Link Building Tactics for 2012?

[jenadams]

Have you included social media in your mix?  How much weight do you give to YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus and +1, and LinkedIn?

[EppieVojt]

Most freelance sites should have people willing to write for those rates if you're willing to buy in bulk or commit long-term to a writer.  If a writer can sit down and bang out a bunch of these, they can do it more profitably than if you're giving them 1 or 2 at a time.  I prefer oDesk but any reputable site should do.

[EppieVojt]

If the content's really good, social can have an excellent pay off.  If you're promoting mediocre "me too" garbage, it's just not going to work.  You have to be really honest with yourself about the client's site and content -- if it's not good enough to work in the social space, don't burn the hours.  Instead, fix the content problem or focus on building links like I noted above, since they largely bypass the editorial process.

[SeattleOrganicSEO]

I might be a little late to the party  and didn't go through all the posts shared by Keri (which I hope to do later), but how about social bookmark campaigns.  I have a friend who was able to use stumble upon and the like to get her site to drive huge amounts of traffic to her site: http://www.swayable.com/

So, to answer the question you repeat multiple times, "How do we get them to link after we build great content?" Maybe you should find some way to get in front of crowds with the content and hopefully get them to "like it" or promote it somehow?  Facebook...twitter...and these social bookmarking sites.

SEOmoz used to have this website and might still somewhere in their recommended social media websites or maybe it was their directory list: http://www.ranker.com  Well, I know I've posted to it's sister site with a blog post of mine and got 10X's the traffic we were used to because it was in front of a crowd.  We didn't get a ton of links, but we may have gotten a few.

I thought the original question was about the most effective link building techniques and then has digressed down to a debate about creating great content ='ing link bait vs. other more artificial techniques that Vojt listed.  I'd like to read more about other strategies like Vojt's listed because it is sort of obvious that building great content is going to get you potential links, no?  Well, here's a few more ideas from other places when I searched for "link building 2012":

http://www.searchenginepeople.com/blog/link-building-2012.html

http://www.polepositionmarketing.com/library/link-building-secrets-2012/

http://weblogbetter.com/2012/01/02/link-building-strategy-for-2012/

Not saying these are well written or have good ideas, but maybe one idea about link building is writing posts about the next year with the same topics we ask about year after year (i.e., your question) and then get some idiot like me to copy & past it into SEOmoz and then getting links? There's an idea...

[Steve25]

Private blog networks - I would be very careful with these, there are loads of blog networks currently being de-indexed.

Blog commenting - I now have proof that the big G isn't considering these as worthy links and instead consider them as spam.

[iAnalyst.com]

Agreed on blog networks, I also think forum profile links are a definite no no. But what proof do you have that blog comments aren't considered worthy and are additionally spam?

[simonberenyi]

My background is in education, so I set up my site to be a resource and not just a sales brochure. People who visit my site stay on my site because the content is good. My SEO is only just getting started, but I passionately believe that great content, with great context is the way to go.

Great content must be worth the authentic natural links?

[NoahsDad]

Yes it did.

[DeltonChilds]

Thanks for the tips.  It's so hard compete with these other attorneys who are using all these crazy link building services.  So many are spammy too.  I'm really iffy about hiring some blogging network to work some magic for me because want quality content associated with my brand but... man it's hard to compete that way!!!

Guest Blogging It Is Then!

[SherWeb]

this is definately the best wat to fall under google radar for violation of google quality guidelines

[Naziman]

I prefer to blog commenting, guest posting, and forum profile links. For blog commenting, it slow but you can get friend also.

[cbielich]

Andy you made content with the post and comments you made. Now this blog post has a ton of great links and resources lol!

[TalkingSheep]

I think when it come to great content we should all look to the original experts at content creation - journalists. Ask yourself - is this blog post newsworthy, is it relevant, is it unbiased? Put yourself in the readers shoes and be honest with yourself - is this content really worth the readers time? I mean web content producers have it the hardest - pre-internet journalists weren't competing for nearly as much attention as now. For print media, readers may be stuck with only one magazine in the bathroom or plane - so that is what they will read. The web is inherantly a browsing platform - so we are always looking for something better. That is why online dating can be so discouraging - or so my friends say ! ; )

So be very critical of your content. And obviously put the time into what I call "syndicating"  the content out to social media, bookmarking, etc.

My best,

• A former journalist

[cbielich]

Just a question: aren't these practices going against what Google is trying to fix with the Panda update?

[Clix]

Is this true, or is it worth my time to continue to comment on relevant blogs/articles?

[Sglowmark]

Are backlinks services relevant in this post Panda/Penguin environment or are they pretty much considered spam now?

[AustinRealtor65]

What kind of quality are you getting for this rate?

Can you provide an example of what a $1 article looks like?

[expertvillagemedia]

I know some websites are getting great attention these days on the name of 1$ per article, but truely speaking I saw their samples, its just spunned content created by article spinners. SO its better you hire professionals. I know some awesome writers who charge reasonable price for quality articles but surely, not 1$ per article.

[CAndrew14.]

Eppie, do you still support these methods? These are very risky grey methods that I'm very surprised you're still recommending in 2012. Would love to hear your updated input. You're very smart and I love the Link Detective tool you created which is why I'm surprised to see this.