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69 Ways To Build Backlinks (kinda huge)
GASP! It’s been a while since I last did this huge list thing, hope I still got the Kidblogger in me. I’m getting old!
But this was rather late to say the least. I was supposed to post this the other week but got loads of stuff got in the way. Still, I’m quite happy to finish writing this BIG article so I hope you like it.
ALERT! Disclaimers below…
First disclaimer, some ideas just happen to pop out my head so you might find them a bit “rad”.
Second disclaimer, some tactics are so bad ass and effective, people “just happen” to not like them ;-)
Third disclaimer, I’m not gonna talk about submitting to web directories, press releases and all those rehashed stuff. I’m not saying that they don’t work, I’m saying that it has talked about a lot of times before.
Other than that, I’m pretty sure you’ll like it…
Do The Link Bait
To bloggers, this is a household name. To others, it might sound weird. So…
What the heck is link baiting anyway?
Tons of people tried to explain link baiting in long articles that go on and on. I’ll be frank, I can’t read long articles that don’t talk about big trucks, some mighty cool weird facts and chicks.
So let’s keep it simple – link baiting is simply “something” (article, tool, picture, anything) that make people want to link to you.
Here are some goodies you can do…
1. Make a list – No need to explain, examples will tell ya: 50 most important people on the web, 100 best movie lines, 69 ways to build backlinks ;-)
2. Perform studies – There’s a stats junkie inside of almost every people – wanting to know every new website linking to you, conversion rates of certain colors, how people look at a webpage and all sorts of stuff. But hey, it’s solid content and damn interesting.
3. Make graphs that are hard to understand – Just something that might help you with #2 up there. Can’t help myself to include this. OCD? Nah… complicated = good (at some point). Ok seriously though, when you perform studies, presentation matters. Churn out spiffy graphs that’ll help you explain what you found out.
4. Expose a scammer - Works all the time. Heck, anything with the word “expose” in it will be a link magnet! (hint: controversy) But be careful, you have to back up yourself on this one. You need SOLID proof.
5. Quizzes and tests - “Mark completed the quiz ‘Are You Awesome?’ with the result AWESOME!.” Sounds familiar? Yep, Facebook! And it’s popping every minute! Why do you think the IQ test industry is so big?
6. Show off - $100,000 Adsense check, $40,000/month via blogging – what do they have in common? They Flaunt, they show off BUT how do they get away with it? (this one is stolen from NLP) They portray the “reluctant hero” story line – “I’m just an ordinary guy, I don’t want this attention, but people keep asking me so…”
Try Google’s Web 2.0 Favorites
The idea is simple, you make these “midget blogs”, slap an article on it with a link back to your site, publish it and forget about it.
You can do this by using your own domain, hosting them in different IP’s and stuff BUT that would need some upfront cash. So instead of buying hundreds of domains and paying a monthly bill on hosting, you can slap those articles on these free “midget blog” sites.
7. Squidoo – Probably my favorite of all the “midget blogs” available. Totally far-out drag and drop modules, not so strict moderators, solid backlinks and a chance to get some quality traffic too. Hey, it’s Seth Godin!
8. Hubpages - Cool site and sweet community. You might need a better article though because before they do-follow your links, they’ll look at your article first and they’ll decide if it’s worth do-following your links.
9. Blogger – My second favorite. Again, drag and drop stuff, no strick moderators and solid backlinks. Almost zero traffic though.
10. Bloggersbase - This one is pretty sweet. They understand that you’re there for promoting your own blog so it’s ok for them to put an author info at the end of your article.
11. Ever - Weirdest.Photo.Ever.com, Sexiest.Blonde.Ever.com, Best.Guns.Ever.com – cool sister site of Squidoo.com. The idea is simple, when you get to the site they have a drop down of adjectives you can choose from – that’ll be the first word in your domain and the second or third is up to you.
12. Webs – Please bear with me though if I cry while typing stuff about Webs (formely FreeWebs, it’s just that this is one of the site I was used to when I first started, it’s so memorable to me *cry cry* :-)
OK, seriously, I like the easy interface. They do post a wide AdSense ad on top of the page though, but other than that, you’ll like it.
13. Devhub - Here’s a new player in the field, one account, tons of sites, referral program and automatic monitization + cash out at $5, so you make money while building links too, sweet!
14. Tumblr - Tumblr blogs are for vanity and just for pure social networking so when you post stuff here, appear natural. Write like you’re talking to your close friend. You might want to add some nonesense pictures too, BIG ++ in appearing natural ;-)
15. Xanga – My dad used to use this waay back when I was 10, posting pictures and stuff – multiply-ish type of site.
I haven’t tried the 6 “midget blog” sites below personally…
16. Webjam – Create your own social networking site kind of thing, looks promising.
17. Weebly – Drag and drop stuff, no advertising and lots of templates.
18. ZoomBlog – Integrates with Flickr, Bloglines and Technorati
19. Wikidot – Another cool wiki site.
20. Nexo – Another multiply-ish type of site, kinda hard to get it because it has the “For family and friends” site feeling.
21. Rateitall - This one’s pretty unique – you can make a post and let others rate it OR you can be the one who rates stuff. They’ve also filled the site with tons of quizes.
(WARNING – powerful hint: interlinking.)
Social Bookmarking
22. Digg – Weird stuff, odd pictures and tech – that makes it my favorite social bookmarking site :-) OK, aside from being my favorite, Digg has a very slick interface.
23. Slashdot – “News for nerds. Stuff that matters.” Very very strict moderators. Mainly because, the site is PR 9 since way back then. So I suggest post “real” cool stuff that the slashdot community would be interested in.
24. Spurl - Very simple, clean interface, lesser ads, I like it.
25. Plime – From the looks of it, it’s a heavily customized Pligg, splashed with weird but attractive colors – brith of Plime!
26. Dotnetkicks – This one only allows system stuff (ASP, C#, C++, XML, etc) Another site that looks to be built upon Pligg.
27. Searchles – Has a wide category for the internet marketing niche, voting is from 1-5 stars (or circles)
28. Bibsonomy - Another very clean and simple social site.
29. Tweako – One of the social sites I was able to see the actual growth, literally almost the start. I was able to talk to the founder, awesome dude.
30. Yattle – Social bookmarking site with a mini-blogging service
Don’t Be Shy – Upload Videos
If you can’t stop talking, better grab a camera and record it, another easy way to get a backlink.
For camera shy’s out there, you can always make use of camtasia or powerpoint, way easier. It doesn’t have to be totally cool, it just have to be good enough to get accepted on these sites (and of course, to show to the public :-D):
31. Dailymotion – Just upload any of your own video and get a link in the profile page – that easy.
32. Videojug – A video site full of how to videos. I’m pretty sure the videos are moderated, but heck, I bet it’s easy to get in.
33. Viddler - Slick interfae, and unlike the two above, you get a link on EACH video you submit!
Giveaway YOUR Docs
After slapping your articles on those “midget blog” sites, you can submit it as documents on these sites and still get away with a link. You can also submit a free report you already have, no duplicate content issue.
34. Scribd – The pioneer in the document-submitting industry :-D
35. Issuu – Sleek interface with voting system.
36. Docstoc – Pretty promising with referral reward system.
Make Use Of Torrents
Same idea as submitting your report or articles, but this time you give them away via Torrent. You get a link on the torrent search engine’s description area.
37. Fenopy
Ordinary Persons Too Have A Voice – Petition
Make a petition related to the niche you are in and introduce yourself with a link to your blog, that easy:
38. ipetitions
39. Gopetitions
40. Petitionthem
Social Networking Profiles
I’m pretty sure there’s a lot of social networking profiles out there that doesn’t have the no-follow tag in the links on your profiles, but these are some quick finds:
41. Friendster – Friendster has been on the platue recently probably due to the tons of bugs the site have, still worth creating a profile there though.
42. Gather – Social networking site where you can create a blog that links to your site ;-)
Flattery
Most of these stuff take advantage of human nature, it’s almost as close as pointing a gun at their head asking them to link to your site, OK not really but these stuff works pretty good.
43. Rank and rate them – Definitely “tickles” human nature. Rank people in your niche using any weird ranking factors, but works best with trusted 3rd party sources. Check out the top 100 make money online blogs and the Youngest Bloggers (WARNING: Self promotion, self promotion!)
44. Interviews – Wow, very old, very saturated tactic that STILL works. Heck, I bet it will always do – it’s a win-win. The interviewer gets good content, the interviewee LINK gets good exposure.
45. Awards – Another human nature tickler. Simple idea really – you award people in your niche for something. For example, the most absurd blogging blog (OK, that’s not a good example, heh), the blog design, the best writing style. Then, give out a plaque, or in the online world, a badge or a small spiffy graphic to post on their blog.
Use One Of The Most Potent Weapons Of Influence – Reciprocity
GASP! Human nature stuff here again.
Has someone ever helped you and asked for nothing in return? Then when he needs something, whatever it is, you feel obliged to help? That’s human nature talking to you.
You feel obliged to reciprocate. So that is what we’re going to take advantage here, we’ll make them feel obliged to link to us.
Even the Godfather uses this “persuasion” tactic.
46. Testimonials – A very saturated tactic here too that still works. Can get you a link from a very authoritative site and has a big chance to drive you loads of traffic.
47. Sponsor, donate – There are some blogs there that has an Amazon Wishlist or a “buy me a drink” donating buttons. Most of lists down all the people who have donated in some way. Maybe via blogroll or via a post, permanent link right there.
Fresh and funky
48. Interview someone on twitter - not a lot of people has done it, so you might even get top bloggers to link to you.
49. Give t-shirts – Dude, who doesn’t love free t-shirts?
50. Ask for the link – “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.” – Matthew 7:7
Money doesn’t come to you, you come and get it (although in some cases, after you’ve made lots of it, they happen to come to you) it’s the same for backlinks, you come and get it – email bloggers that you’ve made an awesome post (hint!) that’s worth sharing to their readers. Of course, you wouldn’t want to do this for each of your post.
51. Yedda – It’s like Yahoo Answers, but it’s do-follow B-)
52. The new article marketing - The new article marketing just got more badass. Now, it gives you a heavy link juice concentrate and damn fine targeted traffic. Checkout the new article marketing.
53. Zug – Tell a joke, get a link. Simple. Rad.
54. Throw a contest - This got a bit saturated in the “make money” market because of the massive links contest hosts get before, but still works. Tip: to make this work, make it a lot easier for people to join. For example, twittering, copy pasting a small blurb of text to their blog, Stumbling the post, etc.
55. Hotscripts - You a programmer dude? Make a simple script and give it away. You’ll get a link back from the BIG hotscripts directory PLUS, you can request a link back from the people who will use your script.
56. Firefox extension – Ok, if you’re not a programmer, it’s worth hiring one just for this. addons.mozilla.org is PR 9 baby! If your extension gets approved, that’s a permanent link!
57. Make an article about Digg - Diggers REALLY dig posts about digg. Seriosly, very easy to take advantage of that. Remember the chick who made a song about Digg LINK? Works.
58. Blog about twitter – Hey, what the heck, Twitter is ON FIRE, it’s hot. Think about it, almost every Twitter app out there gets its time on the spot light at least once.
59. Eye catching design – This technique works best on design blogs (or other related topics). The idea is, make a great, unique design and get featured on design blogs like Smashing Magazine and CSS galeries.
5-minute changes
Actually, I’m pretty sure the stuff below won’t even take 5 minutes to set up. The reward is great and turnkey. I recommend doing the two…
60. Domain canonicalization – The name is the only one scary, this is just an easy fix. I made an article about domian canonicalization before.
61. Take advantage of scrapers - They are damn pesky but not “that” smart. They grab content from your blogs through your RSS feed – they grab the whole post INCLUDING links. So if you’re linking back to your blog in that post, they’ll link to that too. Of course you can’t always link back to your blog in every post, that would be weird. Here’s a plugin that’ll help you LINK.
Covert tactics
My favorite part, sneaky effective tactics here that requires very little work. Best part is, most stuff here are white hat – totally legit.
If you can’t finish the whole article, just finish this part, you’ll like it.
62. Post at .gov and .edu forums – One of my personal favorites. Totally whitehat and doesn’t require you to “think” at all. No kidding. Here’s a post I did back at 2007 on how to find .edu and .gov backlinks.
63. SELL your WordPress theme - Giving away WordPress themes with footer linking back to your site is old, still works, but old. What if you sell them? You get the link AND the cash. Besides, selling your WordPress theme instead of giving it away pumps up its perceive value. You also give better support because there’s less people to handle. (hint, hint)
64. Give FREE graphics and icons – I’m a big fan of slick icons and buttons and I bet you are too (if you’re not, you probably haven’t seen a good one yet!)
65. Referrer spam - I did an article about referrer spamming awhile back. Sneaky I tell you, but will definitely MAUL your reputation if you’re promoting a legit site. Your host should also be ready to get complaints because this is blatant spamming. On the bright side, this works well on made for affiliates/adsense sites ;-)
66. Create a web directory then “make them” link back to you - I’m pretty sure you’re familiar with web directories wherein you submit your site and they include it in their directory for a link back or for an upfront payment. Now instead of requesting them to link back to your directory, how about requesting a link back to your site? Shotgun but turnkey.
67. Buy an old domain – Buy and old domain, install WordPress on it and slap an article with your link. Easy. Old domains are more authoritative than new ones… well because they’re old – so they give more link juice. Tip: Buying old domains that has a good name is expensive, very. So I suggest getting something that’s just in the middle.
68. Huge do-follow list - Spend 30 minutes a day on commenting on do follow blogs and you’re in for some quality targeted backlinks. Catch? Takes a lot of time. You have to read the blog post, spark some conversation and “appear” natural. Other than that, definitely worth the try – 1200 Do-Follow Blog List.
69. Pattern interrupt – Another one stolen from NLP (btw, I’m NOT an NLP “guru”, I’m not even close to one, I just happen to know some of their “tricks”) pattern interupt, do something your niche is doing the other way around. Quick example is instead of selling ebooks, sell take home study courses, CD’s or DVD’s.
Be creative
There are literally hundreds of link building tactics out there, and I bet thousands of undiscovered stuff.
It’s pure creativity.
Discovering new “midget blog” sites and new human nature “ticklers” are all forms of creativity (or a day sitting infront of my laptop ;-)
Google Optimization
By the way, In a few weeks, I’m releasing my Google Optimization book. I’ve compiled the tips, tricks and techniques I did to my blog to get on the frontpage of Google for the keyword “make money online”.
Click here to get in the early bird list.
I’m pretty sure you’ll like it. You can sign-up in the early bird list if you want.
P.S. I’m quite proud of it to say the least (who isn’t proud of their own work?)
Carl Ocab is one of the most successful teenage bloggers on the net. But remarkably, Carl was just 13 years old when he rose to fame with his hugely popular “make money online” website: www.carlocab.com
Hi, my name is Carl Ocab or as many call me, the “Kidblogger”. I’m a 16-year old kid from the beautiful archipelago Philippines.
June 16, 2009
12:05 am
To be honest with you, I never really read such long post, but thanks for the links, I surely needed those site to boost my traffic… thanks Carl for the list !
June 16, 2009
5:21 am
Some great tips on link building, using both simple and more advanced methods.
Great to get sites visited and climbing up the rankings. Will definately be using some of these techniques!!
June 16, 2009
8:40 am
Some nice tips here. A list of 45 ways to build backlinks was the 2nd most popular post at my blog. Imagine 69. ;)
June 16, 2009
11:43 am
this a tone of lists here carl eh? hope to follow some of the tips here to make my blog rank well
June 16, 2009
1:48 pm
This Methods Work. I have used some of them on one of my official Blogs and moved my Alexa Rank from #800,000 + to #192,177. Also Don’t forget to include your name in the said posts and articles, If you are proud of the stuff you write so as to get back links then its like killing two birds with one stone:
1. You will get back Links and
2. you will brand yourself
When you brand yourself people gain more trust in you and as you know, the more people trust you, the more money they Spend on you!
June 16, 2009
4:47 pm
Phew! that was a super long reading, but really appreciate you boost effort to write and share your secret to success in blogging. Hoping to be like you someday. Keep up the good work Carl.
June 16, 2009
10:11 pm
@Alex | Blogussion.com – it’s a magic number ;-)
@Mike Ndegwa – Agreed – on some instances though. For example when you create those “midget blogs”, you don’t want EVERY article to be named after you, especially if it’s written by a different person – different voice, it would ruin your credibility.
June 17, 2009
10:53 am
Great post I found it really interesting and thanks for the tips.
June 17, 2009
11:18 am
Carl would it be better to set up a CMS like Joomla or use a blog software for a website that generates traffic, whether it be by free information or making money online?
June 17, 2009
1:11 pm
WoW Carl,
Love the list.. I think I am going to give some link love to this one, in a post tomorrow. As always keep it real!
Catch Ya later
Shaun
June 17, 2009
1:13 pm
Oh yeah one more thing I LOVE the Torrent idea….Why did I not think of that one earlier?
Shaun
June 17, 2009
5:21 pm
@carl Yea I agree to some level you need to use your Name and other times an Alias. Especially when using a “2nd Voice” you want it to appear natural and not self promoting.
I would also encourage using multiple accounts, where necessary.
Also would encourage patience and plan on the side of Entrepreneurs. SEOis not for the faint hearted
June 18, 2009
1:39 am
Dang dude! lol. I use some of these but you got quite a few I haven’t heard of. Thanks for the goodness boyeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.
June 18, 2009
4:56 pm
Really very informative blog… All above links are very useful for me.
Thanks a Lot.
June 18, 2009
6:55 pm
@ShaunJudy dot Com – cool, thanks Shaun :-)
June 18, 2009
11:13 pm
Flipping heck – 69 ways to build backlinks…and then you die of old age and exhaustion!
June 19, 2009
2:34 pm
You are great! The blog is full of valuable information that is very useful for the linkbuilding and icreasing the Google Page Rank.
June 19, 2009
10:03 pm
hey carl,
very impressive list, i started my blogging 2 months ago and its gets better and better every single day.
thank you so much for this list, i will definitely use these ideas for my blog promotion!
keep it up
June 20, 2009
1:15 am
Great Post! Almost 75 percent from it goes to my Plan A
Loved it!!!
June 20, 2009
12:43 pm
Greate job .
June 20, 2009
3:39 pm
Great list Carl, just seems like to good ole’ days of you.. ;-)
June 21, 2009
10:44 am
I heard Back linking is like 90% of SEO, and its so true ( if even not more). Im gonna test some of your ways up there. Thanks for sharing.
June 22, 2009
7:26 pm
Lost of resources website, thanks carl to list it, to make more easier to use.
June 22, 2009
9:56 pm
thanks for the kind mention to using humor to get links. Its worked for Zug.com for almost as old as Carl bin born.
June 23, 2009
3:05 am
Hey Carl!
Thanks for this awesome list!
Bookmarked it and will be using it to start making links to my domains.
Im only getting into internet marketing now and still have much to learn!
Thanks for all your posts!
Keep it real:)
June 23, 2009
5:08 am
Hey Carl, this is an amazing list… several of these methods I have used… You have some very creative ideas… I think I’ll try interviewing someone on twitter as well as some of the other ones.
June 23, 2009
7:40 pm
Whew. Very long list! But every word worth reading! Thanks carl.
June 25, 2009
7:17 am
its amazing the methods i have used .its very creative ideas!!!!
June 26, 2009
9:31 am
ei Carl,
Great post! I didn’t know that there’s a long (kinda huge) list of ways on getting backlinks, I’m sure if I had to follow most of them, my blog will be page ranked in no time… Thanks! =)
June 27, 2009
10:02 pm
Very long list. I think I didn’t do it harder. Thanks for sharing this huge tips
July 4, 2009
3:59 am
Thank you very much Carl for this very nice article and possibilties you have shown us! I am just trying to set up my own blog.
July 8, 2009
12:48 pm
Long, but worth the read. Thanks for all the tips! I’ve used a few of them, but it’s always good to have a list of ideas to use on a rainy day :) Thanks again!
Brenon MacLaury
July 14, 2009
12:24 am
Nice post keep it up , great info how to build back links i was looking for it . may thanks.
July 19, 2009
11:14 pm
Thanks for the information. You helped me a lot.
July 22, 2009
10:47 pm
Nice tips, i want to got lots traffic to mi site productsherbal.com , but had not succeeded so far ( your post is helpful for me
July 23, 2009
12:29 pm
Nice, tips i work full time to promote my blog and than start my blog network.
July 28, 2009
2:44 pm
Great things., tat will help my blog visibility, thankz.
August 8, 2009
11:15 pm
Thanks for sharing these information and links to what might have been helping you in your web presence. I really need these sites and learn how to effectively use them. Thanks so much for sharing them!
August 12, 2009
7:31 am
Excellent resource. Thanks for the tips.
August 26, 2009
5:21 pm
Great post. Bookmarked immediately.
Note: There is an error (invalid link) at: …Checkout the new article marketing.
October 13, 2009
11:44 am
Nice to see a post with some real value. My favorite site is also Digg. I have seen some crazy traffic come from 1 post on Digg. It’s not just the backlinks, but the traffic we are after.
November 1, 2009
10:41 am
Thanks for sharing. This is very detailed and to the point. Just the way I like it. :-)
November 1, 2009
10:42 am
Good information. What do you think about just hiring an outsourcer on elance or something to do all this stuff for you?
I also heard that you can get blacklisted by Google if you do too much too fast (as it will look at that as spam).
November 30, 2009
10:40 am
Great great great post. Thanx
December 11, 2009
11:03 pm
thanks for sharing this info…
January 19, 2010
8:56 pm
Great Post. I think this topic about building back links is
one of the most frustrating things to do for new internet
marketers.
All anyone has to do is understand that this takes time to
do, and not expect too much right from the start, and over
time they will start to receive massive traffic from the
search engines by getting some great quality back links
to their site.
February 4, 2010
2:27 am
though its a very long post but its just amazing tips to build back links. totally mind blowing effort, cheers….
February 8, 2010
6:53 pm
Another excellent example of pure link bait. The list you created is amazing and being an experianced internet marketer I was surprised that I opened as many diffrent windows as I did. Usually when reading lists about link building I laugh and close them after reading the top 5. Your list is legit one of the best I have seen thank you.
March 5, 2010
8:45 am
Really good site Carl. I like the way the information is easy to understand and you have covered so much in the link building and traffic articles. Thanks. Sandkat