Backlinking is the process of creating links on other sites that lead back to your site. Hundreds of tools are available that supposedly help you automate your backlinking, but are they effective? Who wouldn't love to automate backlinking. After all, it seems to take forever to drudge through the URLs, posting, keywords, tags and descriptions, just for one stinking link! I've used several different backlinking programs and I've also done the linking myself over a period of many years. Now, i'm willing (and able) to share what has worked to increase my traffic with the least amount of grunt work.
Your Current Method of Backlinking (Probably) Sucks
Hey, mine did too. I had no problem shouting my url from the rooftops of sites like this-could-be-a-popular-site-if-it-only-had-a-real-topic.com. Did it help? Hell no. Sure, I got backlinks, but all the time taken to create them didn't do crap for bringing in customers. There's a difference, you know, between traffic and customers. Customers actually buy things. If you're randomly throwing your url out there, you may as well leave this site now because you just don't get it.
Get Smart, About Backlinking
Getting traffic that converts is about getting traffic with intent. This means getting people who visit and who already have the idea about what they want. Think about it, these people are already half way to a sale. You just need to impress the value of your product(s) on them and close the deal. Your actual traffic numbers will likely decrease when you start to backlink with intent, but your conversions will increase. What exactly is intent? It's finding forums, blogs, rss and url submission services that you can confidently say are related to the topic behind your product. Five minutes finding sites that you can comment on in a way that is genuine saves you hours of randomly posting in the wind.
If You Post Spammy Comments, You Should Be Shot
You know the spammy comments that sound like a person having a sudden break from reality, babbling about how they found Prada bags for just five bucks? Have you ever actually followed one of those links because you thought you might need a new Prada for your wardrobe? Amazing that these kinds of links even exist but they are a result of sloppy, lack of comment policing that allows auto comments to propogate. Leaving a simple sentence or two of RELEVANT conversation regarding a post is worth more than that damn Prada. Let's face it, you futz around forums like everyone else, right? Posting like a human being adds VALUE to your product and your reputation. Again, it doesn't take any more time to post a relevant comment that has intent.
Don't Always Play Salesman. It Pushes People Away
No one likes people who are always trying to sell you something, either physical or a crappy dating line. Sooner or later, you just want to walk away and that's what people will do if you consistently try to drag money out of your visitors. Once a backlink has been created and someone clicks through because you seem interesting, nothing is more repulsive than a HUGE sales page. If you aren't sure if you're selling too hard, install an analytics code and check how long your visitors stay. If they leave within a few seconds of arriving at your page from a backlink, your second impression isn't working and you need to change it. More on that next...
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