18 ways to get links 1. Create them yourself. The strength of this method is that it’s completely under your control. You don’t need to wait for others to create links because you’re building them yourself. You can place links in comments, a forum signature, an email signature, exchange sidebar links with other bloggers, add links to your social media profiles… the list continues. You can create a lot of them in a relatively short period of time. 2. Create a meme. Ever seen those post formulas repeated by several bloggers, who all link to each other? These are usually called blog memes, and they’re quite easy to create. The most basic meme model involves answering a few defined questions and ‘tagging’ a number of other bloggers for whom you think the questions would be relevant. This is done in the hope that they’ll answer the questions on their blog and link back to the originator of the meme. The key to success with this method is that your meme results in a relevant and entertaining post. If so, other bloggers will be happy to participate. Another tip: don’t tag really big bloggers, as they rarely, if ever, participate in memes. Instead, tag bloggers you’re friendly with, and make sure your meme is relevant to the audience of every person you tag. 3. Hold a competition. The most direct option is to make a link to your blog a condition of entry, but this is not always necessary. An interesting competition can create word of mouth in its own right, even if entry doesn’t require any kind of reciprocal favor. Just make sure (I mean really — make sure) that the prize you’re offering is not out of proportion to the rewards you stand to yield from the competition. I’ve seen a blogger offer a MacBook Air to a random person who linked to the competition post. He received all of eight trackbacks! Often, an interesting or useful prize is a better choice than an expensive one — and safer, too. 4. Write or exchange guest-posts. A larger-scale version of #1, creating your own links, guest-posting is still a method I stand by. It is, simply put, one of the easiest ways to get a prominent link on a popular blog. If the blog is well-targeted, you can expect a spike in subscribers after your guest-post is published. 5. Go popular on Del.icio.us. Many Del.icio.us users have set their bookmarks to publish to their blogs at semi-regular intervals. Going popular on Del.icio.us means anywhere from a hundred to several thousand Del.icio.us users have bookmarked your content, and a certain percentage of those will auto-publish your link to their blog or website. This can yield dozens of new links. 6. Ask for them. As editor of Freelance Switch, a really big blog with over 23,000 subscribers, I’m always surprised to see how few people ask to be included in our links posts. I get maybe one request a day. The truth is that most bloggers who like a post and think it will be relevant to their audience will be happy to link to it, but most of us assume we don’t stand a chance, or feel that asking for links is too audacious. It’s not — really. Remember this tip: your requests will carry more weight if you use them sparingly. 7. Create a viral graphic. If you can express an idea or make people laugh with a graphic, publish it and make it free to distribute. If you don’t link to your blog or website through the image, most of those who reproduce it will link to you to give credit where credit is due. You will actually get more traffic by not placing your URL on the image than you will by doing so. 8. Create viral content. This is a good opportunity to state that the suggestions on this list are not ordered by importance. Creating viral content is the single most powerful way to generate a pile of links to your blog or website. However, like most highly effective methods, it’s not easy to do. If you’re new to the concept, viral content creates a word-of-mouth chain reaction. 9. Give something away. Generosity creates word-of-mouth. Giving without expecting anything in return is quite remarkable. Ironically, giving something away without asking for a reward generally results in greater benefits than you would have received otherwise. Do remember that links are secondary here, though. Sometimes it’s nice to just do something good. 10. Ask for a response. Have you ever found yourself writing a post and wondering what another blogger would have to say about it? You can encourage them to respond to your post on their own blog by emailing them about it, or by asking their opinion within the post itself. 11. Start a debate. Similar to #10, but you won’t be calling upon specific individuals for a response. This method shouldn’t be confused with starting a controversy just to get a reaction, which isn’t very cool. Instead, argue a case, something you believe in — even if it’s likely to be something most of your audience disagree with. Opinions encourage responses. 12. Create a stickied thread in a forum. Unlike normal forum threads, stickied threads are permanently attached to the top of a forum. They have a few common traits: they’re timeless, they’re useful, they’re well-crafted, and they answer one or many recurring questions. However, it’s difficult to 100% guarantee your thread will be stickied, even if you put a lot of effort into it. If you’re pursuing this method, it’s best to do it on a forum you enjoy, and have fun with the process. If your thread doesn’t take off as you would have liked, it’s will still be a positive experience. Of course, the most important step in the process is making sure your blog’s URL is in your post signature, or you could even place it below the introduction to your thread. I was able to drive a steady stream of traffic to one of my older hobby blogs by having a thread stickied. 13. Buy advertising. It’s not uncommon to be able to buy a 125 x 125 banner ad on a well-targeted blog for around $30 a month. If you’re willing to pay higher rates, you should receive a greater number of impressions (the standard rate is around $1 - $1.50 per thousand). If your ad is graphical, make sure your ad describes what a visitor will find when they click on it, and design it with the blog’s target audience in mind. Vague banner ads can significantly reduce click-through rates. 14. Submit your blog or website to directories. While each link is unlikely to yield heaps of traffic, it’s possible to submit to dozens of directories in less than an hour. Just make sure they are not of too low quality, or the link may do more harm than good as far as SEO is concerned. 15. Submit your work to an online gallery. Most galleries featuring user-generated content will allow you to place a link on the page dedicated to your work. You can find places to showcase art, writing, tutorials, and so on. 16. Create a blog theme and link back to yourself in its footer. Some of the best free blog themes around are used by tens of thousands of people, and most of them come with a link to the designer in the theme’s footer. That’s tens of thousands of links. Though they’re probably going to have very poor click through rates individually, the collective figure might be much more worthwhile. This is also great from an SEO perspective, as well. 17. Create a You Tube video, including your URL. Create a videoblog for your site, but host it on You Tube. Judging by the view count on even very mediocre videos, You Tube viewers have quite a bit of attention to share (or time to procrastinate, depending on how you look at it). If you include popular, relevant search terms in your title or description, you stand to gain quite a bit of exposure. 18. Get Dugg. Going popular on Digg will generally result in dozens of new links. Once again, the most effective methods are the trickiest
Nice post iain123 I definetely agree with points 6 and 9. I can relate 6 to business sales. Sometimes all it takes is for you to "ask" for the business or in this case a link. As long as you have something to offer in exchange such as good content or something of value to your visitors you will probably be successful. Number 9 is a really good method. One that most overlook. Giving something for free really can help to get links and other favours. I think that most people, myself included sometimes overlook the easier ways of getting links and are sometimes guilty of trying too hard.
What can I possibly give to my visitors/members? Point 9. Give something away. Generosity creates word-of-mouth.