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URL shortening services have become more and more common as websites achieve record-breaking URL lengths for individual pages. (Luckily, this site is very simple but imagine if they had a database driven site with lengthy URLs for each page?! http://www.llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwyll-llantysiliogogogoch.com/)
So, why would you use a URL shortener? Well, there are multiple reasons.
Here are a list of some of those we have found whilst updating our list this week.
However, be warned. There have been many over the last few years but it seems they all struggle to survive as we have found more dead than alive! If you are posting your shortened URL to places where you are relying on it to still work in a few years time, think twice. It may be better to have the full URL with an OPTIONAL shorter link just in case the service folds.
Whichever service you use, remember to keep track of your links so that you know which points where!
Take a look at your website.
On every page, and every piece of great content, how many ways of sharing that content do you have? None? One? Many?
Do you make it easy for a site visitor to send out a link to that content? Can they tweet it, add it to Digg, Facebook, delicious? Is there a retweet or reblog button? Is there an RSS feed to syndicate the content not just to RSS readers, but also to sites that accept RSS feeds? Have you added your RSS feed to sites who cater for your target audience? Is your blog RSS feed listed everywhere it can be? Are you on authoritative blogs’ blogrolls? Can your video content be embedded in other people’s sites?
Do you make all of the above as easy as clicking a mouse?
Take a look at this video (which is quite amusing!) and note the simplicity of sharing the video, embedding it on your own site, tweeting, adding to facebook, digging etc.
Is your content this easy to share? Or are you still manually seeking out valuable links rather than letting your users do it for you?
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This blog post from last October gives some very useful information about the types of links that Google likes to see on your website.
Using Google Webmaster tools is a great way to keep up to date with what links you have to your site. Some may have been created without you asking for a link so it is always worth keeping a check on who is linking to you and developing relationships with those sites and those audiences. It may well be that you have a target audience you were unaware of, and those are business opportunities worth pursuing.
Internal links are fantastic too for driving people to content areas within your site that may also be of interest, for promoting specific products or services to a wider audience, and can help the searchbots to index your site.
Backlinks are an important traffic driver, not just for the search engines algorithms but to ensure that your site is listed in as many places as possible to capture extra visitors.
The important rule of thumb is Complementary not Competitive. So, if you are promoting training seminars for the doctors and therapists, you need to be on sites which don’t also offer the same services, but offer advice, support and help to doctors and therapists for whom your training seminars and events would be of interest.
Establishing backlinks is a long, hard slog and you should aim to set a target for finding and establishing backlinks each month so that you are slowly, but surely increasing the number of places where a link to your site is featured.
Some SEO companies look to achieve around 5000 per month but for many this would prove almost impossible without a dedicated team. If you only achieve 5-20 per week, that is a great start!
Always look for sites with a high PR; an audience who regularly interact with content, which often implies repeat visitors who will see your link time and time again; and strong unique content. You will often need to provide a reciprocal link on your own site so make sure you have areas where you can put reciprocals that do not detract from your site content and are useful for your website visitors.
As per the previous post about finding a good PPC services team who will help teach you about running a PPC campaign rather than taking all control from you, it is interesting to note that Eric Ward – master link builder from Wordtracker – has the same belief, highlighted at the start of this recent interview.
Building inbound links (or ‘backlinks’), ie getting websites to add a link to your website, is not the black art that many make it out to be, but it takes time and it pays to be methodical in finding those that will bring the best return. Surprisingly, this is not always those sites with the highest PR or Alexa ranking.
However, in order to get worthwhile links you must have good content that others will find of value. Many websites have passionate and committed communities of loyal visitors, who will swear that xyz website is their ‘bible’ for information on that particular subject. Whatever niche you are in, your aim should be to provide similar value to your visitors. This will then show that you are a mine of information on your particular subject, which will encourage others to link to you.
Eric Ward gives some prime examples of creating valued content, and if you take a step back from your own website, you should be able to work out how to do this too in your niche.
Whatever anyone says about the importance of SEO, if you do not have the content to back up your optimisation efforts, it is likely to prove a waste of money and time. Links are still one of the first and foremost ways of bringing in highly targeted traffic and although it is a time-consuming process, it yields major dividends. And in order to get links, we are back to that old saying, “Content is king”.
Create good, high quality, relevant, unique content and others will link to you. Y c’est ca!
Link Juice is still being discussed regularly, and despite the ever-changing rules about what is a good link and what is a bad link, you do still need to have links (backlinks / incoming links) to get Page Rank, visitors, and hence sales. But let’s remember that it is not the search engines who will buy your products or services – it is the customers who find your links and follow them who are the ones who will part with cash, so link juice is as important for traffic flow as it is for SEO.
However, there are some in the SEO World who have decided they know better than Google and have decided that ‘outing’ or reporting sites with what they feel to be ‘bad’ or spammy links is fair game. For instance, Rand at SEOMoz decided to out a site for the term ’seo company’ last week.
We are back into the black hat vs white hat SEO techniques debate again. Although I agree with some of his points, there are also issues about whether a single individual should be able to blog about a site like this and undo what may have taken months or years to achieve, and undoubtedly cost money. (And I don’t mean in acquiring paid links, I mean in paying those who set the links up with directories etc in the first place.)
It should be taken as at the very least a salutory warning that the search engines do act upon reports such as these, and your hard work can be undone. Seemingly, whether you are using dubious or valid techniques.
