7 Awesome Ways
To Build A Link in 2015

There has to be an easier way to build links than by firing off endless rounds of emails, day after day, week after week. That doesn’t mean that the scatter gun approach doesn’t work, because it does. But it all seems so random and brutal at the same time. It’s like trying to hammer a huge block of cheese that you just bought, through a tiny crack in your refrigerator door.

Sure, some of it is going to get in there, and it will pay off later in the form a nice sandwich. But what about all the other cheese that is now just wasted effort? After a while, it all starts to feel futile and pointless. Why don’t you just open the refrigerator door properly? Building links is similar. Stay with me.

Instead of mass emailing, hoping that just some of it will pay off, why not have content that is going to be impossible for people not to link back to? All it takes is a little creativity.

Give Away Some Swag

Got stuff? People love stuff, especially free stuff. Instead of reaching out to websites and bloggers with an email, among hundreds that they probably get every single day, asking for a link, why not just bribe them?

It’s ok, people like being bribed, they just won’t admit it. Giving away free stuff to the right people, especially when they never asked for it, is an excellent way to build yourself some quality links. Chances are they will be so surprised by your random act of generosity that they will trip over themselves in their rush to tell the world about you.

Animated Infographics

Did you know that 60% of people are visual learners? Well, you do now. People have always found visual information to be much easier to digest. It’s partly the reason why image and video sharing sites are so popular (and I don’t think the Charlie biting incident would be even half as funny as a transcription).

Infographics have been around a while now, and animated infographics are even more engaging. This has become something of a saturated tactic, but it does still work.

Traditional Blogging

The written word is still the most effective way of getting your point across. But don’t worry, to do it properly you don’t have to be Oscar Wilde (that wouldn’t actually be helpful, anyway), but there are an awful lot of other things that need to be thought about. Text just isn’t as shareable as other methods, even if it is more effective in the long run.

It could be a great piece of content, but there are many other limiting factors like SEO and marketing. Having your content, service or brand linked to by influential bloggers is going to take care of both of those things for you, and that is a part of the blogger outreach method.

Build An Interactive Quiz

If you have friends or family on Facebook, or pretty much any other social site, then you are probably already aware of the power that a simple quiz can have. Even movie studios employ this tactic to drive interest for their upcoming releases.

There are many free online tools out there that will help you build a quiz and share it around social media. It is an old method, but many people outside of Facebook seem to have forgotten that it still exists. Go ahead and remind them.

Google Reverse Image Search

This is one method that the majority of bloggers don’t know about, but it is actually quite effective. Essentially, if your website uses a fair amount of high quality imagery, which you own, you are having your images used without permission. That’s pretty much a given, but don’t sweat it, you can use that to your advantage.

Head to Google image search and type in site:yourwebsite.com. This gives you a list of your images. Select an image, and then click ‘search by image’. What you have now is a list of websites using your images. If you didn’t authorize it, reach out. Simply explain that they are using an image without your permission and would they kindly add a credit link? You would be surprised at how many will do it, out of embarrassment if nothing else.

Interview An Expert In Your Field

It doesn’t really matter what field you are in, there is going to be at least a half dozen people that are influential that you can reach out to. Make a list of prospective interviewees and hunt them down. No, not like that, but find out how to get in touch.

Tell them how much you admire their work and politely ask if they would be interested in a 5-minute interview. It is very rare that these requests are denied, and if all of your prospects say yes, then you really have scored a winner. Simply schedule the posts for one a week, or create a mega post featuring all of them. Either way, get it up and then get the word out. Nobody in your field will be able to resist clicking through, and then sharing it like crazy on their own sites and networks.

Create Promo Videos

Google search is the largest search engine in the world, bar none, and YouTube is the second. The very fact that the same company holds both slots is nothing short of staggering, and you need to take advantage of that.

As you know, YouTube videos appear in Google search results so you can hit both with one awesome hammer. Make it funny, bright and with a clear call to action at the end. If you do it right, both search engines will be going nuts over you and everyone from there to Yahoo will be sharing your video.

And there it is, seven awesome ways to build a link. If this list doesn’t work for you and your business, check that your internet connection is working, because that would be the only logical explanation.