I'm aware that spamming tools can lead to ruin..what do you use as a backlink strategy.

[EGOL]

Joe, I took a quick look at your site and you have done a lot of work on content.  Also, I searched a couple of your topics on Google and saw information that you have created filling the first page of the SERPs on a variety of other websites.  Sometimes your site is on the first page too.

Our approach is very different from yours.  We produce a lot of content - as in your field the potential topics list is enormous.  However, we never give it away.  Everything that we publish is on our own website.  Why?  We don't like to feed our competitors and we want to be the "go to" source for information in our niche.

Consider this..... when I searched for some of your topics I saw your site at let's say position #5 but content that you created on the same subject on websites ranking above you.  If they didn't have your  content on their site  then maybe your site would rank at postion #3 and thus be getting more traffic (and links, likes and tweets).

We spend zero time on linkbuilding.... 100% of our time on content building.  All of that linkbuilding time (lets say you spend 50% of your time hunting links then spending it instead on content would double your content library  and put you in the SERPs on twice as many topics and have twice as much content to impress any visitor.)

The only deviation that we take is to submit occasional... maybe once a month or two... items to sites like Reddit or slashdot or stumbleupon.. where we can quickly share new content with a large number of people.

The links arrive very very slowly... but content that we launched 18 months ago and that ranked in the SERPs on page three at the start is now ranking in the top three positions.  These natural links are so much more valuable than links obtained by other methods.  And they require zero time from  us.

You can make links, likes and tweets occur a little faster by making it easy for visitors to share your content socially.  We use the AddThis.com buttons to facilitate.  They work great.

You asked  what other people do for links... there you have it.

[joemas99]

Thanks for sharing that. We are currently putting in place creating content daily and then submitting it for traffic. We social submit and must admit we quickly must change the link mix. social sites and directories do dominate the links. I like how you favor content and then recognize the need for a little push with social submitting. Again, I appreciate your forwardness about this, and your taking to time to look at my site..

[joemas99]

My programmer did create a download link on free advice we offer to save people from spending thousands needlessly, but it didn't take off much. occasionally I can trace a hit back to a site that hosts it.

I like the current events thing. I plan on creating a news site so my posts to it can be part of google alerts, which will also show up in google searches since they do that now.

I'm seeing that I can create posts that help people given the current events in my industry and get that circulating, rather than just focus on key words that rank. The buzz should be about how I can help with a current situation for free. Interesting! Sometimes when I post a comment on the huffington post i'll get about 20 hits that day.

maybe I can pay you to create a plan for my business for social marketing, i like what you have to say. Email me at joe@taxproblem.org. We can put our heads together on this. i have ideas too, but still trying to find the right balance of SEO techniques and marketing.

[MarieHaynes]

Here's what I think most people don't understand about using things like calculators for linkbait:  They have to be something

• people really need
• people really want to use
• people can't find easily elsewhere
• people want to share with their friends

So, a download link for free advice may not really count as linkbait.

Here's how I would challenge you to come up with a linkbait idea...Think of something that once people discover it they would want to share it on facebook.  Now, I'm not in the tax niche but here's what I just did.  I just went to Yahoo Answers, and typed in "taxes":  Yahoo Answers search on taxes.  This shows me what kinds of questions people are looking for the answers to online.

So, then, I would scan the questions and see where I could build a tool or calculator or even create a great content page that people would want to share.  I see that someone asked, "How high do income taxes have to get before Americans just stop working"...Well that got me thinking....I'd like to know how much money I would have to make to push me into the next tax bracket.  It would be cool to have a calculator that lets you put in your current salary and it would tell you roughly how much you would be paying in income taxes.  Now, that's really simple, but you could go places with it.  You could have examples, like a chart that says, "The average fireman makes $x per year and pays $y in taxes", "The average major league baseball player makes $x per year and pays $y in taxes".  It could be a calculator or it could be simply a content page.  If you make it controversial (i.e. talk about how much taxes certain celebrities might be paying) then this would make it more shareable.

Man, there are some great questions I see scrolling through Yahoo Answers....you could have a field day with content creation after reading these!

[joemas99]

I welcome your way of thinking, it is similar to mine in being creative. My stopping point however is that most people who will pass this type of thing around are not the people who will pay thousands of dollars  for professional help, and who need it right away (the two qualifying Q's for our services). There actually are calculators like that in existence, it has some value, but not much. Anyway, i don't want to seem like I'm negative. I like your idea of seeing what most people are concerned with. Actually I already know most of what my clients are looking for. I think when I write content pages as I am doing now, I will add my insights from experience. Instead of just giving my version of the same boring stuff, I could have it be around what to do based on my tears of experience dealing with those issues. Thanks a lot. I'm still serious about my offer. Or i can trade you for free tax advice, or something.

[MarieHaynes]

You're missing something really important here Joe.  The point of linkbait is not all about providing value for your clients.  It's about getting people to link to your site and share it on social sites.

For example, in my real estate site, if I post reviews of restaurants in the areas which we service, this will likely not get us any real estate business.  But, if I post reviews and then encourage the restaurants to get people to vote for them, the restaurant owners are likely to post a link that says, "Hey, go vote for us on this site...."  Those backlinks are natural in the eyes of Google and will likely boost our position in the SERPS.  Having a higher position in the SERPS will get us more real estate clients.

Thanks for the offer....I wish I could help but I am swamped with my own projects right now.

[jennita]

Hello my friends! It looks like the conversation has gotten a bit heated here. Before I say anything else I'd love it if you all would take a read through the SEOmoz Community Etiquette page. This Q&A forum is about helping out our fellow SEOs and not about attacking or yelling at other members.

As you're asking or answering questions, try thinking about the tone the of the message and the kind of responses it might find. I always love to see a healthy debate but please keep personal attacks out of it.

Thanks!

[RyanPurkey]

Dunamis has given you some exceptional suggestions that really helped answer your reply to me in regards to creating calculators and link bait for people that may not directly produce clients but could easily give you all the backlinks you need. People that have grown up with the Internet are actually in their 30s now and beginning to become concerned about things applicable to raising a family: savings, retirement, new businesses, financial planning... These are all areas that you could tap into. Catching up on this thread and reading the various suggestions it seems to me like you have plenty to work with.  Great answers from the MozVerse!

[joemas99]

Yes i do. This was a fruitful weekend for me to sort out many ideas I needed opinions about. I now have a plan yo put into place that I think is appropriate for me. It's interesting to see the wide views that exist on links, especially from a group that mostly does this for a living.

Special thanks to you, EGOL,marcus and all else who shared your views. I will continue to post and use this service.

[RyanPurkey]

You're welcome and I'm glad we could all help.  It can be a frustrating endeavor when things go wrong, you don't know why, and don't know who to ask.  Hopefully the people here helped give you both insight and some peace of mind.

[SteveOllington]

Apologies, some of that would be me.

[AntonioCasamassa]

Great content bla bla bla, aren't some of you people sick and tired of giving your silly little text book answers all of the time, yes you do need a site that has great content and yes it is a mandatory requirement if one is to succeed online, but why is it that when someone asks a direct question such as "Is Linkvana good yes or no!" do people side step it and go on a long spat about how they perform link building.

Most of the people in this community say they know a lot about SEO and go around as Goody two Shoes preaching the same lines over and over again! What we need to realise is that services such as Linkvana or Build My Rank would not still exist if they did not work.

I use both and have done so for a considerable amount of time, they are a vital part of my SEO efforts but are by no means the only two elements.

If one has the desire to generate revenue online via SEO one must speculate in order to accumulate.