Link Building - Drawing a blank

[AAttias]

I've been trying to get backlinks for one website for the past 2 weeks and it's proving almost impossible. Initially I drew up a list of websites that would be suitable to have a link on and tried e-mailing a contact on each. However, it doesn't seem to be going anywhere. Most are coming back saying I can add some content but they will charge. However, we don't have a budget.

I've analysed competitor backlinks and they didn't reveal anything interesting.

The website doesn't have a Twitter account. So I can't look for links that way.

Another problem is that the website has a very niche audience and probably not the most active online.

Does anyone have any other tips that would help?

[UnderRugSwept]

Have you seen Jon Cooper's Complete List of Link Building Strategies?

You're bound to find something there; it's very inclusive.

[james406]

You can rank a website with zero budget. From just your question here, I can see you've got decent writing skills!

I'd recommend you hit your current weakness head on and make it a strength - Twitter rocks, add it to your skillset!

First of all, set up a Twitter account.

• Mention lots of interesting news articles in your niche and comment on them.

• Find others in your niche (look for the followers of influential people ), and follow them. Chat to them - ask them questions, or post comments on their updates

(hint get followers really fast with Tweepi, a handy website, don't overdo it though - keep things natural)

You'll build up a following and start to look influential.

Now, find blogs in your niche (just start with "write for us" +niche in Google, or search Twitter for "guest blog" +niche), which accept guest posts.

Find the relevant contact for that site on Twitter (preferably), and mention a few of their posts on their, including them in an @mention.

Strike up a chat, and then suggest a follow up post you could write.

Now, write an awesome post, include images from compfight (with credits to right sources), and plenty of research and facts and figures. In the future, if you're emailing about guest blog posts, you can use this as an example when approaching larger websites. Write awesome stuff for them, and then use these newer posts as examples for even bigger websites.

There is no way this won't work - just act on it!

[james406]

+1 on this link - some fantastic ideas there, just skip the ones which require a large budget. Things like superb resource lists you can create yourself for free, then just reach out to universities or large websites showing off your cool content.

[Christy-Correll]

Can you say what niche your website caters to? What kind of content is your website producing that others might be interesting in sharing -- so that you naturally acquire backlinks? Are there any trade organizations in your industry you could leverage? I know that you say your audience is not the most active online. Well, where are they spending their time online when they do log on?

[ProjectLabs]

Here's a tactic that is pretty inexpensive and should work in most niches.

Find non-profits that are related to your niche and write an article on your site that highlights the great work they are doing. Then contact the site and let them know about it. If they have a press page they might include your link.

Another idea is to interview influential people or experts in your niche on your blog. Often people will link back to your site to share the interview with their readers.

Another idea is to create an industry survey using survey monkey to find out some interesting information and then publish the results on your site. Then followup with the people you surveyed and  tell them about the resource.