Link Building the Hollywood Way for SMEs

April 16, 2010
by Robert Weatherhead

The world of SEO might not quite have the glitz and glamour of Hollywood, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t lessons we can learn from the movies. Here are 5 link building tips that can be taken from the world of Hollywood Movies.

“It’s elementary, my dear Watson!” – Robert Downey Junior – Sherlock Holmes – 2009

Contrary to what some suppliers may have you believe, there is no special formula to link building. There is a lot of hard work, blood, sweat and tears that go into an effective link building campaign, but certainly no magic source. If you are looking for a quick and dirty solution to building website traffic, SEO isn’t for you.

“If you build it they will come” – Kevin Costner – Field of Dreams – 1989

The easiest way to generate a steady stream of quality back links is to generate high quality content that people find valuable. It might be editorial content about your industry or sector, or useful tools that people can access and use for free. If you build something of use people will want to share it with others and will link to it.

“Show me the money.” – Tom Cruise – Jerry Maguire – 1996

Contrary to what Google would like you to believe, for some links you are going to have to offer up something in return. This does not necessarily mean an exchange of money, but the publisher may want something in return. If you are a retailer this could mean discounted products or the occasional exclusive trial of a product. It could be something simpler like the provision of some quality content in the form of a guest article, or some indirect financial remuneration for a subscription to their services. Either way, some links don’t come for free.

“We all go a little mad sometimes.” – Anthony Perkins – Psycho – 1960

The quests for links can be a frustrating one, and there is always the temptation to try and find an easy solution or sacrifice quality for quantity. If you do overdo it, or wake up one morning and realise your link profile is starting to look decidedly spammy, don’t panic just revisit your priorities and start again. If you have been involved in some questionable link strategies stop doing them and consider removing any links that were generated.

If the worst case scenario is realised and you receive a penalty from Google, try and identify what it is that would have earned it and remove the culprits. Submit a reinclusion request to Google and make it clear you have removed the links and then get back on with the task of building high quality authority backlinks to return to the summit.

“He’s not the messiah, he’s a very naughty boy!” – Terry Jones – Monty Python’s Life of Brian – 1979

During the course of your link building activities you are bound to come across networks and individuals who claim to have a “secret method” for generating thousands of links and send your site straight to the top of the SERPs. The fact is that THERE IS NO SECRET SOLUTION TO LINK BUILDING, just hard work, creativity and industry. Any solution sold in this way is likely to be a large low quality site network, generating low quality links with a high chance of getting you a Google penalty.

0 Comments