Awarding badges to bloggers as a link-building strategy?

[brmckenna]

Hello -

In the past, doing "Blog awards" and subsequently offering winners' badges with links and anchor text embedded has been something that worked very well for a client. However, we are now noticing that the badging strategy does not seem to be producing the same results for us. We are only reaching out to quality blogs in particular niches - e.g., Top Fashion Blogs, Top Health Blogs, Top Design Blogs, etc. Most blogs that post the badges are in the PageRank 3-5 range.

Has anyone else engaged in badging strategy and noticed that the success rates are declining? Could it be that in-text, contextual links are given much more weight than sidebar links? (The badges are most typically posted in bloggers' sidebars). Any insight would be appreciated, thanks!

[TakeshiYoung]

Sitewide links are generally believed to be of lower value than contextual links, and can even get you penalized post-Penguin.  They can still be good links to get when used in moderation, but best to mix them up with other link building tactics like guest blogging.