Stop getting links
You read that subject line right.
Stop. Getting. Links.
Until you evolve your thinking about what "links" REALLY are, you risk wasting your precious time and resources on work that will lose its value in the long run.
Ever since Google invented Page Rank, human behavior has determined what websites were really "about" and which ones were more relevant than others.
Page Rank did this by giving webmasters and site owners the ability to "vote" for the sites they liked with their links.
But now, with things like social bookmarking and content tagging, EVERY web user gets to vote on the relevancy of content – not just webmasters and site owners. Anyone can Digg, anyone can StumbleUpon, anyone can blog.
And that's a great thing for marketers.
After all, it's the PEOPLE on the web that we really want to reach anyway. A spider program will crawl any and all links it finds, but it won't ever take out a credit card and BUY anything.
PEOPLE won't just click on any and every link. But they WILL click on the ones that are meaningful – the ones that promise value on the other side – the ones that are recommended by respected members of their online communities.
So with that in mind, the REAL "home run" link building campaigns from now on will continue to focus on the usual stuff: anchor text, deep linking, page rank, all that.
But successful campaigns are ALSO going to focus on finding and engaging these "tribes" wherever they are, and using your links to connect them with content that is VALUABLE to them.
So STOP GETTING LINKS…
…and START BUILDING CONNECTIONS!
When "tribes" form on the web, they do so more or less to gather around a theme, or topic, or idea. They gather to talk about it and collect links to resources that are of common interest.
Your goal is to find and participate in those conversations.
Contribute and provide REAL value, and in the process, you'll garner attention to yourself. Of course, you can then use that attention to get traffic to your sites, get subscribers to your lists, get readers for your blog, etc.
What will happen is that you don't just become a participant in these conversations. If you provide real value, and solid resources to these tribes, you will become a TOPIC of conversation. Members of your chosen tribe will talk about YOU, and talk about YOUR resources.
Now, enough theory – let's get into some real-world examples of how you can start putting this to work in your business starting today.
We talked about blogs earlier. Now it's important to understand what kind of role bloggers can play in their respective tribes. The bloggers are the noisemakers – they initiate discussions, distribute news, and act as a kind of general mouthpiece for their tribes.
As such, they can be a valuable asset to leverage in getting attention for your own offers, right?
So if you want to make some inroads into a particular tribe you've identified, find the people who are blogging on topics relevant to that tribe's interests.
Read their stuff. REALLY READ IT. Then comment.
Make it a BIG comment. Add value. Did you agree? Did you disagree? Can you elaborate on anything they said? Can you refute anything they said? Remember, we want to focus on ADDING VALUE to THEIR website.
Only THEN is it going to be "okay" in the eyes of the tribe. Posting a worthless comment will get your work either quickly deleted, or if it's a moderated blog, it won't show up at all. If you can comment and come up with a REALLY GOOD reason to link back to one of your own resources, THEN do it. Otherwise, prepare to get nowhere fast.
How do you avoid wasting time? There's a "sniff test" I like to recommend to people when considering whether you SHOULD link back to yourself from a blog comment.
If you left out ALL link text and your link ONLY said "read more" – would it actually provide value? Would it be a continuation of the conversation the blogger started? If so, cool! Post that link.
If not, don't quit!
Go to your site/blog/store and MAKE a resource or post that WILL continue and expand that conversation. Let their post be part one, and your write part two on your own blog.
Does that make sense? This is what I mean by PARTICIPATING in the conversation.
Let me give you a real-world parallel. Say you're a blue widget vendor, and you're at a widget convention and you have a booth at the trade show. It's the end of a long day of exhibiting, and the show is winding down. People are collecting into their little cliques and maybe deciding where to go to dinner or whatever, but you overhear some chatter about your own product, blue widgets.
These people are your target audience, they couldn't possibly be a more appropriate tribe for you to try to speak to about your offer.
So how do you approach them?
Do you just elbow into their conversation circle, business card in hand, shouting "Hey! I sell blue widgets! Buy blue widgets from me!"
No, of course not. It's rude. You'll get ignored at best, and told EXACTLY where to put your blue widget at worst.
So what's the right way?
"Hey guys – did I hear you talking about blue widgets? Awesome! Did you know they are 99% more effective than red widgets of the same size? Yeah! I read that just last week in a report my company put out. You can find it on this website if you want to have a look. The URL is on my card there. My name's Andy, by the way. Nice to meet you! I look forward to talking more about widgets with you next time I see you!"
See?
Not so hard, and you get this crowd to like you by PARTICIPATING and EXPANDING their conversation. By contributing a valuable resource that is relevant to what they were ALREADY talking about, you can actually BECOME a new topic of conversation.
So, now you should have a better idea about how to tactfully make headway into tribal conversations when you find them.
But I bet I know what you're asking… how DO you find them?
Of course, you can do Google blog searches, or crawl social bookmarking sites looking for relevant tags. And that's great, you'll find a lot of potential conversations there.
But let's not forget. This might be "Web 2.0″ but some things remain necessary in any link-building campaign. You MUST focus your efforts efficiently, so you should spend your time and resources on sites that will give you some good old fashioned SEO benefit AND get you involved in your niche's tribes.
So that means you have to go in and scrub your list of potential comment targets for factors like high PR, cache date, Alexa rank, etc. – all the things you would normally look for if you were purchasing a link, right?
More importantly, when we're talking about blogs, you need to make sure that comments aren't automatically nofollowed.
And of course, that's very tedious and time-consuming. You need to keep a spreadsheet, and collect all that info from various toolbars, you need to check out their source code to find out if their links are rel=nofollow. Now, even though it's a pain to do that work manually, I guarantee you it's worthwhile to identify the 20% of sites out there that will get you the 80% of the possible benefit.
Now, here's the part where I work a whammy on you and tell you about some spanking new product that will save you all the backbreaking work and time spent on researching these blogs. SURPRISE!
(Not really).
Yeah, I DO want to tell you about a tool that will make this super simple, and super fast.
BUT before you go grumbling off in a huff – don't sweat it. It's f-ree – 100%. AND it's from a trusted strategic ally and colleague, Jason Potash.
A lot of you have probably heard me speak about (or even with) Jason on the subject of articles and syndication for the purpose of link building. Jason's been in that game for a long time, and has built some of the best and most-used software to help with those methods.
I'd be lying if I said I wasn't using at least one of the tools he's developed in every single one of my businesses.
And now, I'm going to start using THIS one – it's called "Comment Kahuna" and it will prove to be a LIFESAVER when you get serious about using blog comments in your "Web 2.0″ linking strategies.
He's got a sweet video on his site showing exactly how it works, but I'll give you the quick version.
- Type in some keywords.
- Find some blogs that match those keywords.
- You'll know which ones will pass link juice, AND how much (the software sniffs for nofollow tags and PR rank).
- Automatically post your comment on those blogs right from the software interface.
That's it. No cross-referencing a bunch of statistics, no time wasted on blogs that won't pass on value. Plus, there's easy and quick posting, letting you move onto the other parts of your business that need attention.
Now, I have a warning for you. This tool COULD allow you to become a comment spammer, but I'm not giving you this resource so you can go out and tick off all the bloggers out there.
These bloggers are potential allies - if you help their websites be BETTER by contributing good stuff, they can become evangelists for your cause. There is no better form of word-of-mouth than when the tribal noisemakers start singing your praises.
So PLEASE – use this tool responsibly. In fact, you shouldn't use it exclusively to link back to your own stuff. Identify ways to build connections between related tribes. Strengthen those contextual and semantic connections. Improve the sites you comment on by strengthening the network of links between them.
Why on earth would I want to waste time working on some other site's links, Andy?
Good question. If you increase the value and authority of sites like these by linking them to each other, your OWN links to your OWN stuff become even more valuable.
If you're commenting on all the blogs your tribes frequent, and you're cross-linking your comments, you start to spread that traffic around. You get a chance for repeated messaging, and you increase your chances of saying something that will really resonate with individuals.
Now, you don't even have to find an existing niche. You can actually start to link together a cohesive and highly populated niche simply by effectively connecting these related tribes together.
Does that make sense?
Now, if Comment Kahuna didn't make this stuff so easy, I wouldn't recommend you waste ANY time on this advanced cross-linking stuff. You simply wouldn't have the time.
But that's the beauty of this tool. It is so fast at doing the grunt work, it allows you to REALLY get creative in the way you distribute your messages and offers to your audience.
Think about how you discuss things with members of your own tribes. Are you a member of any niche communities – based around hobbies, or maybe even a professional network? How does your tribe discover resources? How do you share them?
Answer those questions, and then figure out how you can get your taget market's tribes to discover YOUR stuff and make your stuff WORTH sharing.
Stop getting links, and start building connections.
What do you guys think? Have I given you some food for thought? Here's your chance to take a crack at this. Why don't you comment on this post and CONTRIBUTE! (I mean, you ARE part of our tribe, aren't you?)
And if our "tribe" isn't in your niche, that's cool. Go get Comment Kahuna from Jason's site and find your own conversations to politely "butt-in" on.
Until next time,
Keep Stomping
~Andy Jenkins
P.S. Don't forget to go grab Comment Kahuna - if you're into
building links through blog comments, I know it's going to save you a lot of time and headaches. Let us know what you think of it.
This is a great post. I am about to start a blog and was wondering what kinf of guidelines I should have regarding posts. I want real contributors not the other 'type'. Then again how to I balance it with out alienating anyone?
Just got this tweet from a colleague. Very relevant article to the evolution of back links and how it integrates into a social media world that has changed the scope of who and who can't "vote" for good content. Google wants to give us valuable content – what better way to evaluate it than through public Diggs, Sphinns, and Tweets.
Thanks for the insight! I'm definitely going to alert our team to the Comment Kahuna tool.
Get links only which works.
Good article to be read..
oh huh.. such a different blog post.. great
cool post. i agree to most of the points thank you.
Hi,
I have a question you might be able to help me with, or consider it as a new feature to add to an existing tool.
From your advice I have begun using Comment Kahuna as well as market samurai. Both great tools. In a short amount of time I now have a list of blogs and forums that i can navigate and post on very quickly and which have lots of juice.
So i've got my prefered list of forums and blogs. What I'm now looking for is the ability to search keyword phrases within my prefered sites. Google will let me search on site at a time. I'd like to search all my related keywords which a present in the threads andposts within my list of sites. So i can quickly make revelvant posts that support my industries. Sorry if this exists in one of the tools i spoke of, maybe even google or google alerts? Any help anyone?
It is my understanding that the blogs content you post to must be relevant to the site you link to. I was told if it is not, the link can actually count against your site. As an example, my link goes to a content rich site that teaches underwriting guides for a VA Loan. It is totally not relevant to this blog. Does anyone know if this concept is true or not?
I am not savy to IM and all my sites are free, I sell advertising I guess. I use to try commenting but gave it up because there aren't many blogs that are relevant without the nofollow. I did my searchs manually of course.
I'm really excited about this Kahuna application. If it works as you say it will be a real asset to my small sites. I'm going to check it out now.
Thank You!
Way to go Andy! Always fresh and innovative. I have heard of comment Kahuna, but have never really looked into it. I'll have to check it out. I use Market Samurai to find blogs with high page rank and do follow links to post on, I'll have to compare that with Kahuna.
This post is so true … I was under the notion that the more more comments I put out there, the more more backlinks i would get. I was placing comments such as "great reading" or " good article" hoping to get some back links.
well i thank you for giving me some insight into the error of my ways
Vinaka [Thank-you]
I've arrived here via Dan Thies' blog and Dan's comments along with Andy's are encouraging. I first came across Comment Kahuna sometime last year. I can't recall exactly what my thoughts were, but I was a bit concerned about it's use and for one reason or another I didn't use it.
Now having read this I realise I had formed an incorrect impression that it was a spam tool. The lesson for me here is that it's not the tool that is either good or bad, it's the use of the tool that I should be concerned about.
Thanks for your insight Andy (and Dan too)!
Just came across your post. I found it informative for me and I'm sure many others. I did also have small trouble subscribing to the blog but figured it out; I'm still a 2-finger typist
. Thank you and keep your blogging spirit going strong.
Not only is adding value with comments great for the blogs you comment on, it's also great for you. Spammy comments and "thanks for sharing" posts more often than not get deleted and are therefore a waste of time, so in the long run it's always better to make a valued contribution to the discussion.
This looks like a very useful tool. Does anyone know if this will be available for a Mac?
I couldn't agree more. It is really hard to find quality software for finding 'dofollow' blogs. I tried the comment kahuna, but I had no luck with it, since most of the 'blogs' found via the internal search engine, when searching for Beauty Salon Equipmentweren't any blogs at all!?
I don't know if there is a payed version of software, but I managed to find only the free one.
Anyhow, a very good idea, hope it will be developed further in the near future.
We need more projects like this.
Frank Kern rocks! I love Frank, I love his stingy blonde hair, his surfer dude laid back attitude, and his southern accent. It really does not matter I will buy anything Frank wants me too!
I have used comment kahuna in the past to receive some links…
But like many other things that are shared and over used, it will make harder for the rest……
But as in the other cases only the best will remain…..because most of the users will just post something that is not useful on other blogs….
I agree Comment Kahuna is a great app.
The best way to attract new customers is to get listed on all the world’s search engines and RSS feeds so that when someone is searching for what THEY want for themselves, and they find YOU and YOUR products the sale makes itself! The easy way to get those top listings is with a completely automated system where you pick up to 5500 keywords and let the system do the SEO and RSS work for you instantaneously and automatically!
Not only that but places like ExpertOnlineAdvertising.com also have an affiliate program and will pay you.
Dang, Andy, I just love the fact that you are always putting out great content with every email. You truly live what you preach! Keep it up and thanks for the Kahuna…an amazing resource.
Alan
Awesome! I've been using commenthut for awhile and had good results with it, but this is even better!
As someone who found out yesterday when I was playing around with Comment Kahuna and have a blog which does follow, I can only confirm Andy's comments which echo my own.
Add value to your posting or you will be ignored and as Comment Kahuna becomes better known and more popular, bloggers will become even more particular about what posts they accept.
There is no free lunch.
But if you add value, tell a story or say something that causes controversy and starts a debate, the blogger will be very happy indeed.
Thanks for the great product. Just installed it and on my way to use it.
Thanks Again
I've been using CommentKahuna on and off for a while now and I agree it's a great bit of software. As you pointed out it saves a lot of research time.
Geoff Dodd JV – I haven't had any problems with CommentKahuna freezing and I'm running a 2005 1.7Ghz 516K RAM computer with XP SP2.
Thank you Andy for the idea of cross linking. I've been hanging on to the idea that everything should come my way only – mine, all mine, MINE!
With CommentKahuna I have noticed it also finds blogs that don't have any way of leaving a comment. My advice here is to move on as soon as this becomes apparent or, if you're like me, you'll ferret around trying to find away for ages. Drop it move on. I noted that Jason makes the point that you shouldn't not post to sites just because they have a low rank. Even low ranking sites can have a lot of traffic that you could benefit from and todays low rankers could be tomorrows authority sites.
Namaste
Michael
I have found a great plugin that will remove 'nofollow' from comments in a WordPress blog. It's called 'Dofollow' and it's available from http://www.semiologic.com/software/wp-fixes/dofollow/
It's quite simple and I've used it on my own blog. It works like a dream.
I can also recommend Comment Kahuna.
Bloggers of the world unite – it's in everyone's interests to increase linking, liking and loving!
Sarah
Thanks Andy. I was running Comment Kahuna in the background while reading your latest email, same as this post of yours. It's a great tool, fast and efficient. Mine does freeze sometimes. Poss. my old 2003 system still using XP SP1 is to blame? I wonder if others get 'freezing' behavior with Kahuna? Anyway I like your idea of creating 'connections' between related content on different blogs. I could start a connections web page… hmmm. GD.
Thanks, Andy, for another valuable post and resource. I will certainly check out the software.
I agree that not asking to visit your site can still work well, as long as you leave valuable comments. I seldom link back to my site in the comment, and only if it really is relevant and a necessary shortcut, perhaps to a specific, full how-to post, which you could not write about in a comment. I still see a lot of traffic in my stats coming from those sites anyway, as people will click on your name, if they are curious about what else you may have of value. This is not to entice you to click on my name now, but you can, if you wish
. Seriously, the same holds true for comments as does for writing posts, give value, especially if you want to be in for the long run. What goes round comes round. It builds authority and a good foundation.
Hi Andy!
It's not the first time when I heard about Comment Kahuna but never give it a try. Actually I have it on my computer since the first launch…
But your article convince me to download the latest version and install pronto.
I'll see in a few minutes how good it is.
Thx for this great article.
Valeriu
I've been reading about this on Dawud Miracle's website, and tracked down how to hack into the Wordpress code to remove the nofollow. Right now I have several Wordpress.com blog sites and don't think I can change the code, but I do plan to export the blog code and host it myself so I can do this… In the meantime I am keeping a list of "NO NOFOLLOW Blogs for anyone's reference on the bottom of MY website! When I notice that I get a link back of any posts I've made anywhere, I give a thanks by linking back that way. (So it's a round about link love!)
It amazes me the amount of info you put out! Seems the thing to do now is giving out tons of free quality content, but with all that good stuff out there, it's really tough to focus on one and sticking with it.
You do give great content & even tools – like comment kahuna. And I'm glad I took the time to check it out and get it. But I've also gotten other pretty qool free tools/info. And I'm sure I've missed many, and there'll be tons more coming.
So how do I keep from getting distracted, chasing the latest – greatest free deals? Any suggestions to apply one system until successful?
I really liked this blog – although I have no 'technical' idea of what you are suggesting as i am a 'creative psychotherapist' who wants to get people to come tp her site. I have recently started going on 'my Lot' a discussion site and adding relevant info – lots of people just seem to add rubbish and one liners, why would any one read them? I am not sure how to find blogs relavent to my interests as I am a real amateur and just find my way around without much knowledge. I really get that i should be passing on good and interesting info and comments but I am not sure how to do that. I have tried adding articles to sites which are really full of information and do not seem to get anything from them although I am told, and read that it is important. I read lots of articles on these sites which are poor and are clearly just added for 'quantity' rather than quality. Thanks for the advice though!
So funny with the Comment Kahuna. I just found out yesterday about it, while searching the web. I totally recommend it to everybody and cannot wait for the updates. Only one thing though: PLEASE DO NOT MIS-USE IT!!! As Andy says… you shuold be aware of what you are adding to (my) blogs, and the internet. Thanks Andy!
I've recently become more serious about blogging and commenting/contributing to others and have been pleasantly surprised to find out just how much bloggers share and don't try to wring a buck out of every bit of new information
I've been using Comment Kahuna and can vouch for it being a very simple, but powerful program.
Doug
Don't forget, when you use Comment Kahuna and similar applications you can select to only display blogs which have removed nofollow from comment links.
If blogs have removed nofollow from comments, then they have also in many cases removed them from pingbacks and trackbacks.
One of the best ways to get a link with the exact anchor text you want is to find a relevant post on a "nofollow" or "no nofollow" blog, and then writing a blog post linking to them, or even a few if you can find a number of blogs talking about the same topic (where the posts aren't too old)
When you write a blog post using Wordpress, it will automatically send a pingback to other Wordpress blogs – with other platforms you would need to also include a trackback link in the box provided.
Try to say something intelligent, treat it like an extension of the conversation, and not only might you gain a link from that post, but there is a high chance you will gain a subscriber to your blog or email list, and possibly a return link at some time in the future.
Bloggers love rubbing each other's back.
You will find dofollow blogs are a lot more sensitive to comment spam than normal blogs, you don't want to give signals that all you are after is the link juice.
Note: I run most of my blogs with nofollow removed, and you will find me near the top of the results on many marketing related topics if you are searching for blogs with nofollow removed, and even those without.
I love high quality comments – I can spot someone commenting just for links from a mile off.
The best way is to find blogs that are suitable to your niche, subscribe, and become a regular part of their community.