There are an unlimited number of ways to obtain high-quality backlinks. You’ve probably heard about many of them, including social bookmarking, linkbait, guest posting, directory submissions, press releases, etc. etc. etc…
Thankfully, we won’t be talking about those regurgitated strategies today. Instead, I have compiled over 100 out-of-the-box strategies to increase your link popularity and send tons of traffic your way.
This article contains all of my link building secrets, so I suggest you take some time to digest it. Grab some herbal tea (or Redbull) , whichever one works best for you, and don’t forget to bookmark the article for future reference.
The first juicy link building tactic is to create your own Ebay blog. Did you know you can
get backlinks directly from Ebay? That’s right. Ebay provides their members with their own personal blogs. Take a look at SEO superstar, Jim Boykin’s eBay blog. Notice the contextual links within the article which include his desired anchor text. If you check the source code, you will also find that these links are followed. You can create your own eBay blog and start building a few of your own high-powered links.
You can also build links with contests. Holding a blog contest is a great way to grow your blog’s audience, build inbound links, and improve your search engine presence. John Chow and John Cow have both used contests to rapidly increase his blog popularity.
You can promote your contest through the following sites…
Contest Blogger
ThePrizeBlog
ContestHound
DisregardMe
ReviewWow
MyBlogContest
TheLinkBait
ContestBeat
Blog-Contests
TheContestWinner
MyBlogContests
AboutBlogContest
ContestBlogcat
Contester
SubmitYourContest
Overall, contests are one of the best ways to generate buzz, backlinks, and new readers. Ben Cook has written an excellent article on what hosting a blog contest can do for you.
CSS galleries are another untapped source of traffic and links. FreelanceSwitch.com has received over 25,000 visitors from CSS Galleries . If you have a savvy CSS design, be sure to submit it to all of the major CSS galleries.
CSSMania
CSSRemix
BestWebGallery
WebCreme
CSSElite
CSSDrive
CSSHeaven
CSSTux
CSSGlobe
CoolHomePages
Each of these sites can send you quick and easy traffic.
Another site that can send you some good traffic is KillerStartups. They review over 30 internet startups every day. This is an excellent link opportunity and an excellent traffic strategy considering that the site has an Alexa ranking of 5,255 at the time of this writing. You can submit your site to http://www.killerstartups.com/submitted/.
Lists are another great way to build some quality inbound links to your website. No, I’m not talking about creating resource lists for social media sites like Digg and del.icio.us. I’m talking about building links with sites like listible.com.
Listible is a Web 2.0 property that allows you to create lists of resources. By joining the
community, you can create your own list and add resources to existing lists. Where
appropriate, you can add your own link, but remember to add value to the community first. Become a valued contributor to the site before you start posting your own links.
You can use this same strategy on the following sites…
Listverse
ListafterList
Listphile
OnmyList
Whatali.st
Here’s a technique that I was hesitant to share, but I’ve decided to trust my readers not to abuse the following information.
During some of my recent research, I discovered a hidden linking technique on Flickr. This discovery came to me while studying the backlinks of Glitter-Graphics.com. If you examine their backlinks on Yahoo Site Explorer, you will find that a large portion of their backlinks come from Flickr.
For example, here’s one Flickr page that contains their link…
http://www.flickr.com/photos/95572727@N00/211239773
Ok, so where’s the link? If you scroll down the page a bit, you will find a butterfly flapping it’s wings. That butterfly is actually a link to http://www.glitter-graphics.com.
Here’s the source code for the link:
<a href=”http://www.glitter-graphics.com”><img src=”http://dl6.glitter-graphics.net/pub/10/10666z5mfbj3yf7.gif” alt=”myspace layouts, myspace codes, glitter graphics” height=”50″ width=”100″></a>
They were even able to include their keywords in the alt tag.
You might also notice that this Flickr page is a pr 4… Not bad.
Ok. I don’t want to spoil any more of the fun. I’ll let your imagination determine how you
might use this nifty little trick.
Speaking of tricks, here’s another interesting find. It’s called Cool Site of the Day. This site lists some of the most interesting sites from around the web. Best of all, you can submit your site as well if you think it’s up to snuff. Not only does this present an excellent link opportunity, but Cool Site of the Day is known for sending thousands of visitors to their featured sites.
If your site is chosen, it will be featured on the homepage and announced to their email list of over 150,000 subscribers.
Much like Digg, Cool Site of the Day also has a ripple effect. The featured sites are often picked up by journalists throughout the world. Some of the previously featured sites have been quoted on the BBC News website, featured in USA Today, picked up by radio stations and quoted in a number of other media outlets.
Sites similar to Cool Site of the Day that you can submit to include…
CoolPick
AskMen
CSOTD
TopsiteoftheDay
Yahoo Picks
Blackstump
Family First
Do you have a unique or entertaining website? If so, you can drop your links at the following websites…
Leenks
I-am-Bored.com
Bored
BoredatWork
Ubersite
College Humor
Stimes
Ebaumsworld
Would you like to turn your blog posts into podcasts without having to do any extra work? Well, I can’t see why you wouldn’t because doing this offers your readers a new and unique way to absorb your content, not to mention a ton of new link opportunities.
One of my favorite tools, Odiogo.com, will instantly give your blog a voice. Odiogo will automatically convert your RSS feeds, text articles and blog posts to iPod-ready audio files. Once you’ve installed their free service, you can then submit your new podcast to all of the podcast directories, generating tons of new backlinks to your site. If you sell software, you can generate 1,000s of links by distributing demos of your software to directories across the Web. All you have to do is convert your demo software into what’s called a PAD file . You can create your PAD file using a free PAD generation tool known as PADGen.
You can then submit your PAD file to over 1,000 download websites.
If you want, you can automate this process at SubmitMySoft.
Utilizing this technique will bring you lots of high quality links and can also increase your sharware sales.
Keep in mind that you can distribute a number of different types of files on download sites, including screensavers, widgets, toolbars, Firefox extensions, Internet Explorer Add-ons, and much more. Get creative with your marketing strategies.
You can use a similar technique to distribute a demo of your software, pdf ebooks, videos, and audios to torrent sites.
Submit your content to the top 35 torrent sites.
Michelle MacPhearson has a step-by-step guide to getting traffic with torrents on her website. I strogly suggest that you check it out and start benefiting from this unique traffic and link building strategy.
Releasing your content on torrent sites is one of the best ways to seed a viral marketing campaign.
If you’re distributing a free ebook, then you’ll want to submit it to all of the most popular
ebook directories…
MindlikeWater
ebook2u
Jogena
WisdomEbooks
GetFreeEbooks
EbookPalace
EbookMall
Scribd
Published.com
Ebook88
Virtual-Ebooks
EbooksTemplateSource
Ebook Tags
Ideamarketers
EbookJungle
Syndicating your ebook is an excellent strategy for building your list, increasing your traffic, and building links to your site.
If you run a web application, you can add your site to…
SimpleSpark
Web2List
Go2Web20
FeedmyApp
Makeuseof
Emily Chang
Find Apps
Listio
AllthingsWeb2
Search Free Apps
2.0 Websites
BuzzShout
Web2.0Searchr
NeoBinaries
Reflexz
Social media campaigns are one of the best ways to build links. Unfortunately, most marketers are still not taking advantage of the many benefits provided by a strategic social media campaign. In 2008, viral marketing will be one of the best ways to generate hundreds of inbound links, increase your search engine rankings, increase your RSS subscribers, and build buzz for your website.
Some of the best social bookmarking sites for sending a flood of traffic to your website include Digg, Del.icio.us, StumbleUpon, Reddit, and Propeller. However, keep in mind that there are also a number of niche social bookmarking sites and upcoming stars like Mixx.com that can send hundreds of targeted visitors to your site.
Andy Hagan provides the Top 29 Niche Social Media Sites (That Actually Send Traffic) on his blog.
Best of all, you can leverage these smaller social bookmarking sites to help you get to the front page of the major players like Digg and Del.icio.us. In fact, vandelaydesign.com has a step-by-step guide on how to do exactly that.
For an extensive list of social bookmarking sites, check out this list. You’ve probably heard about building links with Youtube, but you may not have uncovered this unique strategy revealed by Neil Patel.
Basically, if you embed one of the YouTube videos on your website, they link back if you are one of the top 5 sites to drive traffic to a particular YouTube video. A link from YouTube is a good link, regardless of whether it’s no follow or not. People get way too
hung up on the whole “no follow” deal. The key is to build links where it makes sense.
Website reviews are another way to generate some excellent inbound links and get valuable feedback on your website.
There are a number of websites that will review your website for free. However, make sure you get involved in the community before you ask for a review. Here are some of the best forums for getting feedback on your website…
UK Webmaster World Forums
Anizone
DigitalPoint
NamePros
GameMakerGames
Webmaster-Talk
Webmaster-Forums
Webdev Forums
Webdesign Forum
Web designer Forum
Ozzu
Critics-Corner
Site Owners Forums
Sitepoint Forums
Warrior Forum
V7n
SeoChat Forums
Search Engine Watch Forums
DnForum
DevShed Forums forums.devshed.com
aBestWeb
KillerSites
Successful Blog
CreamAid
Site Critic
Hallway Testing
Want to exchange reviews with other blogs?
Here’s another interesting find…ReviewBack. This site allows you to exchange reviews with other blogs.
Reviewback is an excellent alternative for those who don’t want to spend their money on ReviewMe.
There are numerous sites that do blog review trading. Here’s an excellent list from Courtney Tuttle.
Do you comment on other blogs? If so, why not get some more attention by becoming a top commentator. There are many blogs which feature their top commentators in the sidebar. You can see an example of this at JohnChow.com.
Here’s a list of sites that have this plugin installed.
If you write about web design ,graphics, or programming, there are hundreds of tutorial
sites that will link to your tutorial. Here are just a few of them…
Good-Tutorials
Tutorialized
Pixel2Life
Photoshop Roadmap
Flash Perfection
Dzone
Rnel
Design Float
CG Tutorials
Pslover
Tweako
Tips Clique
Fstutorials
Graphics World
Tutorials Garden
Photoshop Pack
Tutorial Kit
Kaos-Tutorials
Total Tutorials
These sites do not duplicate your article but rather link back to it on your own website.
Many of these tutorials receive 100’s or even 1000’s of visits.
(Quick Hint: Tutorialized.com also has a section for SEO and marketing tutorials.)
Tutorial sites are an excellent avenue for extending the reach of your content.
Speaking of web design. If you are an experienced programmer, you can use your skills to obtain thousands of inbound links with your own custom wordpress themes. This is one of the strategies that Carlocab.com used in achieving a frontpage ranking for the highly competitive keyword phrase “make money online”. Wpdesigner.com and Performancing.com are some other websites that have used this tactic extensively.
If you know how to design your own Wordpress themes, they can provide you with a goldmine of links. However, if you don’t know how to program your own theme, you can always have someone create one for you.
You can also create a design in Photoshop and then have a site like Wpcustomization.com create a customized Wordrpess theme based on your design.
Once you have created your Wordpress theme, it’s time to promote it.
Here’s a list of places where you can submit your wordpress theme for increased exposure…
Wpdesigner
Wordpress Theme Viewer
Weblogs Tools Collection
Wordpress Theme Codex
JohnTp Wordpress Blog
Blogflux
ThemesBase
BloggingThemes
Wpskins
Wordpress Theme Forum
Fresheezy
EmilyRobbins Blog
WpSnap
WpThemesFree
Blogging Themes
Wordpress Wow
Wordpress Theme Base
Free Wordpress Themes
iThemes
Rock-Kitty Themes
Web2Feel
Themes-wp
There is also a growing list of forums that will happily take your theme listings.
DigitalPoint Forums
Theme Vibes
Graphic Design Forum
Easy Wordpress Forum
Bloggeries
Webmaster Talk
Each of these websites will help to increase the number of people who download your Wordpress theme. There’s always a sense of satisfaction everytime you see a blog using one of your creations.
The Web 2.0 world has transformed article syndication. Article marketing is NOT dead. It’s just different.
In fact, one unique website has turned article marketing into a social networking activity. It’s called Gather.com. Check it out and submit your own articles. Get involved in the community and you can then share your articles with all of your friends.
You can also expand your article marketing by converting your articles into PDF files. Once you have done this, you can then post PDF versions of your articles to Scribd and FreeIQ.
Another site I like to submit my articles to is Work.com. This is a very valuable site to
get backlinks from, especially if your website is related to business or marketing.
Search Engine Journal has an excellent article on how to add Work.com to your link building campaign.
One of the best linking strategies that people take for granted is the power of their own internal link structure.
I suggest that you read the SEO Fast Start Guide by Dan Thies to learn about optimal internal linking within your own website.
Simply by optimizing your internal link structure, you can increase your search engine
rankings.
Do you have an ecommerce website? If so, here’s a list of sites where you canlist your products.
Wikis are another excellent source of inbound links. The key is to become a valuable
contributor of the community before you drop any of your links into related articles.
Here’s a comprehensive list of wikis you can start contributing to.
Another one of my favorite link building techniques is interviews. Interviewing other
bloggers can generate lots of buzz and incoming links. One blogger who has benefited greatly from interviews is Leo from ZenHabits.com.
Neil Patel provides some excellent tips on how to leverage interviews for links and traffic.
Don’t be afraid to ask for an interview. I promise, most bloggers don’t bite 
Hold on to your seat, because I’ve saved one of the best link building tips for last.
It’s known as widget marketing. Widgets are mini internet applications that are offered via a 3rd party. They can easily be integrated into web pages, Facebook profiles, iGoogle start pages, and more.
Because of this, a widget can spread your link to thousands of other websites.
The web is quickly becoming a world of widgets. Amazon.com has their own widget to let customers show off their favorite Amazon products. USA Today offers a widget that enables bloggers to display the latest new updates.
Why shouldn’t you have one also? If you don’t know how to program, don’t worry. You can instantly turn your blog into a widget at WidgetBox.com.
Blue Hat SEO has released an interesting article on how to use widgets to funnel hundreds of links and visitors into your sites.
You can promote your widgets on the following websites…
Widgepedia
Google Widget Directory
Yahoo Widgets
WidgetBox
SpringWidgets
Widget Gallery
Snipperoo Widget Directory
RateitAll Widgets
Friendster Widget Directory
Netvibes Widget Diretory
Xanga Widget Directory
You can also turn your widget into a Facebook app with App Accelerator. Popular Facebook applications can send thousands of visitors to your site per day. It’s just a matter of being creative and taking action.
Start implementing some of these strategies, and you will quickly see increases in your traffic and search engine rankings. Taking action on just ONE strategy each day can make an incredible difference.
If you know of other untapped linking strategies, please feel free to share them in the comments below.
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