Link Building Campaigns - A Very Different Business Perspective | Link Building For Real Estate

Group Organizer

Jan 14, 2009 12:26:29 PM

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This is a long post, but I hope it goes a long way toward shedding some light on the whole link building discussion in a way that is rarely, if ever, put forward publicly by anyone in the SEO business.

Frankly, I tire quickly of the common link building advise that completely ignores the "what does it really take to do it" question. Some link building advice is so costly, difficult to manage, or unproductive that advising agents who need links to do it borders on the ridiculous.

I think it makes more sense to stop and consider this from a rational business perspective...

Let's think about some of the most common link building methods for agents (in no particular order):

Content Citations
Blog Commenting
Blogroll Links
Social Network Links
Link Directory Reciprocation
Free Directories
Paid Directories
Portals (Trulia, Zillow, etc.)
Press Releases
Content Citations
Article Submission Portals
Local Community & Local Vendors

That just about covers it. If anyone has another method, please post it...

All of the above methods of getting links have a cost of acquisition, a "accessibility" value, a "method of acquisition" (or methodology) profile, a timeframe, and a quantity availability of some sort, if we consider that really only the first link from a domain is the one that counts to a search engine.

There are also duration and quality attributes, but, given that if the above links come for valid, viable, genuine websites, we'll ignore that nest of questions for now.

So, any agent embarking on a link building program, consciously or not, will immediately encounter the accessibility issue, the methodology issue, and the full cost of acquisition issue (either sweat equity or direct cost). We all know that links do not materialize out of thin air.

Content Citations
Accessibility: Low - you have to find other sites willing to site your content, AND make them aware of it
Cost per link: Potentially Very high - You have to have enough content that is worthy of citation, then promote it
Methodology: Complex and not suited to all people, countless hours writing and promoting
Quantity potential: Very high, in the right circumstances.
Timeframe: Very hard to determine, each situation is different.

Blog Commenting
Accessibility: Very high - blogs are everywhere
Cost per link: Low
Methodology: Moderate to Easy
Quantity potential: High
Timeframe: Immediate

(most blog comment links are "nofollow", but they do build awareness)

Blogroll Links from Gratuitous Citations (i.e non-reciprocated)
Accessibility: Low
Cost per link: High, due to the requirement to qualify
Methodology: Moderately complex
Quantity potential: High
Timeframe: May take months

Blogroll Links - Reciprocated exchanges
Accessibility: Moderate
Cost per link: Medium
Methodology: Moderately complex
Quantity potential: High
Timeframe: Within a week or two to start getting them, gracious protocol required for success
SEE ALSO: http://blog.domaindrivers.com/2009/01/13/tip-1-blogrolling-for-links/

Social Network Links
Accessibility: High
Cost: Low
Methodology: Moderately complex to get enough that matter
Quantity potential: about 50, max
Timeframe: Immediate

Link Directory Reciprocation
Accessibility: High
Cost: Moderate
Methodology: Moderately complex
Quantity potential: High
Timeframe: Within a week to start getting them, gracious protocol required for success

Free General Web Directories
Accessibility: High
Cost: Low
Methodology: Easy
Quantity potential: There are about 200 active, viable free web directories. Not 2000 as some people claim
Timeframe: Immediate

Free Real Estate Directories
Accessibility: High
Cost: Low
Methodology: Easy
Quantity potential: There are about 50 active ones, at most
Timeframe: Immediate

Paid Directories
Accessibility: High
Cost: Moderate to High
Methodology: Easy
Quantity potential: About 100, max, YAHOO actually yields about 50 indexable links, as you get listed in their sub-directroy sites
Timeframe: Immediate

Portals (Trulia, Zillow, etc.)
Accessibility: High
Cost: Low
Methodology: Easy, establish a profile
Quantity potential: About 20 max
Timeframe: Immediate

Press Releases
Accessibility: High
Cost: Moderate
Methodology: Easy, hire a vendor
Quantity potential: Moderate
Timeframe: Immediate
(link duration is a major issue with press releases)

Article Submission Portals
Accessibility: Moderate
Cost: Moderate - requires content that qualifies
Methodology: Moderately complex
Quantity potential: Limited - the number of valid article repositories is small
Timeframe: Immediate, after content creation

Local Community Sites & Local Vendors
Accessibility: Low
Cost: High, You have to find them yourself
Methodology: Moderately complex
Quantity potential: Very limited
Timeframe: Hard to determine

That's about it.

Anyone embarking on a link building campaign would do well to review that list and figure out just exactly how they are going to attack the problem of a lack of link popularity. I see to many examples of site owners taking the advice of a well-linked advisor with hundreds fo content citations, and imagining that they, too can achieve the same result. They can, but within what timeframe and cost?

We're in the process of building tools that will help, such as our Blog Comment Assistant for Real Estate, (live, beta free trial) here:
http://www.domaindrivers.com/BlogCommentAssistant.html

and our upcoming Social Network Manager

Stop imagining links that don't really exist or are actually very inaccessible, and start getting real links, on a real budget!

Edited by Dirk Johnson on Jan 14, 2009 12:40:32 PM

Kim Adamof

Group Member

Jan 15, 2009 4:28:20 AM

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Would this idea be helpful to my in-bound links? Have an insurance friend who wrote a small article on saving money on your homeowners insurance. I posted on my blog with his contact info. Then he commented. I asked him to go to other business friends and ask them to link to the article on their site with one of my keywords as the anchor text. What do you think about pushing a business networking group to do this for each other as a way of getting inbound links?

Dirk Johnson

Group Organizer

Jan 15, 2009 6:07:29 AM

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Kim,

I think it is an excellent idea! That's how this all works.

With "link circles" you do have to be a bit careful. Small one are harmless.

Large organized ones, with over 100 participants, where everyone in the circle links to everyone else, and nobody else, can be seen as link schemes by the engines, and, in reality, they are.

Casual circles are much like natrual linking patterns. Just business owner helping each other, as the need arises.

Link Building Campaigns - A Very Different Business Perspective

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