LAST EDITED ON Nov-05-07 AT 02:20 PM (PST)
 
Below are a few linking strategies, some you are aware of, and others that may be new to you. Some are white hat, some are blackhat and some are "Top Hat".

For best results, you're probably better off using as many of these techniques as possible, as opposed to focusing on a single one or two.

Link Bait -

Templates - Create a template or skin for WordPress, Joomla, or any blog or forum and add your link to the bottom. Rumors are Google is cracking down on this.

Scripts - Create and give away scripts webmasters will want to use on their sites and include a link of your's. You can also submit scripts to the script directories.

Screen Savers -

Programs - Create programs and submit to the various software directories.

RSS
- Submit
- Ping
- Blackhole
- Network

MySpace RSS provided by Top Hat Bob :
3. myspace rss feed export
MySpace.com| rss| sign in| sign out
All blog posts on MySpace pages have RSS link and feed
3.1 http://blog.myspace.com/blog/rss.cfm?friendID=17657316

Directories
- Paid
- Free
- Niche

Blog Comments

Social Bookmarking

Link Exchanges

Articles
- Directory submission
- Selective submission

Trackbacks
- Legit/manual
- Automated

Creative Hosting
- Third Party Hosting
- Cheap Hosting
- Sub domains

Misc Linking:
- Testimonials
- Forums
- Press Releases
- Purchase Links

Creative Linking:
- Exploit Top Refer scripts
- Referals
- Link Laundering

We'll cover many of these strategies in more detail as we go along...

LAST EDITED ON Nov-02-07 AT 03:21 PM (PST)
 
Create screen savers and submit to the many screen saver directories.

Grab some relevant pics from Istockphoto (cheap) or MorgueFile (free), make them into a screen saver and submit to the various screen saver directories.

Tip: Your TuelBar and The Big Page each contain lots of links to free images. Some owners of the imgages want to be contacted...I've had good success giving them a screensaver in exchange for permission to use their pics.

Use keywords as your business name, as this will be your anchor text. Also, 1 or 2 screensavers won't do much, you'll need to create and submit dozens, as not all directories will link directly back to you. But there are 100's of screensaver directories.

I recommend:
Screensaver software: ScreenSaver Factory 4
http://www.blumentals.net/scrfactory/

Submission software: PromoSoft
http://develab.net/

Also, once you're done with your screensavers, it's pretty easy to use the same graphics to make videos using Camtasia that you can upload to YouTube, etc. While this isn't a linking strategy, it can help drive traffic to your sites.

Use this services/software to submit your videos to all the right places:

Video Clip Submitter (free software)
http://www.download.com/Video-Clip-Submitter/3000-2381_4-10738241.html

TubeMogul (free online service)
http://www.tubemogul.com/

HeySpread (free online service)
http://heyspread.com/

Traffic Geyser (paid online service $47 per month)
http://www.trafficgeyser.com/indexB.html

Very similar to the screensaver concept is to create a simple shareware/freeware program for your niche.

Then use PromoSoft http://develab.net to submit it to over 700 shareware directories.

Free/shareware can also be great link bait, as you post the download link on your site and others will link to it.

Note to self: Practice what you preach and submit your Tuelz FINALLY!

Link Bait - The idea is to create page that is so entertaining or informative that others will naturally want to link to it. This can also be a game or online application. The "trick" is, you must get traffic to it in the first place.

One way is to buy traffic from StumbleUpon for 5 cents each at:
http://www.stumbleupon.com/ads/

Send this traffic to your best link bait pages. As people see your page, and if it's good, they will "Stumble" it and your page can be included in the rotation. This will create FREE traffic for you site and traffic.

Hi Kurt

One thing about I-stock is that they specifically prohibit using their photos for screensavers. You can pay extra and get an extended license, I think that is what it is called, but then your pictures cost something like $50 a piece which if you have alternating pictures would be rather expensive.

I have been looking for some place that allows you to use the photos in screen savers and so far haven't found one. (Most have fine print that says you cannot.) If anyone knows somewhere that does allow screensavers I would be happy to know.

>Hi Kurt
>
>One thing about I-stock is that they specifically prohibit
>using their photos for screensavers. You can pay extra and
>get an extended license, I think that is what it is called,
>but then your pictures cost something like $50 a piece which
>if you have alternating pictures would be rather expensive.
>
>I have been looking for some place that allows you to use
>the photos in screen savers and so far haven't found one.
>(Most have fine print that says you cannot.) If anyone knows
>somewhere that does allow screensavers I would be happy to
>know.

Hi Rio...

IStock doesn't mention screen savers:
http://www.istockphoto.com/license.php

It does mention things like mugs and tshirts, videos, etc. The key is if they are for resale or promotion. You can use certain things for promo, but not to resell.

Anyway, I prefer www.morguefile.com as they have very liberal usage terms, and the images are free.

Hey Kurt,

This is great info kid. I particularly liked the freeware/shareware and screensaver comcepts.

Thinking out loud here....

If using some of the images for screensavers becomes too big of a problem, I'll just have to start a stockphoto site. I take a lot of scenery and oddball pictures like criters anyway.

Maybe everyone can pitch in by taking some pictures of their favorite things and submitting them to the site. If it turns out where outsider's start submitting and buying, all the Bombers who add to the site can split any proceeds between them, plus get all images free.

Anyway Kurt, I would have thought you'd have submitted your tuelz just about everywhere. Better get cracking lol.

>Note to self: Practice what you preach and submit your Tuelz FINALLY!<

Mary

Thanks Kurt

I will check out morguefile.

If I recall correctly the wording at istock was very ambiguous, but I printed it out for both their regular and extended license and it was my deduction (which obviously could be wrong) that they did not allow screensavers. I think I came to this conclusion from reading the extended license which did mention and allow screensavers whereas the regular license sort of avoided the subject. I could have come to the wrong conclusion. They did say to contact them if there were questions. Also I was looking a couple of months ago.

Regardless, I will be checking morguefile.

Hi Mary, Rio, & Everyone...

I don't want to get stuck on screensavers, but they can use graphics other than pictures...You can get creative and use textures, clip art, and even videos...ScreenSaver Factory will even let you use Flash files (I think).

Here, the primary goal is to build links, but if you create quality screen savers, people will use then and ScreenSaver Factory let's you add links to your pages from the screensavers so this can be another source of traffic. This is "PROBABLY" most effective for forums where you want repeat traffic.

These strategies should be part of your linking "mix", and you shouldn't depend too heavily on one ot two strategies, but rather getting your links on a variety of other sites.

Also, you need to combine your linking strategies with your hosting, which includes your third party hosting.

I suggest you consider the "quality" of your third party hosting, which we can use PageRank as a (very) general guide.

Let's call Squidoo, Blogger (Blogspot), Wordpress.org and MySpace "high quality" sites. You will want to build high quality links to these pages.

For example, if you have a list of 300 directories to submit to, submit these resources, as well as your own main domains, to the high quality, paid directories.

Then, create a second "tier" of directories, and submit your "second tier" (silver) sites to these resoruces.

Now take your tin sites and submit/link them to the "left over" sites. These would be your Free host sites and some of your sub-domain sites, for example.

And remember, always link "up", but rarely link "down".

This will give different linkage footprints to your different sites.

LAST EDITED ON Nov-02-07 AT 12:06 PM (PST)
 
We'll be covering RSS in more detail next time...But for now (and this thread) I want to give a quick over-view...

RSS
- Submit
- Ping
- Blackhole
- Network

RSS can be used to create content for our sites, but on this thread we'll discuss how to use it for linking...

RSS is just another programming language that is very, very simple and used to format content so that it is easy to be used by other sites.

Submit
Just like you can submit a web page to a search engine, you can submit an RSS pheed to RSS search engines. There's software that will do this and I've also included a list of RSS directories/search engines on the Web 2.0 Resources thread.

Ping
RSS is intended to be used for sites/pages/blogs/content that update. When an update is made, the RSS directories and engines can be "pinged" telling them an update had been made. They will then visit your site and check your RSS pheed and include any updates in the directory/engine. The more you can ping (without spamming), the better.

Many webmasters use these resources to gather RSS pheeds to use as content on their sites. We want our RSS pheeds to be used by other webmasters so we get one way links from their pages back to our own.

RSS Blackhole
This is a blackhat technique to make content look as if it is being updated so you can ping it...And pinging is a good thing. The goal is to exploit ping sites so that our pheeds have the best chance possible of being picked up by other sites.

For more on RSS Blackhole:
http://www.dombom.com/cgi-bin/dcforum/dcboard.cgi?az=show_thread&om=2&forum=DCForumID42

Network
We want to create our own network of sites that will exploit RSS pheeds.

When searching out third party hosting, you want to focus on those that create RSS pheeds so that you can use your own content on your other sites, and this will create links back to the original site automatically.

Also, when you make pages you will want to create your own RSS pheeds that include links to your pages. Then, when we set up our RSS automation systems, you will be able to cross-link related content automatically, from one central location. So if you have 50 domains, 200 sub domains, 30 blogs, 20 free hosts, 3 wikis and a partridge in a pear tree, and want to make sure they all link to each other each time you add something new and relevant, you just have to update an RSS file or two, and your Tuelz and Bombs will take care of the rest for you.

Again, you want to concentrate on finding third party resources that generate RSS pheeds...You can submit them, ping them, blackhole them, and network them.

Directories
- Paid
- Free
- Niche

You will want to submit your sites to the various directories.

Your good/money sites can and probably should be submitted to at least a few of the paid directories.

Try to create some decent link bait/high quality pages for your tin/spammy sites, so that they can be submitted to some of the directories.

You don't need to submit every site to every directory, and you shouldn't. However, you should try to get as many of your sites a few dozen dozen directory links whenever possible. And try to mix up the lining footprint so that each of your sites isn't in the same directories.

Also, instead of just worrying about high PR (mistake), try to find some niche directories you can submit to.

To do this, get creative with your Google searches:
"keywords" + "add URL"
"keywords" + "add link"
"keywords" + "add site"
"keywords" + "add your site"
"keywords + directory"

Use broader, more general keywords for this...And just by changing keywords, you should be able to find a number of niche directories, assuming you have a semi-populr topic. This should help you find places to add your links that are relevant to your pages.

This is a pretty good program for finding general directories to submit your sites with:
Directory Submitter - Semi-automatic software will submit to 350 direcotries for free, upgrade to 2200 directories for $47.
http://directorysubmitter.imwishlist.com/download-free-b

LAST EDITED ON Nov-05-07 AT 12:52 PM (PST)
 
Posting comments on blogs is a great way to build links.

One way to find blogs to post on is by using Google's blog search engine:
http://blogsearch.google.com/

Just enter some keywords and Google will find relevant blogs that contain the same keywords.

Once you do a search, look for a link that says:
Sorted by relevance Sort by date

Click the "Sort by date" link and that will give you the freshest blog posts. Or, if you're more interested in relevance you can use the "sort by relevance".

Also, I like to click the preferences" link and make sure I have 100 results on each page. This is very helpful...

Some people will only post on blogs that have a certain PageRank or that don't use the nofollow tag.

FREE Firefox plug in that reports the PR as well as highlights any nofollow tags on the page:
http://www.quirk.biz/searchstatus/

Nofollow tags are usually hidden in the html code, but this plugin lets you see them without checking the page's code.

Do note that you have to select this option...Right click on the plugin's logo at the bottom of Firefox and make sure to select "Highlight Nofollow Links". If selected, any links that contain the nofollow tag will be red.

There's some programs that will find blogs automatically for you, searching for blogs that meet a certain PR and/or don't use the nofollow tag:

Comment Hut $97
http://www.commenthut.com/

BlogCommentDemon $47
http://www.submittingmonster.com

I haven't tried either, but I'll probably go with BlogCommentDemon as it appears to have similar features at half the price.

Comment Sniper (free - email registration required)
http://www.commentsniper.com/

You find the best and most powerful blogs for your niche, add them to Comment Sniper, and whenever a new article is posted, it notifies you so you can be the first to post a comment.

Easy Blogger Creator Pro $197
http://www.easybloggercreator.com/

EBC Automatically posts to your own network of Blogger blogs. I'll cover this program more deeply in coming months, as it can be greatly expanded using my webmaster/seo Tuelz.

WP Auto-Installer $197
http://wpautoinstaller.com/
WP Auto-Installer installs and updates multiple WP blogs.

Automatic Blog Comment Poster Software - Post Comments Automatically $150
http://www.post-comments.com/
This is more of a spam/automated version. It may be of interest to some...I don't recommend blindly spamming other sites, but it's good to know what's out there...Not only to protect yourself, but also to be aware of what your competition may be using.

PromoArsenal Suite Blog Posting Software Free one day trial - $60 per month - $297 one time fee
http://promoarsenal.com/
This is a suite of blackhat software that automatically makes blog posts and trackbacks. I haven't used it and don't know much about it, but am posting it here as an option.

Note: Some of these resources were suggested by Top Hat Bob.

"Note: Some of these resources were suggested by Top Hat Bob. "

I was wondering about that. Look forward to hearing more from Top Hat Bob, also expanding Easy Blog Creator use.

BTW: Those flames are new aren't they? Very cool.

LAST EDITED ON Nov-05-07 AT 12:46 PM (PST)
 
Exploiting social bookmarking sites is another essential linking resource.

It can be done "by hand", semi-automatic or automatic and the techniques can range from pure whitehat to blackhat.

The most basic way to use social bookmarking is to put icons with links to the major bookmarking services so that your sites' visitors can more easily add your pages.

There are services that will allow you and your visitors to bookmark more than one service at a time:
www.onlywire.com
www.addthis.com

A common blackhat tactic is to use "proxies" (fake/multiple IP addresses) and multiple email addresses to create multiple bookmarking accounts.

There are also "trade" services, using the ol' "you bookmark me, and I'll bookmark you". We'll try to do this if there's enough interest. For more on this, visit this thread:
Web 2.0
http://www.dombom.com/cgi-bin/dcforum/dcboard.cgi?az=show_thread&om=9&forum=DCForumID42

Social Bookmarking Software (semi-automatic)

-!Delicioso! Social Bookmarking Power Submitter FREE
http://www.tagtooga.com/pg/delicioso

Delicioso is a freeware program for submitting URLs to these popular social bookmarking sites:
tagtooga.com, del.icio.us, furl.net, blogmarks.net, shadows.com, spurl.net, simpy.com, and netvouz.com.

- Social Bot - Inexpensive, very whitehat. $19.95

http://www.incansoft.com/IS0003.php

"SocialBot is a Windows Program that’s easy to use and performs all of the mundane tasks that are involved in Social Bookmarking. In a nutshell, you enter a domain, SocialBot spiders it and builds a list of web pages to bookmark and then it submits them to the Social Networking services you’ve got accounts with. At the present time, we support 19 sSocial Bookmarking Services..."

- Bookmarking Demon - $97 More powerful than the free/inexpensive applications above:
http://bookmarkingdemon.com/

- Social Bookmarks Submitter - Automatic Social Bookmarking Software $150
http://www.submitbookmark.com/

Server-side script (install on your sites) The most hardcore option - For agressive, risk-taking SEOers.
100% Automated
Multiple Accounts
Proxy Support

Auto Social Poster $197
http://autosocialposter.com/
This is a WordPress plugin that will submit new posts to a number of bookmarking sites.

Buy StumbleUpon hits - As I posted above for "linkbait pages": One way is to buy traffic from StumbleUpon for 5 cents each at:
http://www.stumbleupon.com/ads/

Send this traffic to your best link bait pages. As people see your page, and if it's good, they will "Stumble" it and your page can be included in the rotation. This can create FREE links for you site and traffic.

Some of the resources above are from Top Hat Bob...

Here's a list of active link exchange "clubs". I don't recommend using only these services for your linking, but if you use them in combination with many of the other strategies listed here, they are a potent part of your marketing mix.

http://www.LinkMetro.com
http://www.linkmarket.net
http://www.link-vault.com
http://www.rsslinkexchange.net/?livefeed=2
http://www.linksmaster.com/
http://3waylinks.net/

There's also software like SEO Elite and IBP/Arelis that will seek out link exchange partners, but I've found this to be too labor intensive...

since I am just in the middle of "brushing up" my knowledge regarding linking I found Kurt has a valid point here.

regarding social bookmarking I found they are quite helpful but rather in getting you a valued backling than in getting you tons of visitors (I havent checked out the bigger ones though)

LAST EDITED ON Nov-05-07 AT 01:24 PM (PST)
 
I'm not real big on article submission to create links, as I believe most of your content should be used on your own sites/domains.

However, I do believe that it can be a helpful part of your linking mix.

- Directory submission

IMO, you're probably best off just submitting to the top 3 article directories and spending the time saved using other linking methods:
My own experience has been that you need to submit to these
3 major sites:

www.EzineArticles.com
www.ArticleCity.com
www.GoArticles.com

Of course, if you have your own favorite(s) or have had success using more/other article directories, keep doing what your're doing.

- Selective submission

By this I mean that instead of posting articles to directories, you look for high quality, well-known and respected sites and offer guest articles.

You give the site free content and they give you free, high quality links back to your site.

To find sites that accept guest articles, try searches such as:
"keywords" + "guest author"
"keywords" + "submit articles"
...etc.

Here's a more comprehensive Google query I "borrowed" from Planet Ocean:
"your keyword" "submit * article" OR "submit * articles" OR "add * article" OR "add * articles" OR "featured writer" OR "featured writers" OR "featured author" OR "featured authors" OR "featured contributor" OR "featured blogger" OR "guest author" OR "guest writer" OR "guest blogger" OR "guest post" OR "submit * tutorial"

Getting some links from highly respected sites in your niche can do wonders for your links and your rankings.

A major part of your linking strategy is to create your own M A S S I V E link network.

By creating tons of pages across many hosting platforms, not only are you creating linking opportunities, you're also creating more pages, which means more words, which means more opportunity to get more pages ranked for more keywords.

I've covered much of this in other threads, but you do want to give preference to the hosting that offers the ability to "give and send" RSS pheeds, although this isn't set in stone.

FREE Third Party Hosting
- See "Web 2.0" Resources thread for tons and tons and tons of free hosting possibilities:
http://www.dombom.com/cgi-bin/dcforum/dcboard.cgi?az=show_thread&om=38&forum=DCForumID42

Cheap Secondary Hosting - As soon as you can afford more hosting, you should always be looking to expand, especially while building your linking network.

It isn't as easy as it seems, as both Top Hat and I have had a less than 50% success rate with hosts. This means anything from not getting log in passwords to cgi and or php not working, etc.

But it's still a good way to increase your exposure.

Sub domains - You can use sub domains to cross-link and build up your linking network.

Here's a program that works with WHM/cPanel reseller accounts to automatically add domains and subdomains. Plus, it will upload files and scripts and even set the permissions.

This means, you can have it install Fatty and all your other scripts on all your domains at once.

Easy Domain Creator $97
http://www.easydomaincreator.com/

Get yourself a WHM/cPanel reseller account, add 10 domain names, with 10 sub domains each, and that's 100 "domains" you can exploit.

Note: I own EDC but haven't used it, as I don't have any WHM hosts (yet). After I get this BombSquad forum going, I'll focus more on building my own empire.

Again, the point here is that 50 pages to each of 10 free hosts, with 20 links on each page is 10,000 link opportunities...With the end goal for you to control 100,000's of linking opportunities.

With this network of links, you'll be able to dominate long tail niche after long tail niche, often within a day or two of adding a new domain. And, you'll be very active in the "semi-competitive" niches, as well.

We'll learn how to automate much of this as time goes on, so don't panic...

LAST EDITED ON Nov-05-07 AT 02:21 PM (PST)
 
Here's some linking strategies that are well covered by others...I'm posting them here just as a reminder:

Forums
- Post Legit comments and include your sig...Problem is, many non-marketing forums don't allow sigs or even outside links.

How to find forums:
- Use your TuelBar to search, there's a tab for "forums".

- Search google using:
"keywords" + forum

- Xrumer (forum post spammer tool) This is more of a warning than a recommendation: Xrumer is a hard core blackhat program responsible for a large part of forum spam. It's like $500 and very secretive. They don't sell to everyone...And probably wont' respond to your emails, either for sales or support.

Press Releases - Best used with link bait type pages. If you can come up with a "newsworthy" and interesting article, a press release can be very beneficial. Most major news outlets sites are very well respected and getting a link from one of them can drive major traffic as well as give a high trust link.

Also, you can gain some links just by having your release included in the press release directories.

See:
10. "67 Press and Media Release Distribution Centers"
on the Web 2.0 resources thread:
http://www.dombom.com/cgi-bin/dcforum/dcboard.cgi?az=show_thread&om=38&forum=DCForumID42

Testimonials - You can gain some links giving testimonials...Although many webmasters don't actually link to your site. Use with caution: Giving too many testimonials will dilute and weaken your own brand.

Purchase Links - You can always buy links....But Google's really cracking down on this. I suggest you avoid link selling sites and instead approach the site directly.

Then, insist that you get a contextual link and not a clustered, "sponsored" link.

A contectual link is like the one below:

"Hi, my name is Kurt and I have a internet marketing software site with tons and tons of great application."

It's "contextual" because the link is contained in the content itself.

Here's an example of "clustered" links:
link 1
link 2
link 3

You'll usually see these links all by themselves over in a side-bar, navigation table.

If you pay for a link, INSIST on contextual links...

Referal Linking -

Exploit Top Refer scripts - This is a bit sneaky, but we can clean it up a bit...

By using a "descriptive search" (I won't give the specifics) locate sites and blogs that display the "top" referals. There are even some popular server log/stat programs that give the general public access to these stats. Find these pages indexed in the engines and you can get a link...

On a page of your's that gets some traffic, use an iFrame with the dimensions of 1 pixel by 1 pixel so that their page is accessed every time your page is. This will appear to make seem you are refering them traffic.

To clean this up a bit, actually include a link to them on your page. However, it's still blackhat as you will be inflating the traffic you send as the iframe will load each time your page is accessed, however this doesn't translate into a click on their link each time.

There's usually a big different between pages views and click throughs.

You also want to be aware of this technique and make sure you tighten your own sites' referal leaks.

Referals
- Make sure any page that sends you traffic is indexed. It's one thing to get a link, it's another to make sure that link is indexed.

Also, if you submit a press release or an article to a directory, find those pages/URLs and link to them from your own pages you know get spidered and are indexed.

Create something like, "see our keyword press release" and/or "see our syndicated keyword article.

This is a major advantage for those that will take the trouble. I'll guess that 30-50% of your links aren't indexed.

Instead of putting all of your effort into building links, ration some of your time making sure these links are actually indexed and you are getting all the link juice you can.

In some cases, a few links to your articles on an article directory can give THAT page a good boost in the engines. Optimization and linking isn't just for your own sites, but for any and all of your assets.

This is draft post that I am working on for my blog. I promised Kurt I would post it here first for his members.

I use MindManager to organize most of my projects thus the outline format. If it's confusing, I can repost it.

Don't hesitate to ask any questions.

Trackback

1. Why

2. Problems

2.1 no-follow
2.1.1 Note
2.2 sales pitch
2.3 hosting
2.4 no referrer
2.4.1 fake referrer
2.5 caveats
2.5.1 anti-trackback plugins plugins
Simple Trackback Validation Plugin — Software Guide
Defeat attempts
Dave’s Blog » Spam Karma 2.3
Defeat attempts
2.6 unnecessary submits
2.6.1 Trackbacks disabled

3. Products

3.1 manually
3.1.1 YouTube - Blog Marketing With Trackbacks
3.2 web based
3.2.1 Simpletracks Adam Kalsey
3.2.2 Wizbang Standalone Trackback Pinger recommended
3.2.3 reedmaniac.com - Trackback Form
3.2.4 Trackback wizard - web.forret.com
3.2.5 TrackBack Display
3.3 server based
3.3.1 Submit Trackback URL - Post Trackback Entry with Blog Trackback Submitter
$150
3.4 desktop
3.4.1 Trackback Spider
Trackback Spider - Home
$97 monthly
♪ TrackBack Spider
Underground Link Building Volume 1
trackbackspider.com
Trackback Spider Review Andy Beard - Niche Marketing
3.4.2 Link Whore Software News
manual.pdf (applicationpdf Object)
$269
3.4.3 TrackbackGenerator recommended
results
WTFIsATrackback
BankWithTrackbackGenerator
3.5 private services
3.5.1 Squirt members trackbackpro tool
$100 month
3.5.2 PG Insider Magic Builder
$97 month
3.5.3 Scripts

LAST EDITED ON Nov-06-07 AT 12:36 PM (PST)
 
1. Why

Trackbacks are simply signals sent out to other blogs telling them that there is information on another blog page related to one of their blog entries.

It's just another way to get backlinks to your pages.

Trackbacks help get you deeper backlinks to pages and increases your potential rankings in the SERPS.

Most trackback tools are automatic unlike blog comments.

The better mass trackback tools conduct a live search for trackback url's containing your keyword so that the link is targeted to your niche.

If you make your query specific enough and put a nice twist and some thought in the comment, trackbacks still work fine. Just be careful to use proxies or different IPs.

As an extra protection to yourself, you are much better off using free subdomains until you know what you are doing.

2. Problems

Some of the problems associated with trackbacks and in particular, automating trackback link building.

2.1 no-follow

You can only legitimately trackback blogs and most blogs have nofollow by now unlike forums and article directories.

2.1.1 Note

Yahoo and MSN may not pay attention to the nofollow tag. Google just makes sure you don't get the benefit of whatever PR the blog has. It still sends its spiders to follow the links.

2.2 sales pitch

Most trackback spam tools look like an interesting piece of software.

If only you could trust everything software developers said on their sales websites.

2.3 hosting

Trackback scripts are notorious for getting hosting accounts shut down due to complaints about "BLOG SPAMMING"

Squidoo will also cancel accounts promoted with trackbacks if they get complaints.

Adsense and some affiliate programs are not friendly towards advertisers that employ trackback techniques.

2.4 no referrer

If there isn't a referrer from your blog to the trackback comment, most anti-spam tools will automatically filter the trackback as spam and blacklist the domain and IP as spam if continuously repeated.

There are scripts that spoof the referrer but they only work if the script and target domain are on the same server.

2.4.1 fake referrer

I tested javascript referrer scripts that display the last visitor. If the blog owner checks the blog promoted, it will have his link listed.

Couldn't find any working javascript or WP plugin to show the last visitor.

Checked php referrer scripts

Found the following code that would work:

<?php echo $_SERVER<"HTTP_REFERER">; ?>

Prefix it with something like "Most recently visited page:" and stick it in the sidebar or footer. It might pass a quick manual check or automated checks for urls depending on the page accessed from.

Couple problems I had when testing the php referrer snippet:

-urls can get long and break the sidebar formatting so I used it in the footer

-it shows all referrers including search terms

-depending on your prefixed text, it might disturb some bloggers to see that you recently visited their www.domain.com/wp- admin/moderation.php page

Rule of thumb when trackbacking - be prepared for complaints.

2.5 caveats

Use trackbacks at your own risk

Akismet can wipe all your links out in one stroke

Your IP and domain can get blacklisted which will interfere with comment posting and submitting your rss feeds.

2.5.1 anti-trackback plugins plugins

There is no greater challenge than trying to fly under the radar so to speak - sometimes literally.

To get a better handle on how trackbacks are handled by your blog, be sure to trackback yourself with the various tools and manually.

To paraphrase one of Kurt's gospels about the best way to understand search engines is to run your own. Likewise, with any tool you use - direct it to your sites first, even if you have to make up throw away sites.

Always test before going live or believing in some iffy sales copy.

Simple Trackback Validation Plugin — Direct quote from their software guide

"When a trackback is received, this plugin checks if the IP address of the trackback sender is equal to the IP address of the webserver the trackback URL is referring to.

This reveals almost every spam trackback (more than 99%) since spammers do usually use bots which are not running on the machine of their customers.

It retrieves the web page located at the URL included in the trackback. If the page doesn’t a link to your blog, the trackback is considered to be spam.

Since most trackback spammers do not set up custom web pages linking to the blogs they attack, this simple test will quickly reveal illegitimate trackbacks.

Also, bloggers can be stopped abusing trackback by sending trackbacks with their blog software or webservices without having a link to the post.

See related topics and documents

http://sw-guide.de/wordpress/plugins/simple-trackback-validation/ "

Defeat attempts

Tried trackbacks to 7 different blogs with this plugin. Submitted directly from a blog but without linking directly to their post.

No successful results yet and my test trackback to both my own hosted blog and wordpress.com blog ended up in the moderation queue and not Akismet's spam filter. If Akismet traps it before this plugin, then it defeats the purpose of the test.

I took care of the IP issue but not the direct link to the post I was trackbacking. I was hoping the snippet of php code that displayed the referrer would suffice. The test now is if the blog moderator will pass it.

The other option is to go to a database option or even a manual list of actually posting the links of the 50 sites that I want trackbacks on under the guise of "Sites I visited to write my last post"

If it stops trackbacks from getting flagged as spam, it is worth it.

There are a lot of other blogs that don't take any anti-trackback measures. It may be easier to target them.

The caveat is that the more trackbacks you send that fail, the greater the chance your domain and IP will get blacklisted.

Dave’s Blog » Spam Karma 2.3

"Spam Karma 2 (SK2) is an anti-spam plugin for the WordPressblogging platform. It is meant to stop all forms of automated Blog spam effortlessly, while remaining as unobtrusive as possible to regular commenters.

See related topics and documents
http://unknowngenius.com/blog/wordpress/spam-karma/ "

Defeat attempts

I have this installed on a test blog and I am trackbacking it from my hosted blogs as well as wordpress.com blogs.

I am actually testing two things out:

1. determining what it considers spam and trying to bypass it

2. testing the use of some plugins and permalink settings that are SEO "must haves" and seeing if they trigger a spam filter due to words they put in the url, like porn, casino or viagra. I know those are the obvious ones but the list of flagged words is likely large enough to trigger some false postives.

My first trackback just landed in the Recent Spam Harvest basket with a -7.87 rating:

Comment has no URL in content (but one author URL)
-7: Trackback Source Site (http://domain.com/in​;dex.php/archives/2)​ does not contain Blog URL domain (domain.info).
-1: Severity settings adjustment.

Now to fix it. I'll put the php referrer script in the blog footer and tried again.

Still didn't work. It is obviously checking for the url from a different server or requires a html link.

I added the URL to a post (not a link) and tried again. This time it worked and was automatically approved.

The comment stayed on the blog after I removed the link which is understandable. I also added the url as a tag and the trackback got approved.

This leads to a couple interesting ways to automatically bypass the url filter that I will test later. Using plugins that can be turned on and off easily that can correspond with batches of trackbacks being submitted. If done in moderation on relevant blogs the other spam triggers might not be tripped.

2.6 unnecessary submits

The only trackback tool that can be considered effective would be the one that actually checks if your trackback has been posted AND appears on the targeted blog.

It should modify its database of URLs to exclude those that do not display your trackback so you don't keep submitting to the same blogs that moderate your trackback out and risk being blacklisted by spam filters.

2.6.1 Trackbacks disabled

Many sites now disable trackbacks and comments on posts older than XX days. There are still lots of blogs out there.

3. Products

3.1 manually

For manual submitting trackbacks you can find blogs in several different search sites.

I prefer to search for keyword related blogs in Technorati.com.

Append your search with "trackback" to find the posts that make it easier to submit to them by posting the uri.

Be sure to use the search in entire post settings in the "Blog Search settings."

If you are getting lots of results, you can narrow it down by choosing sites with a lot of authority.

This is a quick way to find some blogs suitable for trackbacks that are relevant to your niche and recent (less chance of trackbacks being turned off due to post age).

I haven't found the limit in WordPress yet of how many trackbacks can be entered.

If you have a favorite post, just open it in the WordPress Dashboard edit tab, add your list of trackback urls and save. Keep repeating.

Remember, your trackbacks will not show up on most blogs immediately or ever on some. When in doubt, set up a free WordPress blog and send a test trackback to it. Check the comments tab in the Dashboard for it's status.

3.1.1 YouTube - Blog Marketing With Trackbacks

Good video overview

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCCq3K7XpEI

3.2 web based

There are a variety of web-based trackback forms.

I have tested a couple of them. Their usefulness is in sending a trackback from a blog you don't have admin access to.

Why would you want to do that? Several reasons:

1. You forgot your blog login details

2. There is a link on the post that you want to promote on someone else's blog

3. Your blogging tool doesn't support trackbacks

4. Because you can.

Kurt always wonders why it takes me so long to write a "short" description of something. It's because I don't write anything I haven't tested or researched for a few hours. Often times it involves a credit card. Luckily this time it didn't.

Let's test reason #2. As I am doing this think about ways it can be semi-automated or further exploited (in a nice way, not abused) with parasite hosting.

I go to Technorati and search for "seo trackback"

I find an interesting article that I would like a link on:

http://blog.yourwebsiteprofit.info/2007/11/5- reasons-to- share-the-link-love.html

so I grab the trackback uri

http://blog.yourwebsiteprofit.info/2007/11/5- reasons-to- share-the-link-love.html/trackback

Now lets say you have a favorite blog post that has some links to you or an article you wrote posted on someone elses blog that makes you an authority or perhaps a blog post that picked up one of your black hole rss feeds that had your affiliate links or . . . (use your imagination).

Here is a good example (I just picked a random one from the Technorati search results):

http://junkspotnews.blogspot.com/2007/11/how- to-build- traffic-to-your-blog.html

So now you want some traffic and link love for this post.

1. Open up a web trackback submitter in the list. I haven't tested all of them but I prefer Wizbang.

2. The trackback uri from the page that I want a link on goes in the first box.

3. The URL of the post you are promoting goes in the next box

4. Your blog name and title next.

5. You can use an excerpt from the post with a link in like: "You'll find an extensive list of article directories here http://ebizwhiz- publishing.com/write-articles/submit- articles.htm"

That's not my link or blog. It some random blogger's lucky day. They can delete it if it's a problem. (And it was deleted when I went back to check my links - the drawback of links on other's sites)

This was what the result looked like:

Trackback by Junk Spot News
2007-11-06 19:18:11
How To Build Traffic To Your Blog
You’ll find an extensive list of article directories here http://ebizwhiz- publishing.com/write- articles/submit- articles.htm
Reply to this comment

You see the possibilities. I also managed to get 2 links on this blog to 2 different sites but targeted to the niche I am in. You can have a lot of fun with this. I am not sure if the web service checks if you used an exact excerpt or url so there are some things to test further.

This is a good way to distance yourself from some of the problems that can arise from trackback linking.

3.2.1 Simpletracks Adam Kalsey

http://kalsey.com/tools/trackback/

3.2.2 Wizbang Standalone Trackback Pinger

http://www.aylwardfamily.com/content/tbping.asp

3.2.3 reedmaniac.com - Trackback Form

http://www.reedmaniac.com/scripts/trackback_form.php

3.2.4 Trackback wizard - web.forret.com

http://web.forret.com/tools/trackback.asp

3.2.5 TrackBack Display

http://www.oreillynet.com/cgi-bin/tb/tb.cgi?__mode=send_form

3.3 server based products

3.3.1 Submit Trackback URL - Post Trackback Entry with Blog Trackback Submitter

http://www.submit-trackback.com/

$150 one time cost

Recent October update might be worth trying again

Tried an earlier version and didn't like it.
- difficult to install
- proxy problems
- adding my own trackback urls didn't work properly
- very spammy results

3.4 desktop products

3.4.1 Trackback Spider

Trackback Spider - Home

Waiting list sign up page
http://www.trackbackspider.com/

$97 monthly

Sold out and not available
Many affiliates have "special links" to get you in

Worst trackback tool I tried.
- difficult to set up
- monthly fees
- need to edit page codes

Disappointing since the creator is also the developer of Domain Dashboard which is one of my favorite tools.

TrackBack Spider
vendors own video
http://www.tbspider.com/

Underground Link Building Volume 1
Good report to read
http://www.trackbackspider.com/ulbv1.pdf

trackbackspider.com
Vendor's blog answering questions
http://www.trackbackspider.com/blog/

Trackback Spider Review Andy Beard - Niche Marketing
Interesting review of this tool
http://andybeard.eu/2007/05/trackback-spider-review.html

3.4.2 Link Whore Software News

http://www.link-whore.com/news.html

manual.pdf (applicationpdf Object)
Software manual for tools
http://www.link-whore.com/manual.pdf

$269 one time cost

The version I tried couldn't find more than one trackback a minute and would freeze after 10 minutes

It's a suite of tools that aren't well connected

Not one of them worked as advertised.

Interface can be offensive to some.

I wouldn't use it even for free.

3.4.3 TrackbackGenerator

http://www.trackbackgenerator.com/blog/

Sold out and no longer available at author's website. Sold for $147 to $97 one time cost (previous customers)

Trackback Generator from Joseph Tierney works the best for a commercial tool.

Only had one operating system error and that was due to using my own spider tool and not checking the urls that I saved. It does take a bit of practice to find the right timeout settings.

Works with text files and stores a list of urls that it considered successfully posted. In reality, only a small portion of those make it on the blog due to spam filters, vigilant webmasters, etc.

You are limited to promoting a single url at a time nor can you randomize the anchor text unless you start a new project.

It is very easy to over do it with this tool because it actually works.

It takes some practice to know how many trackback links are needed to get your site indexed versus how many before you piss off the wrong webmaster and get complaints and hate comments in return.

Best to practice on throwaway subdomains from wordpress.com for the first couple days.

The tool can gather about 1,000 backtrack target urls per hour and post about 400 per hour. About 5% of them will stick at least long enough for one pass of the spiders. Your mileage may vary.

WTFIsATrackback
A good report by the vendor
http://www.josephtierney.com/WTFIsATrackback.pdf

BankWithTrackbackGenerator
How to make money with trackback links
Just a personal observation - Squidoo will close your lens if they get complaints.
http://www.josephtierney.com/BankWithTrackbackGenerator.pdf

3.5 private services

3.5.1 Squirt members trackbackpro tool

$100 month

Included as part of the SQUIRT membership benefits

Unable to get the install working

Looks like it has potential but gave up on it

3.5.2 PG Insider Magic Builder

Included as part of the Magic Promoter suite

Worked good for a few domains then server IP seemed to be banned.

Not easy to install and requires tech support to help setup

Poorly documented

Overall effectiveness of the Magic Builder suite is questionable

$97 month

3.5.3 Roll Your Own Scripts

You can find snippets of code on most black hat forums to create your own or hire an outsourcer

Apparently it's not a difficult process if you are a programmer. It's adding all the "must have" extra features that cause problems.

***********

And that wraps up Kurt's request for "a paragraph about trackbacks for linking; Legit/manual, Automated."

Hope I have it covered. Questions are welcome.

Thanks Top Hat...

Everyone...Blackhatters use Trackbacks as a major part of their linking strategy.

With trackbacks, it's possible to get 100's of links per hour. Think about this for a second.

There's too much BS for me to fully exploit trackbacks, but these blackhat trackback spammers are getting thousand of links in the time it takes you and I to get 1 or 2.

This is our competition.

I've tired a couple of the resources on Top's list:

SQUIRT Forum - $100 a month - They give away a trackback script. I couldn't get it to work and it has poor documentation. The members that did get it to work were programmers, and they reported complaints from bloggers.

TrackBack Spider - $97 a month. I joined and downloaded the software, read the "read me" and canceled my membership right away. I don't know if it works, but it was so complicated to set up, I didn't bother going any further.

Q for Top Hat - It seems to me that doing trackbacks the legit way using Technorati is an option that should be explored further.

Do you think that using Technorati in legit ways is an efficient way to get back links?

There is room for improvement in the efficiency of using manual trackbacks by two ways:

1. Make your posts more generic so that you can trackback to a greater number of other blogs.

The "Top 20 . . . (in your niche)" type posts work great since it looks like you have done a lot of research, thus a lot of trackbacks are merited.

I know this sounds backwards, but you should find the blogs that you want to trackback or comment on, then write the post based on a common theme.

2. Technorati is only one option of locating blogs, but some of them may not even be indexed in the search engines. If you are using trackbacks to get spiders to visit your blog post, then you may want to look for higher ranking blogs that get more frequent spider visits.

I did a test today with Comment Hut to locate higher PR blogs in a niche. I visited each blog it found. In one window I had my WordPress dashboard open to write the post - I jotted notes as I went along in the editor box. I also copied the trackback uri to the dialog box in the post editor.

Eventually I determined a theme - "Best blogs for ATV parts and accessories" which fit the theme of my blog about ATVs. It was a one paragraph post about an ongoing search for ATV blogs.

Over half of the high PR blogs accepted my trackback and I don't think they will delete it. Some of the others should approve the ones in the moderation queue over time.

If I find more blogs related to my post theme, I can add trackbacks at any time by opening the editor window in WordPress.

You can search Google also with a search string like:

trackback+url+OR+uri+blog+comment+October+2007+niche+keyword

Change niche keyword to your actual niche and use a date in the last 30 days to get more recent blogs but not the most recent. This will give you a good selection of blogs to target.

This system will also work with existing posts but you have to ask yourself why would another blogger approve a trackback submitted from a post written a month or two ago?

So to recap, manual trackback linking can be a very efficient WH linking strategy if you gather the urls first and then write the post.

>The "Top 20 . . . (in your niche)" type posts work great
>since it looks like you have done a lot of research, thus a
>lot of trackbacks are merited.

Thanks Top...You reminded me of a strategy I forgot to post:

Instead of requesting a link exchange, notify (quality) sites they have won your "best <keyword> site" award.

Send them the code they need to put on their page to display the award, including a link back to your site. Becasue of "ego", many webmasters will add the link (I mean award) to their sites.

You can do this to create one way links, or you can link back to them as an award winner, to make link exchanges easier.

Also, put a form on your site to have folks submit their site for your award review.

Awards can also be great protection...For example, once in a while someone will complain about their link being in FatBomb or on your pages. If you have an award graphic and call your links the "best of", you'll greatly reduce any complaints.

Take it a step further and if you're getting creative with your trackbacks, calling a blog post a "top 20", while including an award graphic will go far to eliminating complaints.

Awards can be as simple as adding some stars or simley faces before the link. You can rate them by giving 4 or 5 stars/smileys, etc. But be sure to give them a good rating:

------------------------------

DomBom Choices for Best Pages on the Web!

- Their Site Here Their Site Here Their Site Here Their Site Here Their Site Here Their Site Here Their Site Here Their Site Here Their Site Here

- Another Site Here Another Site Here Another Site Here Another Site Here Another Site Here Another Site Here Another Site Here Another Site Here Another Site Here Another Site Here Another Site Here Another Site Here
--------------------

Again, very few webmasters complain about getting an award. And even if you ad awards "randomly", your pages will look a lot more legit.

Check your clip art collection for qood looking award graphics...Or:

Here's some places to get free award graphics:

http://www.goldclipart.com/24k/shines63.htm
http://www.highpowergraphics.com/templates/page3.html
http://www.liza-kliko.com/art/free_awards.htm
http://www.vsda-web-awards.com/graphics.htm

For $1, you can get a high-quality graphic from I-Stock without having to link back to the graphic site:
http://www.istockphoto.com/file_search.php?action=file&text=trophy

LAST EDITED ON Nov-12-07 AT 05:14 AM (PST)
 
QUOTE: "Easy Blogger Creator Pro $197
http://www.easybloggercreator.com/
EBC Automatically posts to your own network of Blogger blogs. I'll cover this program more deeply in coming months, as it can be greatly expanded using my webmaster/seo Tuelz.
"

Kurt,
I was wondering what kind of creative usage you might have referred to and one of the ideas I came up with was creating condor style like pages (with tuelz) and using this content to set up blogs which are sort of unique then...?? Am I on the right path here...

>QUOTE: "Easy Blogger Creator Pro $197
>http://www.easybloggercreator.com/
>EBC Automatically posts to your own network of Blogger
>blogs. I'll cover this program more deeply in coming months,
>as it can be greatly expanded using my webmaster/seo Tuelz.
>"
>
>Kurt,
>I was wondering what kind of creative usage you might have
>referred to and one of the ideas I came up with was creating
>condor style like pages (with tuelz) and using this content
>to set up blogs which are sort of unique then...?? Am I on
>the right path here...

Karsten,

You asked this question on the other thread and my answer is still the same:

>You also mentioned using easybloggercreator somewhere
>(couldnt find the thread anymore)could you enlight me with
>some kind of creative usage ?

We'll get to this when we cover the relevant Tuelz. Each month I will focus on different Bombs and Tuelz. Coming up is BlogBomb and RSS.

However, if you want to check out EazyBlogCreator and Tuelz, you have the general ideal. But until we get to the particular Tuelz, we'll focus on Fatty, then BlogBomb and RSS.

Thanks Kurt!

regarding using free blogservices I am just testing this tool which is free and will assist you in posting/submitting to several blogsystems /blogservices

http://wbloggar.com
http://wbloggar.com/faq.php#243 (list of supported services)

Here's an excellent blog post by Kim roach concerning linking. It's a great compliment to this thread as there is almost no repetition betwee these two resources:

http://www.zanypixel.com/blog/untapped-link-building-strategies/

Here's a summary, she provides resources for each:
- Ebay blog
- contests
- CSS galleries
- Lists sites like Listable
- How to get links from Flickr.
- Submit to "cool sites"
- Convert Blog Posts to Podcasts automatically, then submit to podcast directories
- Submit your content to the top 35 torrent sites.
- free ebooks ...submit it to ebook directories…
- Social media campaigns are one of the best ways to build links.
- exchange reviews with other blogs. "There are numerous sites that do blog review trading."
- create and promote Wordpress themes
- Wikis
- widget marketing

Between Kim's tips and the strategies I listed above, there's really no reason why you can't DOMINATE your niche, except you don't do it.

Again, SEO is all about putting as many words on as many pages as possible, then linking to those pages.

Just think if you keep pounding out pages, and I'll teach you how over the coming months, and then exploit just one or two of these link strategies each week for a year...Your success is up to you.

http://www.autolinkexchanger.com/automatic-link-exchange-software.ag.php

Here's an "automatic" link exchange script, with a free and paid version.

I haven't tried it and would appreciate if one of you script experts could give it a look.

One thing, it does seem like the categories for exchanges are very limited.

I am checking it out. The hosting requirements for PHP to be configured for Safe_Mode = OFF will be a problem for some hosting accounts.

The signup process takes you through a OTO to save $118 on the $197 paid version since the "free version has some features limited and some disabled."

That's two warning flags for an easy to use plug and play free linking solution.

I retrieved the activation email out of the Hotmail spam folder. (Is it really all that hard to write autoresponder emails that don't get flagged as spam?)

Now I am logged in to the members area. I have seen this backend script before that the seller uses to manage their site. I am more interested in figuring out the software used to build the site than the linking service they provide. Did anyone else signup and take a look at the site? Any ideas what software they used to build their site with?

I am having a hard time finding out what exactly I need to do to use the link service. Almost every navigation tab seems to take me to a page promoting downlines or affiliate opportunities for the $197 upgrade.

Finally found the download link in step 3. The pdf bonus in step 4 lead me to "You don't have permission to access /free-version/NewAgeLinkExchange.pdf on this server."

I unzipped the package and viewed the readme. I am a bit discouraged by now because I still can't find a comparison between the free and paid versions.

Can't find any screenshots or links to sample sites of the software in use.

I decided to just submit a support ticket asking how to install it into a WordPress site.

I see three possible uses for this software but don't know how to incorporate it into a WordPress blog:

1. A page template like the sitemap plugin that makes an self-updating directory page with a link under Pages in the sidebar.

2. Substitute the Blogroll code for the link exchange code so that my linked partners appear in the Blogroll

3. Tie into the existing categories somehow so that if a visitor clicks on the Video Game category the archived posts are displayed and the link partners are displayed at the bottom.

I have looked through the code and most of it is encrypted so it doesn't lend itself to easy mods.

It is a lot of work to set up for one website. It's not for mass site promotion. A good opportunity for an outsourcer to provide an installation and configuration service per site.

I'll update this review when I hear back from them. If it will work with WordPress, I will test it further.

I finally found the links partner page at:

http://www.autolinkexchanger.com/directory/

I went through a few of the sites listed and tried to add an url to their directory. Reverse test of the software.

I haven't figured out if the script manages all links or just the partner links.

Gave up after a few sites due to page not found errors, the connection has timed out, problem loading page.

Installing and maintaining this script will require more technical expertise than most of the other linking alternatives.

>I'll update this review when I hear back from them. If it
>will work with WordPress, I will test it further.

Did get a reply to my tech support question on if it will work with WordPress and how to install it so the links appear in WordPress:

>You must create a folder on the hosting in the root directory where
>ALE will be building links - this folder is purely for ALE. Then you
>follow all installation instructions - upload the files, create MySQL
>database, etc. - and that's it. ALE is on your site/WP blog.

I thought Kurt's instructions were hard to follow sometimes.

I am going to pass on this program. Time will be better spent on installing Bombs.

I use AutoLinkExchanger on a few of my sites.

It tracks all links.

It's very customizable as weel.

It's somewhat flaky as an app and I've had the cron jobs cause CPU issues with hosting.

Nick (the developer) is good on fixing issues, but I don't plan to use it on any new sites.

Ernie

Thanks for the update Ernie. Are you using the paid or free version? Any comment on the differences?

I try not to be too critical when considering new techniques and like to keep an open mind. It appears to be a good concept but very difficult to implement. Also, the last thing I need on a server of WordPress installs is a rogue cron job.

I am always looking at ways to diversify my links out of a blog network to non-blog sites.

@ THB
thanks BTW for your huge article on trackback
I just wonder if you like to share some tricks on how to exploit the free blog thing (like you promised )

Most probably I will get some bashing from Kurt for this because of interfering with his class schedule

I'm using the paid version.

Picked it up at a WSO about 15 - 16 months ago.

I'm having some issues with it as we speak.

Ernie

>I just wonder if you like to share some tricks on how to
>exploit the free blog thing (like you promised )

It will tie into near the end of the RSS session that Kurt is working on.

One of the tricks is to keep your accounts active. They will commonly send emails like:

"Dear Valued Customer,

We are emailing you, to let you know your Hostme123.info account xxxxx.hostme123.info has not received over 5 visitors in
the last 30 days.

The account will be removed in 2 days time."

Other tricks are automating the sign ups and content. Then keeping it all organized and up to date.

I don't recommend tools or techniques that I don't use or thoroughly test. I have a few people putting things through the paces and will be looking for more testers shortly.

Kurt,
if I start to exploit say blogs and free hosting
how should I introduce these sites to the spiders..
My Idea was to ping them and/or to set up a central site and feed some high PR to them
what is your opinion on this?
thanks
Karsten

Hi Karsten,

I suggest starting with Blog and ping, RSS submit, and social bookmarking, in addition to your blog farm which is part of the linking network.

Down the road you will want to diversify your linking...Submit the gold and some silver sites to the directories, link exchanges, screen savers and any/all of the other stuff listed above.

Hi Kurt,
thanks for the fast reply (even if it is 3 AM in the morning ) )
I also shoot you a pm!

Hey Kurt,

just a question, if i get 1000 links from different free hosting, but each page is only PR zero, is it still worth it? I thought getting a link from a high pagerank page is alot better than getting hundreds of low pagerank pages, at least that's what I thought..

Christopher

>just a question, if i get 1000 links from different free
>hosting, but each page is only PR zero, is it still worth
>it? I thought getting a link from a high pagerank page is
>alot better than getting hundreds of low pagerank pages, at
>least that's what I thought..

Hi Christopher,

- We shouldn't rely on any single method of getting links. You'll also want to consider every linking strategy you can. You need to start somewhere and IMO the first step is building the stuff YOU have control over.

- Merely cross-linking different pages will generate PR. In some situations where you have decent content you can also get outside links to your tin/free sites as well to help stimulate the over-all PR of your network.

if you read the boards for feedback on article marketing you most probably have already read comments like this:
Submitting to 500 Directories will get you banned from G, makes you blind, gets you cancer etc etc!

But what exactly happens if you really submit to 500+ directories?

Are you ready for the truth????

Here is the answer: NOT MUCH!
1. getting accounts for 500 directories is a pain in the...
2. even if you are lucky to master this task by the time you finished the first directories already went out of business or you account is not working anymore etc etc.
3. from my experience less than 20 sites will actually approve your articles in a reasonable amount of time e.g. weeks (and I am talking about quality articles here not written by myself LOL)

Any comments???

Hey Karsten,

You bring of some very valid points.

I haven't done any article marketing, so I'm only speaking from theory based on past SEO submissions, and if they are similar then the 80/20 rule applies.

Actually, it's probably more like the 5-10/500 rule, meaning if you submit to 5-10 of the directories you'll get 99.999% of the results.

Social Bookmarking sites are probably similar, in that submitting to a few, instead of all, is likely optimal. And the same is likely true for the directories.

The key is to find the optimal resources, which we will focus on here.

It is still important that you don't use the exact same pattern for every site and blog you create. You will still want to mix things up to a great degree, while focusing and what is found to be optimal.

An example of this would be to find 5 article directories that offer a good "effort to results" ratio. Submit each article to a different number of directoties, mixing in an extra directory or two (other than the main 5) for each article.

For article marketing I just suggest to submit to the TOP 20 article directories, of course quality ones. Submitting to many doesn't work, even get you banned.

For just "directory linking", you may send to 500 directories. Not many will approve.

Buut the good thing of these are... They don't approve at the SAME time, so no fingerprint

Tasari

>1. A page template like the sitemap plugin that makes an
>self-updating directory page with a link under Pages in the
>sidebar.
>
I know this is late in the game, but this is what I would do if I were using this software. It's a small tutorial I just wrote that has pictures, that's why I'm linking to it:

http://jramer.com/weblog/create-custom-pages-in-wordpress/

If you are building a blog/site network as discussed in other threads, you'll also want to build a vast link network to spray links all over your blogs and pages.

Here's a possible example:

Create 20 screen savers.

Put some on different tin, silver or gold sites, including squdoo etc.

Submit the screen savers to various directories.

Let's say you put the 20 screensavers, 5 each on:
1 squidoo lens
1 free site
1 blog
1 gold/silver hosted domain

Each site above can be sumbitted 5 times to 300+ screen saver directories.

20 screensavers x 300 directories is 6,0000 links to OUR pages, lenses and blogs.

It also creates pages on other IPs and hosting containing your download link and often, a link back to your network.

The big impact isn't from SEO or PageRank. It's that you can now link to your own specific pages within those diretories all across your network.

Here's thousands of links to various IP addresses that you can add to your pages that all point back to you. Links to you will be everywhere.

And when folks download your screensavers, you can use follow-up marketing, both in "readme file" and in the screensavers themselves.

Now, take the same stuff you used for screensavers and make videos.

Upload and submit the videos to all the different video directories.

Gather links to your pages in the directories and add to your RSS network pheeds...You link to pages containing your videos, which lead back to your network.

Of course, your videos also promote your gold sites, using your URL.

Next, we create some video "blogs" using our own videos hosted on various video directories as content.

This creates another link pattern in ADDITION to your screen savers.

Repeat with a few articles submitted to varius directories. Link to the pages containing your articles, which link back to your network.

Summary:
Look for ways to get links on other folks' sites using automation by creating screensavers, videos, software, articles, etc...

Across your own network, link to the pages on the other folks' sites that contain your stuff.

"Then use PromoSoft http://develab.net to submit it to over 700 shareware directories"

Kurt, great post - are you using the program mentioned above to submit to screensaver directories or is there another resource?

Karsten

Here's a free online linking tool you may want to check out:

Backlink Builder
http://www.webconfs.com/backlink-builder.php

"This tools searches for websites of the theme you specify that contain keyphrases like "Add link", "Add site", "Add URL", "Add URL", "Submit URL", "Add Article" etc. Most of the results could be quality potential backlinks."

Hi Gang

I'll be posting a link to a Screensaver Creator software in the next 24-48 hrs.

The reason it's not here now is that I need to clarify my licensing abilities.

I know I can supply the program, but I would actually like to supply 'branding rights' as well, to increase the value.

Watch this space!

Be back to you as soon as I can

Kind regards

Ian

Neil Shearing has released a FREE program to find blogs that have comments and don't have the nofollow tag:

http://www.reallinkfinder.com/index.php

time to bump this thread

Anybody here has real first hand experience in submitting
"software" to software directories?

I would like to know how is the acceptance of toolbars, screensaver and such

one way for sure is lots of content the other setting up lots of lenses free blogs and link to this keyword?????

I heard some positive comments about this one here
just signed up so I cant say anything but hey its free.
will distribute your article and intext anchor links to ca 30 blogs!

http://www.freetrafficsystem.com/

>I heard some positive comments about this one here
>just signed up so I cant say anything but hey its free.
>will distribute your article and intext anchor links to ca
>30 blogs!
>
>http://www.freetrafficsystem.com/

Hey Karsten,

I signed up with them about a month ago and never did anything with it. It did sound like it was worth looking into. Hopefully someone (Karsten?) will find the time to try it and post a short review here.

LOL - Kurt are you aware of another free and similar service??

LAST EDITED ON Jul-14-09 AT 11:29 AM (PST)
 
http://www.AuthorityLoophole.com

Here's something new from fellow Bomber Dave Kelly (of Linkvana) called Authority Loophole (AL).

It's free software that finds WP blogs that contain a plugin for "Top Posters". Top Posters has a bit of a "loophole" that allows you to get site-wide links across blogs (some with high PR) for free.

Download the software (sign up for Chris Rempel's and Dave Kelly's lists) and they'll send you the software for free. Be sure to watch the video, as Dave explains some details about how to use the program than may not be obvious.

I quickly tested it and found (and posted) a sitewide PR4 link in just a few minutes...And there's plenty more.

This is an excellent addition to your linking mix. Get on it and use it while you can.

Here's a strategy I "borrowed" from Chad Kimball. I summarized the video and made it a little simpler. You can check out his entire video here::
http://arborgroup.org/MetaFilterTrick/

Sign up for the site Metafilter.com. Note: It costs $5 to join.

When you sign up, use a user name that is completely unique and that you have never used for any other resource. This is because it is against Metafilter's rules to link to your own resources.

Go to http://www.seochat.com/seo-tools/pagerank-search/ , which is a SE that pulls Google results and also returns the pages' PageRank.

For the search parameters, check "sort by PR" and choose to return 100 results

Enter this search query EXACTLY as it's written, except add your keywords:
site:ask.metafilter.com +"keywords" -"this thread is closed"

Ask Metafiler is a site like Yahoo Questions, where you answer questions other folks post, but unlike Yahoo, Metafilter doesn't use the nofollow tag.

Pay attention to the minus sign, which tells the search to NOT include pages where comments aren't accepted:
-"this thread is closed"

You should find a bunch of threads at Metafilter where you can post responses that are related to your topic, all sorted by PR.

Create a quality response and include a link to an relevant article, lens/hubpage, etc. Make sure you only link to resources directly related to the page you post on and content good, decent content, as Metafilter is policed very heavily by real people. You won't get away with spam, so don't waste your time.

Here's a "how to" on using Scribd.com to get some powerful links...Haven't verified that it works, but worth a look:
http://www.squidoo.com/onewaypr7backlinks

Another great way to find links is to examine the links the top competitors for your keywords use. Here's three backlink spy tools:

http://www.backlinkwatch.com
http://www.smartpagerank.com/pagerank-backlinks.php
http://www.online-utility.org/webmaster/backlink_domain_analyzer.jsp

LAST EDITED ON Jul-17-09 AT 08:12 AM (PST)
 
Here's another google you can do to find WP blogs that give some link juice.

KeywordLuv is a WP plugin that allows visitors to use their name and keywords when the post a comment, but only the KEYWORDS will be used as anchor text in the link they give.

The purpose of the KeywordLuv plugin is to reward people that post a comment.

To find blogs using KeywordLuv, use the following search phrase:

keywords "enter yourname@yourkeywords in the name field to take advantage."

Note: only substitute your keywords for the keywords in bold. Everything in quotes should stay as it is, as this is the fingerprint left by the KeywordLuv plug in.

Here's an example search using <health> as the keyword:
http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rlz=1T4GGIH_enUS274US274&q=health+%22enter+yourname@yourkeywords+in+the+name+field+to+take+advantage.%22

In this example, in the name field when we're filling out comments, we'd enter:
Kurt@health

This lets us input our name, but doesn't include it in the anchor text.

Please take the time to add a useful comment. I think that's a fair trade.

PS. Don't forget that you can use the PR search engine so you can see the PR of the comments pages. It returns google SERPs + the PR.
http://www.seochat.com/seo-tools/pagerank-search/

Also, try these type searches in Yahoo and Bing to get a wider variety of blogs to post on.

Here's another POWERFUL hack, suggested by Bomber Jeff Hope a while back.

This hack finds vBulletin forums that have a blog plugin that allows forum members to create their own blogs. The Warrior forum is one example.

Why this is so powerful is because each blog has its own RSS pheed. This gives you the ability to have tons of RSS pheeds, so you can submit them all.

Here it is:

"Blogs From The Members of" + "Find Blog Entries" + keywords

When I did the basic search, Google returned 14,000 forums. This means, there's 14,000 more sites where you can create a blog with your own RSS pheed.

I moved this post here from it's own thread....

-----------------------------------------------------------------
I stumbled across a couple of different things recently and pieced them together. I haven't actually tried this, other than a quick check, but it's worth a further look.
First, do a search from this site that searches Google, but strips the results into pure URLs:

http://goohackle.com/scripts/google_parser.php

Enter:
site:www.squidoo.com "0 points" your keywords

Here, we're looking for relevant lenses that contain plugin for Squidoo that allows us to add our links to the lens.

Now, take the list of URLs and paste them into this PR checker:
http://www.prtool.info/multiple-pagerank-checker.php

This will give you a nice list of lenses that contain this plugin aned the PR of each lens.

NOTE: The PR script messes up the link a little, figure out the error and adjust. ( Hint: http://http:// )

Go through your URLs and any page you find with PR, even a little PR, add your links.

Look for a "module" of links where each link has little blue up/down arrows, and are ranked #, #2, #3, etc.

Hopefully, you will see a button "Add To This List"...However, not every lens allows you to add links, but a high enough percentage do to make this worth while. If you don't find a ""Add To This List" move to the next URL that has PR.

You have to be logged into a Squidoo account to add your links. And once you are logged in, "vote" for your own links to push them up the list a bit. If you have multiple Squidoo accounts, even better.

Some of these lens owners moderate these links, others don't...However, if you have decent/relevant content you should be fine either way.

-------------------------------------------

Update: You can skip a couple of steps above by using the PR search engine:
http://www.seochat.com/seo-tools/pagerank-search/

I found this at the Warriors, it's another fingerprint you can use to search to find places to place a link:

Keywords + "Please also suggest my link to the LinkPartners.com Directory."

Here's a very interesting article based on a patent filed by Microsoft concerning how to detect link spammers:

Do link spammers leave footprints? - SEO and Internet Marketing blog, news and views
http://www.huomah.com/Search-Engines/Algorithm-Matters/Do-link-spammers-leave-footprints-.html

One quick note: I've posted tons and tons of ways to find links on this thread, many dealing with footprints/fingerprints left b different sources.

These fingerprints make it easy to find links.

The other side of the coin is, if it's easy for us to find links using the fingerprint, it's just as easy for the SEs to also ID these links, using the same fingerprints.

http://www.neurolinker.com/

Here's a link exchange service that looks interesting. Haven't tried it, but you can add 100 domains to the service for $27 a month.

here is a review from a fellow german

http://www.seo-traffic-guide.de/2009/06/29/automated-link-building-with-neurolinker/

This one's getting a little tougher and maybe over-used due to excessive usage by SEOers.

First, Wordpress MU...The "MU" stands for "multi user" and it's a Wordpress plug in that allows the owner of a blog to give away free WP blogs, in essence making the owner a little like Blogger.com.

So if you can find WPMU sites, you'll be able to create a blog of your own for free.

Here's some fingerprints you can try to find WPMU blogs:

"you'll be blogging seconds later"

"you'll be blogging seconds later" + "keywords"

inurl:wp-signup.php

inurl:wp-signup.php + "Must be at least 4 characters"

Find some fingerprints of your own, so your network of WPMU blogs is different than others.

Also, don't spam these sites...WPMU blogs are good for using PLR content, etc. Put up something decent and relevant, it doesn't have to be original. Just make it good enough to pass a human inspection.

Forums can be used in a couple of ways to get sigs:
1. In posts (check forum rules)

2. In signitures (check forum rules)

3. In user/member profiles (check forum rules)

Instead of paying for a few high PR links each month to create profiles, which are shared by over 1000 other people, take a minute and come up with your own list...Refer to the PR Checker thread for ways to gather PageRank info.

"Powered by vBulletin" + your keywords
"Powered by phpBB" + your keywords
"Invision Power Board" your keywords
"Powered by WowBB" + your keywords
"Powered by SMF" + your keywords

This looks like a GREAT piece of FREE software that will find blogs using some of the footprints above: (you must give email address).

---

http://www.thefreeblogcommenter.com/

What's best about The Free Blog Commenter v2.0 v3.0 is that it is completely FREE

Quickly (couple minutes or so) find upto 60k blog posts per keyword entered.
Search KeywordLuv, CommentLuv, Nofollow Free and Top Comments blogs all at once
PR Check pages with single click
Multiple (Random) profile inputs support
Auto filling of profile on blog pages
Proxy and User Agent support
Select region of blogs that you wish to target
Use inbuilt browser or default browser to open blogs in
Saving / Loading of all settings and results.
Export to .txt file for use with common comment spammers
Threading for smooth usage
eBook to guide you through using the tool to its best
Lots more

Kurt, Any idea how to use the wikis on your web 2.0 link collections
should I just submit an article - whats the best strategy here?

>Kurt, Any idea how to use the wikis on your web 2.0 link
>collections
>should I just submit an article - whats the best strategy
>here?

HI Karsten,

I haven't explored the wikis much at all...Your thoughts are as good as mine. I consider them to be another piece of real estate we can acquire. But yeah, I'd just slap an article on them, add contextual links when possible.

LAST EDITED ON Sep-30-09 AT 09:17 AM (PST)
 
interesting short video about link text (anchor) variation

hxxp://www.seo-traffic-guide.de/2009/08/22/the-importance-of-anchor-text-variety/

then I was reading an ebook recently where a guy claims that he uses the same 2 keywords in his anchor in thousands of links and has great success with it...

I am looking for more ideas, opinions beyond the minus 9 minus 30 and minus 900 filter

>interesting short video about link text (anchor) variation
>
>hxxp://www.seo-traffic-guide.de/2009/08/22/the-importance-of-anchor-text-variety/
>
>then I was reading an ebook recently where a guy claims that
>he uses the same 2 keywords in his anchor in thousands of
>links and has great success with it...
>
>I am looking for more ideas, opinions beyond the minus 9
>minus 30 and minus 900 filter

Hi Karsten,

By now, you should already know my opinion on this: Bombing is about using every reasonable theory/strategy.

Both of these are reasonable, therefore, we want to try to use them both.

Have one site where all the incoming links use the same keyword anchor text, have another site where the links use a wide variety, but related, keywords.

You can even toss in a third site that uses the same keywords, but also sometimes adds another keyword or two:
green widgets
small green widgets
fast green widgets
green widgets for sale
green widgets for rent
round green widgets

Again, advice for one niche may not work for another. And, things may change in the future. By implementing "every reasonable strategy", we can cover as many bases as possible.

Ok I just found this idea on a different board
search google for
"Daily Link Roundup"
"Weekly Link Roundup"
"Monday Link Roundup"
"Friday Link Roundup"
"Link Roundup"

if you found a bunch of blogs email them suggesting your site/content for an inclusion! Yep its work