bonus is that you could receive a ton more traffic back to your site too.

It really is worth your time and effort to think about the entire backlink creation process. Take the time to research which keywords you want to rank for, look for the top players in your field and visit their blogs. Plus remember to create a variety of links from different sources. This can be links from articles, YouTube videos, guest posts and from social media sites.

This will put your site ranking in a much better position than simply generating hundreds of non-worthy backlinks in a short period of time.

Many Junkie Backlinks vs. Few But Quality Backlinks

If you are busy creating backlinks one thing that you need to be aware of is the quality of your backlinks. While you may be busy creating as many backlinks as possible, this might be not as effective as you think. Let's take a look.

You have no doubt heard the term quality over quantity, and this is very true when it comes to backlinks. Instead of concentrating on getting a high number of backlinks, you should consider the quality of each link first.

When creating backlinks yourself, you really need to understand the most recent changes that Google has made to their algorithms. This can have a huge impact on your backlinks. Currently Google is viewing quality over quantity big time. If you are aware of this you can apply these strategies to your own SEO methods.

Instead of just busily creating backlinks from various sources, seek out just one or two great sources that can really help boost your site. The advantage to doing this is that you don't have to spend as much time creating backlinks. If you use any type of SEO Services this can also save you money over the long term. Instead of ordering multiple times, you could potentially just place one or two orders and request a higher quality backlink.

While this method does sound like plain common sense there will still be marketers who are focusing on nothing but numbers. This is not a good route for you to follow at all.

When we talk about quality backlinks we are not saying to go out and only find PR7 links for example. The higher the page rank of a site the better. So this means that a PR2 is much better than a PR0 for example.

It is not impossible to get a backlink with a PR5 rating and one of the best ways to do this is by looking for guest blog posting opportunities. If you are an expert in your field you could easily write a blog post for a higher ranking site. This method can get you lots of exposure as well as a quality backlink.

When creating your quality backlinks think about your choice of keyword or keywords that you are using. Using a good keyword can help win you favor with Google and the other search engines.

Hopefully when it comes to your next round of backlinking you will decide to create quality backlinks this time around. You can do this yourself or by using one of the many backlink building services that are available. 

Manually Built Backlinks vs. Automated Backlinks

If you are building backlinks to any of your sites you may be wondering about whether you should build your links manually or if you should use some type of automation tool or even an SEO service.

Building backlinks manually does take time and there are different ways you can build these links including:

1. Submitting articles to article directories
2. Using directory submissions
3. Blog commenting
4. Forum and membership site profiles
5. Social bookmarking
6. RSS submissions
7. Squidoo
8. Hub pages
9. Blogger sites
10. Tumblr

When it comes to implementing these ideas again, you have several choices.

1. You can select to outsource the work to a company or individual
2. You can use automated tools
3. You can purchase blog comment and buy profile lists
4. Manually find links and build your own

Plus of course you can mix and match any of the above methods. Let's talk a little more about using automated backlinking methods.

There are certain tools or software that can help automate the backlinking process. Some of these tools include tools such as  Scrapebox and Senuke. You can do a search online for other automated tools and software.

While using an automated backlinking tool is relatively easy and quick there can be drawbacks. One of these is that users tend to get a little overzealous and create way too many backlinks at one time.

The best way to build your backlinks is on a gradual basis. If you suddenly start creating 30 or more backlinks each day, a red flag will go up in Google's eyes. You could potentially get your site de-indexed as your backlinks look unnatural.

You definitely don't want to rush the backlink building process. Instead start creating backlinks in a slow but steady way. This looks more natural, as though people are visiting your blog and leaving comments.

As well as the timing of your backlinks you want to have a mix of the types of links that you create. If you use some of the types of backlinks that we described above such as leaving blog comments and using article directories, you will have a good mix of backlinks. Again keeping all of your backlinks looking natural.

Your goal with backlinking is to have your site look as though lots of different people are finding their way to your blog from different traffic sources.

Before starting your backlink creation process it is a good idea to have a plan in place. Think about where you want your links to come from and the types of links you want to have. Then begin backlinking!

Building Backlinks Yourself vs. Outsourcing

Building backlinks for your site is an important part of the search engine optimization process. The downside to this is that building backlinks can be really time consuming. This may lead you to wondering if you should start to outsource this process. Let's look at this to see if outsourcing backlinks by using an SEO service is a viable option.

Manually Create Your Own Backlinks!

Before you even think about outsourcing your backlinks you need to ensure that your blog or website has been set up correctly for SEO purposes. This includes having quality articles written with keywords. Making use of things such as formatting techniques with Headings 1 and 2. Plus if you use images these should include your keywords in the title and the Alt tag.

When you are sure that your site has all the basic SEO techniques in place, then you can start to think about backlinks. There are several ways to do this. You can use one of the outsourcing sites such as Freelancer, Odesk or Elance. Or you may prefer to use a company that specializes in building backlinks for their customers.

If you decide to use a company then make sure you do your homework and research them. Try and see if you can connect with someone who has actually used them and then you can gauge their results. Going with a company may be more expensive than hiring and individual, so you want to make sure that you will get value for your money.

Also check to see what types of backlinks they suggest you create. There are various schools of thought on this subject and it varies depending on what SEO experts see as currently working.

You can use this as a general rule of thumb, use for anchor text purposes:

1. Approximately 25% of your anchor text should be based on your Brand. This is your business name, client’s business name, etc.
2. Another 25% on your actual URL: http://yourdomain.com/, www.yourdomain.com
3. The next 25% Main Keyword or Keywords - these are the main keywords that you are attempting to get rank for. 
4. Then 25% should be based around Long Tail Keywords. These are longer phrases such as how to start a walking regimen or finding good backlinks online. 

Within all of this you may want to add a few miscellaneous keywords on your site. An easy way to do this is buy using words such as Click Here or Buy Now.

If you use these tips and ask for this type of backlinking combination from any type of backlink building service, either a company or an individual, you should see good results regardless. 

DeConfusing Search Engine Optimization

One of the most common complaints I hear about Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is that it is overwhelming and confusing. But is it really?

It isn't. SEO is incredibly simple!

What is overwhelming though is the things being taught about SEO. Gurus try to make it sounds super complicated to help them sell more of their "fix all" products but here's the thing: You don't need their products!

SEO is incredibly simple once you get it, and to truly "get it", you should not look at the gurus, but rather at what has ALWAYS worked to improve search engine rankings.

My good friend and SEO specialist Konrad Braun always reminds me: Susan, you are complicating SEO. Keep it simple! 

And he is right. There is no reason to complicate it!

For starters, you will want good quality content. Content is and always has been the #1 factor for good rankings. Is your content worthwhile? Would someone get what they are looking for if they read it? Are you targeting the proper keywords in it?

Secondly, are sites in your niche linking to you? If not, find a way to get them to link to you. Maybe contact the site owner and ask to do a guest post or ask them how much it would cost you to have them link to you. 

Backlinks are seen as "recommendations". The more recommendations from quality niche related websites your site gets, the better it will rank. Guaranteed!

Simple right? I know. It's basic stuff, but it works.

So as you go into a new year, don't forget to SIMPLIFY your SEO. Complicating it won't make it easier for you to rank!

Top Manual Backlink Building Services that Work Today!

NOTE: This is a quick RankCrew.com review (see link here) of the facts behind Jon Leger's manual backlink building service and proof of how it still works today!

If you have been dabbling with search engine optimization for a number of years, you will be familiar with automated spam bots that would cost a few hundred dollars to buy, but would then allow you to create thousands upon thousands of low quality backlinks almost instantaneously.

They worked great. People were getting top search engine ranking right, left, and center and their sites would generate so much traffic that they became millionaires almost over night!

Then it happened... Google, Yahoo, and Bing (MSN Search back then) caught on and started to heavily penalize sites involved in these kinds of spammy backlinking behavior.

Site's with these kinds of low quality backlinks got penalized so hard that many Search Engine Optimization specialists (SEOs) started preaching "the end" of backlinks - claiming they did not work anymore.

Nothing could have been further from the truth though!

Backlinks still work, and they work really really well. Not those cheap (low quality) mass-blasted ones that used to work, no. They are done. In fact, the more of those your sites get today, the lower your rankings will go.

If you get high quality backlinks to your websites though, your rankings will improve - not just on Google, but on Bing and Yahoo as well!

Want to know my favorite part though? When you build high quality backlinks, you don't need hundreds of thousands of them (like you used to) to get top rankings.

Depending on the keywords you are going after, you might still need a bunch of links to get to the top of Google, but if the backlinks are top quality - you can keep on building them without ever having to fear getting penalized.

I know what you're asking...

"Ok Susan, I get it. Top quality backlinks are king. But where the heck do I get them from?"

The truth is, you either build them yourself - manually - or you have them manually built by someone else!

I used to always manually build high quality backlinks myself simply because I could not find anyone out there who would do it for me the way I wanted them to.

Heck, I even hired a bunch of people overseas who worked full time - building these backlinks for me. They were great people, but their link building sucked. It just wasn't up to par with what I considered to be "high quality" backlinks.

Did I mention it cost me a fortune to always outsource these tasks? Not to mention, by the time I finished explaining how I wanted my links built, I could have built a few dozen myself. It just wasn't for me!

So I tried fiverr. I used to outsource a lot of my manual link building there but guess what? The quality standard I had set for my own sites wasn't there. So I went back to building all my backlinks myself again.

That was until I discovered RankCrew - a manual backlink building service started by Jon Leger - one of my favorite SEO legends.

I read rave reviews about their service and signed up - added some money to the account - and then went ahead and tried them out. First one campaign, then another, and then another. I skeptically double checked all the reports they sent me and was relieved to finally have found a service that not only matched my expectations, but also exceeded it.

Just about every time they send me a completion report (that shows the backlinks they manually built for me), I go ahead and order two more campaigns. It's not only addicting, but has been a huge help in getting my sites ranked on top of the search engines.

If you're still on the edge - wondering if RankCrew is for you - just sign up already. It is free to sign up and you only buy credits if you see something you really like. I know you will like them - because their backlinks are the best I've ever bought in all my years of internet marketing.

 Join RankCrew Here! 

Sure, there are great automation tools out there that will generate a lot of backlinks on auto-pilot. Some of these are not bad. In fact, I personally use and recommend some of them, but only use them in conjunction with manual backlink building services like RankCrew!

Manual Backlink Building that Still Works Today!

One of the oldest and yet most effective ways of getting a website to rank high in the search engines is to build backlinks to it. Sure, Google has changed a lot over the years and has added hundreds of different ranking factors in its algorithm, but the truth at the end of the day remains the same: Quality backlinks still work today!

Back in the day you could use a piece of software and have it blast your website URL all over the internet and voila you had top search engine ranking for whatever keyword you were using as anchor text. That is no longer the case.

In fact, the only true way to rank on top of Google today is to either have someone manually build backlinks for you or – better yet – to build them yourself. If you prefer outsourcing it, it can cost you a bit of a fortune so it is a good idea to start with a budget.

Only build quality backlinks and your site will stand the test of time!

A service I have been using for a few months now with great success is RankCrew.com (read my review here). What I like about them so much is that all of their backlinks are built manually – assuring quality workmanship.

The best part though – they are not ridiculously priced like you might expect. In fact, I find them very reasonably priced for the service they give you!

However you choose to build your backlinks, check them out and see what they can do for you. If you prefer a more automated approach, be sure to check out some of the cool automation tools I recommend on this blog.

NOTE: I only recommend what I use or have used myself!