When I first started blogging two years ago I had no idea why links were so important and I certainly had no idea how to construct a useful and valuable link.
A link is the blue underlined hypertext that you click on to visit another page or site.
If you look at the posts on this site you’ll notice that the vast majority of links are descriptive. By and large you can tell from the wording of the link what you’re going to find on the other end of the link. What you won’t see me doing much of is linking with terms like “click here”, “this article”, “your name” and unless the domain name describes some aspect of what happens at the other end I won’t use that either.
I’ve set this project up so that all the people on the Mona Lisa have the opportunity to submit a substantial promotional text into which they can insert an anchored text link. The anchored link is the descriptive hyperlinked text I’ve just mentioned. The added bonus is that the anchored link is in context, i.e your 150 words support the wording of the anchored link. It doesn’t get much better for telling the search engines what happens on your site.
“Click Here” doesn’t cut the mustard. Don’t get me wrong, I’ll settle for a “click here” if there’s nothing better going. This is a what’s know as a natural link and natural links can be good but it’s so much better receive a useful descriptive link.
Go and look at your analytics and see what the search engines are sending your way. Does it fit with what you write about?
If it doesn’t you would benefit from some decent anchored links using keywords related to what you do on your site. (How you get others to link to you with these methods is something for another post.)
You can also use the same methods with internal linking. It’s not as powerful as getting an external link but it’s still an opportunity to reinforce that MisterGoodGuy.com is all about helping others. I could have used, promote good causes or mona lisa or good guy or website promotion. You get the idea.
The following videos created by Allyn Hane do a great job of explaining what links are and why they’re important.
I’ve only touched on this topic here by way of an introduction. For the best guide to linking I’ve ever seen go and read Allyn Hane’s guide to backlinks. And then start linking to your friends in a way that will really help them. When they ask you, “What’s with the funky linking?”, you can tell them all about it and encourage them to do the same.
This was just a quick introduction to linking, but I hope it helps you.
Dave
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Spanking!
(Just thought I’d help you bring in an extra 40% of blog traffic. You’re welcome)
Twitter: DaveFowler
April 16, 2010 at 16:16
LMAO!!
I should have entitled this post Spanking Good Links And Why They’re Important.
Now that would have been a great title.
This was a very nice post and link that you set up.
Appreciate the information. Very helpful.
Twitter: DaveFowler
April 17, 2010 at 15:56
Bryan, my pleasure. Allyn Hane is well worth reading. Whilst much of his writing concerns Internet Marketing, his advice would work well for bloggers – if only they’d give it a try.
Getting links to a site whether it be a humble blog or a business website is very important. Making those links meaningful is more than the icing on the cake – it’s the cherry on the icing on the cake.
Ooh, good information Dave. I’ll be watching this now.
Twitter: DaveFowler
April 17, 2010 at 16:01
Melissa, it took me too long to learn this stuff. Not everyone will care but those who do care will certainly benefit from it.
Thank you!!
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