Discover the Power of Linking: Link Building Basics session at SES NY covered a great deal of ground in representing both Search Engine and Search Marketer viewpoints on the subject of links.

The second half of the session comprised of search marketers Kristjan Mar Hauksson, Debra Mastaler, and Peter Van der Graaf, which greatly contrasted the presentations given by the search engine reps.

Overall, it was light on the idealist link concepts, but full of real world applied link building tactics. This post picks up exactly where we left off in the first part of this session’s coverage.

Kicking off things on the search marketer side was Kristjan Mar Hauksson, director of search and managing partner at Nordic eMarketing. Kristjan’s presentation was about the basics of link building in a multilingual environment.

He asks, Why should I care about link exchanges/link building?

-It increases your traffic

-It improves search engine visibility through more link popularity

-Gives an extra resource to your website

-Higher ROI

Kristjan explains that searching for “Click Here” in Google retrieves Adobe Acrobat Reader as the #1 result because of the many sites that have Adobe links on”Click Here” anchor text when making sure users have the right plugin to display their content.

Now search for “leave here”.  You may see that a Disney site ranks well; a joke within the porn site industry linking to Disney on anchor text like “If You are Younger Than 18, Leave Here”

Of course, you shouldn’t use “click here” as your anchor text. Don’t waste your linking efforts, instead Kristjan advocates creating your own “click here” strategy.

Your “Click Here” Strategy
What do you want your “click here” phrase to be – what do you want your optimal anchor text to be? Kristjan says you then use that  in your link request anchor tags and use that in your description text.

Where to start then? For link building in a multilingual environment, organization is key. Kristjan suggested an extremely useful spreadsheet for this process, some fields it should include are Site/Candidate, Target Country/Site Language, Link Request Language, Contact Type – Email, Form, Phone, Contact Information, Site Page Rank, basically information that can help further narrow down to your optimal links for pursual.

Do some analysis and preparation on the front end of your process; use the keyword tool to advise your anchor text. For your targeted language, use the locally appropriate tool ex. German Google Keyword Tool  etc. You can also use Freetranslation.com to get a feel for words. This can be sort of a dangerous suggestion, but it is often a good start for raw ideas.

The Concept of Region
Based on Christian’s own experience, there are 4 key elements in regards to local visibility

Language of your site is  35%

Language and type of links point to you 35%

Your ccTDL (country code top level domain) like .de for Germany 25%

Your hosting locations 5%

Kristjan then presented an example for attaining visibility in the UK:
Create a special UK landing page, then find sites with a co.uk ending that are relevant link candidates. You could use a search operator query like “add link” “guest house” site:co.uk.

Now here’s the hard part; Kristjan started with 4340 potential linking partners after running this tactic, but after weighing against his criteria, he only ended up with 56 potential sites. The best advice he can offer is to run this process again with different permutations, and take your time.

Kristjan says to not just throw out link requests, instead create a list where you have reviewed and weighted all candidates. Set your goals and research right from the beginning, and don’t shy away from doing a link request in a language you don’t know about. It’s all about being patient.

The next search marketer to take the stage was Debra Mastaler, president of Alliance Link and easily one of the most reputable authorities on linkbuilding.

Debra’s topic was very tactical, all about links from directories and how to attract links from the media.

Getting Links from the Media
Debra’s media fact: any time your site is mentioned in the media, it’s an implied endorsement and free advertising. The basic way to get this is to issue press release though they don’t generate many links by themselves. You can use either free services like PRLog.org or paid services like PRWeb.com and Businesswire.com.

One paid service that Debra likes is Marketwire because of their market penetration. Always watch out how much you pay for press release, make sure they’re only for a huge event or something special.

On the other hand, don’t overlook the “niche wire” services. Think about where your business is focused. There are communities for host of demographics & interests; chances are at least one will line up with your organization.

She stressed that you make sure you tell people in your press release you are willing to give interviews.

When you’re looking for journalists that would care about your company, there are a number of classic places you can find them. You need to start by performing a backlink analysis of your competitors;  look at who’s written about them in the past, make a excel sheet to keep track.

By the same token, set up automated alert services to find these opportunities; Debra likes Trackle and Yotify, while wearing a decidedly healthy “tinfoil hat” when it comes to Google Alerts monitoring.

You can also use Twitter to find key journalists, the good ones should be tweeting about your industry right now anyways.

There are also media lists that can be a one stop shop, she uses CyberJournalist.net and BlogCatalog.

Engaging Journalists
Don’t be afraid to call journalists, you need to start getting on their radar by genuinely engaging them. Go ahead and comment on their blog, just don’t be stupid, actually lead meaningful discussion. Be sure and link to their blog, reference them by name in a post, ping them however you can think of so that they know who you are.

Links From Directories
Debra says that these days, most directories are crap. However, directories that are editorially sorted (read by humans) end up still being worthwhile. Dmoz, Yahoo Directory, and Splash Directory are all considered to still have good value. With these directories, you get 1 link for 1 site and that’s how it works. Even if your site has lots of diverse and worthy content.

Take note that there are good specific directories for each one of your content areas, so use multiple directories for different sections of your site. Also take a look at niche directories, they usually do not cost much or anything at all, tend to rank well, and they tend to pass popularity since they’ve been around so long.

Make absolutely sure that your page is indexed before you submit to a directory, otherwise you won’t receive the same value from the outset. Debra remarks that “Adsense is the scourge of the internet”. Having Adsense on your page will deter you from receiving directory listings. Don’t waste your time and money on directories that host more Adsense than actual listings; you shouldn’t have to compete against Adsense ads.

Coming back to the topic of media links, Debra reiterates that after build your own database of journalists and media people, do what it takes to get on their radar. Send them a fruit basket if you need to, just don’t annoy them.

Closing out the session was Peter Van Der Graaf, advanced search specialist at NetSociety. Peter explains that link building isn’t as trial and error as you might think. You may currently be saying to yourself, “Ive Got Linkable Content, Now What?” For this, Peter lays out logical approaches for each stage of the linkbuilding process.

Link Building Stage 1: Research
Ask who are my possible link partners, how can i categorize them, how can i approach them? Do this first for your own website and look at your naturalness and fullness of your linking profile. Then do the same for your competitors in the top ten search results.

Link Building Stage 2: Linkbait Creation
You already have great content, but don’t be afraid to advise new linkbait content based on research and topical relations to desired links. You should also think about content contribution with you linking partners; things like guest blogging or co-blogging.

In addition, you need have some sort of visitor reward or linking reward. You could send free samples for review or you could offer access to exclusive “must-see” information.

Link Building Stage 3: Distribution
It’s often best to establish some level of personalized contact with your link partners. The really important link partners should always be contacted by you personally. Success increases dramatically with personalization, Dear Webmaster < Hello, John < Hey, I’m a fan too!

People are used to spammy and impersonal link requests, don’t get lost in this bunch. Do granular research on your link partners; who are they and what do they like? Peter gives a short example:

“Hi Mike, It seems we’re both Yankees fans and I agree Girardi should be replaced blah blah blah” then smoothly transition to your link request.

Grades of Personalization
Very Important Link Partners – require specific link bait and personal contact

Important Partners – require personal contact

For the Masses – require less personalization overall

What is viral link building?
Peter gave us an entertaining case study where he had  1 week to rank for “world cup soccer” before it was actually slated to begin. How is this possible to do, to get 1000 links quickly without tripping off the search engines?

It’s simple; sites related to newsworthy events have this happen all the time; getting picked up in CNN can send you 1000 links easily and in a completely natural way.

What Peter did was create a story about football haters being fed up with the World Cup, and staged a live local event of college students against the World Cup. The story eventually got picked up all around, even on CNN international and they links followed of course.

This concluded the session, and overall I found it to be an interesting grab bag of “perfect world” linking idealism appropriate for a young SEO’s bed time story and the “quick and dirty” techniques search marketers do in back alleys to survive.

I hope Search Engine Strategies has more of these perspective-mesh sessions in the future, maybe with some extra room for speaker to speaker discussion/fist fighting.

Rebecca Kelley, Search Marketing Consultant at SEOmoz, spoke about the benefits of “healthy and vigorous master-baiting links and visibility.” Successful link bait creates a domino effect which results in a “ton” of links – links are votes – and the more relevant Google sees your site the higher your keywords rank.

One page can strengthen your entire domain. It also can get your site some traffic stickiness in ripples over time. Rebecca recommends doing your homework by researching your sector’s link worthiness in sites like Digg and current net trends in sites like Technorati, eBay pulse, ask.com IQ, Lycos Top50, AOL Search Hot Searches, Flickr, Yahoo Buzz, GoogleTrends and Explore/Tags.

“Don’t neglect your industry.” Seek links from related blogs and sites to gain “votes” from sites that have relevance, authority, and better stickiness. Check out Google Blog Search and micro sites like Sphinn as part of the research process.

“Good ol’ fashioned brainstorming works too.” Ask “what would I find interesting”, ask coworkers and friends, and write everything down. She used the expression “verbal diarrhea” to describe the link-baiting brainstorming process.

Be Careful About Going Negative.
It’s important to be aware of negative linkbait cons. “Are you brave or just being an asshole; will this affect your brand; do the ends justify the means?” In order to receive ongoing value from linkbait, look before you leap by doing some pre-launch PR – and keep an eye on your traffic.

Don’t forget that linkbait is not always successful nor does it always target your typical audience. Linkbait isn’t necessarily a solution but it is a “kick ass strategy.” It’s “kind of like gambling”. You always have to be willing to go out there and try it again.

Brent Csutoras is a self described “avid social media junky” who “does it all day long”. He overviewed basic linkbait techniques in the context of digg which he sees as exponentially valuable.Top 10 lists are still extremely effective including negative lists. You want to make sure you mix it up by using different numbers and going negative (“13 Things to Never say to Police Officer”). How-to baits should offer value by being helpful and easy to read (“How Sleep Works”).

Current events are an outstanding link-bait method for success but you have to act fast, do your research, and be accurate. You have 15 to 30 minutes max to get it posted. Find ways to add value and perspective to current events. You can’t put false information out there to succeed.

Offbeat or extreme linkbait like “biggest, amazing, smallest, and longest” often wins. (“Woman Finds Boyfriends Porn Stash-KILLS HIM” and “Woman had bullet in head for 64 years”) can be very successful though clients could be wary. It’s very important not to damage your brand or violate a site’s TOS.

Crafting Social Linkbait
First and foremost is due diligence and research. Study RSS feeds, search engines, communities. Search in communities to find out what has been successful in the past. Title and descriptions come next. Be simple, strong, focused, capitalize and use numeric numbers. Craft your title and description to tell the whole story by “giving the juice up front”: (“Secret Apartment in Mall Parking Garage Discovered”). Focus on what the true story is – which has viral potential – and highlight that.

Interact and share by contacting your buddies and interacting in the comments threads. Up-vote comments because Digg is a “bandwagon” community. Send submissions to your friends in the provided mechanisms. Also share in your “real” networks by hitting up your friends by AIM or email and offer the same services back.

Social Media Tips
Relate to the community, use images, limit ads to Digg referrals, offer a cut and paste summary for linking. Avoid spelling errors, jargon mistakes, bad information, and duplicate content. Check what worked before, be link worthy, and submit at the right time. Do not submit in evenings, weekends, or holidays. The highest percentage for success at the highest usage time…when people are at work. That’s when there is the highest chance of success. Digg users dislike online poker subjects, self-promotion, and announcement pages.

Can your server handle 500 hits per second?
The Digg effect is not something to be trifled with so make sure you have caching enabled and test it ahead of time. Cameron shared that he has been kicked off of six different servers. Test and retest to make sure you’re ready.

“A lot of people miss out on what social media is.” You can’t go be an online marketing-minded person when you’re doing social media.” Treat it like a real social event. Lurk, get to know people, share, engage and THEN exploit. It’s “social” media and you need to be social.

Cameron Olthuis, CEO, Factive Media was the final speaker.

Cameron stressed the need to have the website ready. Like the other speakers he shared anecdotes of horribly broken servers which resulted in missed opportunities for links. Remarkable content on your website is king. Informational, controversial, humorous, news, and tools are common successful linkbait topics.

Linkbaiting is massive link building. Traffic, branding your site as “expert”, people who bookmark your site on other social media sites, growing an enhanced link profile, and media publicity are the key benefits.

Look for additional SMX coverage @ Search Engine Land, and SEORoundTable, and Search Engine Journal.

[NOTE: This is one of a series of posts Marty is blogging live from SMX Social Media New York. They are packed with information and taken on-the-fly and include short comments and quick notes instead of more thorough descriptions. Watch for follow-on posts that expand on these ideas.]

Todd Malicoat, AKA StuntDubl, has created a legendary brand among search marketing insiders and needs little introduction. I first had the pleasure of watching him present “Digg pointers” along with Neil Patel at SES Chicago 2006 and was immediately engaged by his no-shit high-integrity approach to content, link building, making friends, sharing, and building his own brand. This guy is a true search marketing artist.

StuntDubl was an early SEM blogger, linkbaiter and foundational search marketing practitioner. With recent posts like “The SEO Playbook – Welcome to the Rabbit Hole Alice,” Todd is still quietly active in the blogging community as he builds companies, speaks at search marketing shows, and selectively services clients.

Recently I interviewed him by phone. We talked about linking, search marketing, StumbleUpon, his early Digg days, vetting SEM firms, starting an SEO career, and other practical topics. You’re invited to listen to the MP3 and read the full transcript. This is a must-listen for anyone considering a career in search marketing and seasoned veterans alike.

Marty: Todd, you’re one of the most respected link baiters in the world. I’m curious as to how you got your start in social network link building and if you have any anecdotes regarding your background and early viral successes.

Todd: The first time I did that vanity search for my own name and went out and found my own resume out there online, you know my resume had my name, phone number, home address, everything else, and I went, “Oh well, I guess that’s so much for privacy,” and so I kind of took the proactive approach to it. So as much as my name is out there and everything else, it really wasn’t an accident of, I was pretty much a shameless whore with it, with promoting myself and just always putting content out, you know. Like this year, you know, always being willing to do an interview or talk with someone or record some content here and there. So that’s really kind of how from a personal perspective I got involved in the social networking aspect of the web in general, just kind of within the Internet marketing community, and just really getting to know people and having conversations with people, and like you were saying earlier before we started recording, it’s just kind of a very cool community full of all kinds of interesting people, and the fact that you get to know those people and then how it works, it’s really a pretty amazing thing.

Marty: What was the first actual link bait content you ever blew out on the Internet, Todd?

Todd: Yeah, I really always did it as the SEO thing, and I guess I didn’t even think of it as link bait at the time as much, so it was more really just writing posts about SEO before there was a whole lot of SEO bloggers, I guess. And that came from, I went to a webmaster world show and realized that everybody just knew my screen name and webmaster world where I had been posting and such, so that then became the blog, and then just continues to write there, and it wasn’t so much where it is now of specifically saying I’m going to craft a piece of content to go out and get some links, it was more just writing about, I guess it was a little more authentic at that point –

Marty: Mm hmm.

Todd: – but it wasn’t specifically geared to draw links –

Marty: Huh.

Todd: – and it wasn’t quite as outrageous and, not even outrageous but just, uh –

Marty: Hyperbolic.

Todd: Yeah, yeah. It wasn’t explicitly for links, it just kind of naturally did that, and I think in ways I’ve really, you know, shot myself in the foot there, you know, because every time I do do a piece of content or something, it gets called out as link bait now. [laughs] So if I do an exceptional piece of content, you know, it gets called out as link bait all the time, which can be a good or bad thing, I guess, depending on how you’re looking at it, and certainly it is and certainly I love the links. And part of how I got into it was just having, got into link building for so long and knowing how tedious and time consuming, but at the same time valuable it was, the link baiting thing just became a no-brainer of people.

Marty: Right. Do you remember specifically when you began to think, if I could do this for my own SEO, SEM content, I can do it for clients, and I’m going to go out and do it in genres and arenas different from SEO?

Todd: It’s just really only been within the last year and a half that the whole link baiting phenomenon really took off. I’d have to go back and see when the term was kind of coined there. I guess maybe a year and a half, two years ago now. So I think for me it was the first time I saw something really do real well on digg and then just hit digg and it got picked up all over the place. So link baiting, you know, itself has been around for forever, just in, you know, putting out a promotional piece of content and a public relations stunt, or whatever –

Marty: Um hmm.

Todd: – and then attracting publicity. So for me it was just the first time I thought, oh wow, that was pretty easy to get a good piece of content on digg. I just need to figure out how to get more good pieces of content on digg and then just by virtue of looking there it’s going to build, you know, who knows how many links.

Marty: Um hmm.

Todd: So that for me probably was the point, the first time I blogged something and it made it on digg, and I went, whoa, this, that got a whole bunch of links, so that was probably the turnaround point. And then it was creating content for that distribution channel that then got me on that channel to other audiences.

Marty: Are you a Stumbleupon fan, Todd?

Todd: I am. I really haven’t done it as much as I’d like to, but I’ve heard fantastic things and I’ve dabbled with it enough to know that I really should be doing more with it. I –

Marty: Mm hmm.

Todd: – I’ve really seen some cool stuff come out of Stumbleupon and traffic is fantastic from what I’ve seen and some links out of it too.

Marty: A lot has changed in the last two years of content publication on the Internet. What do you see as the fundamental values and techniques that have not changed?

Todd: Probably the hooks, for sure. You know, we deemed them the link baiting hooks, and there’s probably even more than what is out there, you know, that we kind of established. I think Nick Wilson was the first one. There was a debate at some point I think between Nick Wilson and Aaron Wall coining the term link baiting and Nick wrote one of the first posts on building bait hooks, so the resource hook, the attack hook –

Marty: Um hmm.

Todd: – the humor hook, and various different, there’s probably three or four other ones there as well. And those are going to be fundamental. The headlines, I think, is hugely fundamental.

Marty: Mm hmm.

Todd: The one for that, the blog that came out of nowhere, not really out of nowhere, but really has gained tons of notoriety now is copyblogger because he’s such a fantastic copyrighter and he focuses on those same core fundamental elements over and over that are just excellent and worth reviewing constantly.

Marty: It’s clear from your writings that you place an extremely high value on tools and research. After a client engages you to create content designed to attract attention, traffic and links, what process do you typically undergo to establish experts, research partnership opportunities, and explore a topic’s sphere and buzz?

Todd: So I think that’s one of the areas that you just can’t automate. That’s part of what makes SEO special and that, well you know, no matter what big company comes along and creates custom solutions isn’t going to last forever because the research, the most important research, is always going to be done on the bleeding edge of whatever the community is.

Marty: Right.

Todd: So a big part of that is going into the communities and, you know, becoming an inquisitive member of them, and going in as a new person and saying, I’m really clueless here, who are the experts, and learning how to listen to people and how to be a, kind of, member of the community without being an overly aggressive or overly parasitic member, I guess, without going in and saying, hey teach me all this stuff.

Marty: Um hmm.

Todd: Going in and being kind of the ideal new member because every community is used to new people and they embrace new people –

Marty: Um hmm.

Todd: – but they do so with a certain threshold of tolerance. So going into those communities and doing that, and that’s really happened in the social networks, you know, digg, Stumbleupon, you’ve kind of got to go in there with, you can’t just go in with the attitude of, I want to rape and pillage and take everything for myself and the selfish attitude, you really have to be learning about what every community is. So I think that’s important within any social, or within any industry, from loans to mortgage to open source code, you know, I think you really have to have that mentality going in of learning about the community and that’s a fundamental part of the research that can’t be done with the automated tools and everything else. There are tools to make it a little bit easier. One I really like is Aaron Wall’s keyword tool, the SEO book, because he’s got all of the keyword information, all of the social sites in one place, so you search for something and you have kind of a repository portal of just different sources.

Marty: That’s really interesting. There’s so much demand for search marketing professionals out there and lots of people want to get into it, many of who are migrating from traditional areas of media and advertising and marketing and public relations, it’s all folding into the Internet, and pretty soon the guys who sell advertising for the cable network and who work at the local PR firm, we’re all going to be playing for the same coaches. What words of support and wisdom do you have for professionals who are heading towards jobs in the SEM world?

Todd: Yes. Ultimately that it’s kind of an idea economy that we’re in now. It’s not, you know, the industrial economy or the automation economy. The money is generally made from great ideas, it’s not from getting over on people or just having a short term solution to something, it’s having a great idea that’s long term and scaleable and that people really like and enjoy and will spread. It sounds kind of, I guess, cliché, but that would be the biggest advice is, you know, coming up with great ideas.

Marty: Um hmm. Now on the other side, for clients who seek professional search marketing help, what advice would you give them to qualify the credibility of a search marketing firm?

Todd: It’s a fairly small community, really. As much as there’s a lot of SEOs out there, but the SEO community is a small one.

Marty: Right.

Todd: And I honestly only came across a handful of SEOs that really were never active in that community that were worth their salt. So generally it’s kind of finding out within, you know, finding the SEO community, becoming a small part of it at some level, at least taking enough interest in it to become a part of it at a very low level, and finding out the provider’s reputation is within the community.

Marty: If somebody has a good reputation on Sphinn that’s a likely indicator that they’re a reputable SEO then?

Todd: Right. Or even just asking around. One of favorite techniques when I’m, I love to go deep sea fishing, and one of my favorite techniques that I use for that, that I think applies to SEO is I go and say, well if you were booked up for that day, who would you recommend? You know, who catches fish? Another interesting one that I have had, have come across, was a potential client had searched for a term that one of my clients was ranking for, he then called up my client and said hey, I’m in this industry and I’m really not a competitor to you, I just searched for this term and was curious who did your SEO because you’re doing really well, and they referred him back over to me and he said, this was how I found you, yada, yada, and I was like, wow, that’s a pretty good way to find an SEO, I suppose, is find out who is doing the SEO for the people in the top 10.

Marty: Cool. Do you ever feel the need to unplug? And how do you escape, Todd?

Todd: Absolutely, and I’m feeling the need more and more. [laughs] So we were talking before we started recording there as well, I love to travel, so I’ll be gone to a friend’s wedding there in the Philippines shortly. I love to get out and, the conferences are kind of unplugging, even though it’s still work it’s getting away and I consider most of the people in the industry to be among my best friends for certain, so that’s always a good way to unplug. Fishing. Fishing is one of my favorites – getting out on the boat. Nothing like a day on the water, just relaxing.

Our clients are awesome.

Still search marketing is not an exact science and amounts to very hard work. In the early days of a blog it can feel like you’re writing for nobody. PPC requires constant creativity and vigilance, organic SEO based on keyword research is only for those fastidious few.

Late last week a well respected UK linkbait blogger posted a “response” to linkbaiting we sent his way. I questioned whether to publish this graphic but it’s SO DARN FUN. What we love about his post is that Lyndon speaks to the real issue at hand-keeping promises made by attention grabbing headlines. At the risk of perceived self-indulgence, here you go: