Dirty Link Building, Part 3 of 3

How do you know the conversions will be solid? Easy. Because you tested the keywords already and you know which keywords convert well.

Did you see how that worked? Of course I am being very simplistic in describing this, but this should make sense to you how this is rolled out and how you use testing to uncover the right keyword phrases to target in your organic marketing. That is the issue for most SEOs and webmasters. The wrong keywords are often targeted.

Why? They don't test.

Consider this:

• In the late 90s, the keywords that webmasters targeted didn't have traffic, therefore failed.
• Early in this decade with the introduction of WordTracker and other keyword tools, allowed webmasters to target keywords that drove traffic. But sites still failed because the keywords didn't drive traffic that converted into sales.
• Now, you have the tools (WordTracker) and the understanding to focus on keywords that sell. What do you think will happen now?

It is very basic. The main difference between a successful business and a failed one, is the successful one was profitable. Well, duh, right? Focusing on keywords in your SEO campaigns that convert will allow you to be more profitable, therefore a higher rate of success is within your reach right now.

Let's go back to linking. Should your goal be several hundred link per month? No. Start small. Shoot for one quality link a day. That's it. Just one. In my testing, doing this far outpaces any link building package you get, and it gets both traffic and good link reputation to your site. Since you are following the heels of the top ten sites, if you add in a few paid links, and some paid directories, you will be in great shape. As you get better at the process, you can add more links per day. The key is consistency and targeting quality. Use the top sites as your measuring stick.

Remember the golden rule of business: Spend 50% of your time analyzing your competition and the other 50% looking for ways to do it better. You already can see how the #1 site got there, just look at the blue print (back links in Yahoo) and follow the path.

Also remember, when doing a link campaign, always focus on the page where you want the visitor to go. Don't fall into the trap of focusing on the home page and forcing the visitor to click to reach the location. Drive them to the exact location. Fewer clicks often leads to higher conversion.

A parting shot on link programs, link groups, etc. The reason why these struggle, is due to the "law of attraction". You see, the webmaster who is new or desperate who sends out a couple hundred thousand spam emails requesting a "link exchange" will only attract equally new or desperate webmasters to reply to the request. They exchange links and because they both have new sites, they both just sit there at the bottom of the results and rot.

Why is this true?

When is the last time you received a "link exchange" email from CNN or Google? Exactly. Those who have successful and authoritative sites don't go around begging for links. They get them.

So go out and get them for your site, and target the right anchor text, the text that will give your site the best benefit.