Is there a low cost way to obtain one way backlinks?

[sithburns]

I'm having great success with recipricol links, but I think I really need more quality backlinks.

Does anyone know a place to get free or low cost back links?

[icebane]

Your thread mentions quality backlinks. If that is your desire, you shouldn't buy them at all, and definitely NOT through a broker.

If you have to, you need to devise buying strategies of your own, where it doesn't appear so much as buying.

Without going into details which I don't wish to share, this could include...
- Paying blogs to write about you.
- Sending an article or 'blog post' to a related site, which in turn links to you.
- Getting listed in directories. They may help more with Yahoo and MSN and less with Google, but its still worth the minimal fees most directories charge.
- Create sub-sites off of your primary, developing a network of professionally inter-linked sites that are 100% whitehat.

[tke71709]

Create content worth linking to.

[dvduval]

Yes, as icebane mentioned in his third point, there are hundreds of free directories that will list you. What I do is I have a list of URLs, and I submit them to a couple of new directories each day. Over time it really pays off.

[felgall]

The ONLY way is to make the page one that has content that people want to link to because of the benefit that providing such a link gives to their pages.

[sithburns]

Well I have the site with the content as you can see in my signature link below. I'm just not sure where to go to have others recognize they need to link to it

Sorry I'm totally self taught so far and quite inexperienced.

Appreciate the responces though.

[dvduval]

Yes, mortgages is a pretty tough area to compete in for sure. There are a lot of big money players. You might ask yourself what makes your site special, or what can you do to make something unique that many others would find interesting. You might also consider participating on some Mortgage Forums and see if others will take an interest in your site.

[rcj662]

Try to find a certain niche that has less sites listed. You could also make a blog about the topic and write about each topic with a link to that page on your website.

[dvharrison]

Hi sithburns

Other than whats been mentioned already, run a search in Google for your main keyphrase

commercial mortgage loans+links
directory+commercial mortgages

Another resource I have found recently is to download the Excel spreadsheet at http://info.vilesilencer.com. This is a directory resource which is regularly updated. The main page is a list of directories that do not require a link back.

HTH

[stymiee]

Create content worth linking to.

That is exactly what you need for quality backlinks. Directory submissions and stuff are nice but they aren't quality backlinks. Links from sites that rank well in your niche are quality backlinks. Links that you can't easily get because they selectively pick and choose who they link to is a quality backlink. You can only earn those with content they consider worth linking to.

[icebane]

By the way, i went to your site and saw your link exchanges section. This is a big time mistake. You are engaging in link exchanges with every kind of site imaginable. There is a difference between exchanging links with other sites, offering a legitimate, quality service to your viewers, and what you're doing.

http://www.google.com/support/webmas...y?answer=66356

^

Excessive reciprocal links or excessive link exchanging ("Link to me and I'll link to you.")

[stymiee]

Linking with any site you can is a perfect example of "Excessive reciprocal links or excessive link exchanging"

[Josh Spaulding]

Other than the obvious, good content, article marketing is your best bet. Write alot of quality articles and you'll not only get free backlinks, you'll also get free direct traffic!

[stymiee]

Other than the obvious, good content, article marketing is your best bet. Write alot of quality articles and you'll not only get free backlinks, you'll also get free direct traffic!

I actually would disagree with this.

Thanks to duplicate content being filtered out by Google and possibly the other search engines those articles being republished on other websites will be virtually worthless. They won't be found in searches and thus will generate little traffic to send to your site. They will have little to no PR as no one will be finding them to link to them so you won't be getting any PR. Since they are filtered out as duplicate content links from them have virtually no weight whatsoever.

If you are going to write articles your best bet is to make them high quality and publish them on your website only. That way you get all of the credit (i.e. links and PR) and make yourself look like an authority on the topic your website is about.

[Josh Spaulding]

I actually would disagree with this.

Thanks to duplicate content being filtered out by Google and possibly the other search engines those articles being republished on other websites will be virtually worthless. They won't be found in searches and thus will generate little traffic to send to your site. They will have little to no PR as no one will be finding them to link to them so you won't be getting any PR. Since they are filtered out as duplicate content links from them have virtually no weight whatsoever.

If you are going to write articles your best bet is to make them high quality and publish them on your website only. That way you get all of the credit (i.e. links and PR) and make yourself look like an authority on the topic your website is about.

Page 1 for "make money online," "article directory," "article marketing," etc. etc. says otherwise.

The whole argument over article marketing and duplicate content is one that has been hugely exaggerated.

First, Google's definition of "duplicate content" is the same exact page (not just content) on the same site. They do not penalize any page for duplicate content.

Granted, the same content appearing on hundreds of sites will do you no good, but a solid article marketing plan can and will do you alot of good. My sites are proof of that.

If you want more proof that do a search for "Tim Gorman."

Also, there are more than one technique in regards to article marketing. I would post a link to a free video I did explaining that, but I'm not sure if that would be allowed here?

[worldofchat]

Hi there

I agree stym with ur article comments, i thought i would give it a try and wrote some articles and submitted them, after initially doing quite well, they slowly dissapeared, i think due to duplicate content google just dropped them, so i would just stick to publishing my own articles on my own site for now.

Woc

[icebane]

I actually would disagree with this.

Thanks to duplicate content being filtered out by Google and possibly the other search engines those articles being republished on other websites will be virtually worthless. They won't be found in searches and thus will generate little traffic to send to your site. They will have little to no PR as no one will be finding them to link to them so you won't be getting any PR. Since they are filtered out as duplicate content links from them have virtually no weight whatsoever.

If you are going to write articles your best bet is to make them high quality and publish them on your website only. That way you get all of the credit (i.e. links and PR) and make yourself look like an authority on the topic your website is about.

I wouldn't write this method off completely, as doing it for traffic could still be a big reason, depending on your niche and where your articles could possibly appear. In all markets, there is so much to talk about. There is no reason you can't have the flawless, high quality articles that score a 10 out of 10 on your own site.. then write a couple 7's to promote.

Also don't discount the value of the traffic obtained from sending out articles, as that traffic could convert into links.

There are too many variables, and as always there are case by case solutions.

[stymiee]

I wouldn't write this method off completely, as doing it for traffic could still be a big reason, depending on your niche and where your articles could possibly appear. In all markets, there is so much to talk about. There is no reason you can't have the flawless, high quality articles that score a 10 out of 10 on your own site.. then write a couple 7's to promote.

Also don't discount the value of the traffic obtained from sending out articles, as that traffic could convert into links.

There are too many variables, and as always there are case by case solutions.

I'm not saying you won't get anything out of article submission. But thanks to duplicate content issues its SEO value is almost nil and it ROI for the time invested is much lower. You may get results, but are they worth the effort? More and more the answer is no. It was a good idea in the past. But it's a technique that is well past its prime.

Personally I'd rather take the time write articles for my own website as that ultimately will offer me more then listing them elsewhere.

[Josh Spaulding]

I'm not saying you won't get anything out of article submission. But thanks to duplicate content issues its SEO value is almost nil and it ROI for the time invested is much lower. You may get results, but are they worth the effort? More and more the answer is no. It was a good idea in the past. But it's a technique that is well past its prime.

Personally I'd rather take the time write articles for my own website as that ultimately will offer me more then listing them elsewhere.

I hate to sound negative here, but I'm afraid to say your absolutely wrong. It's all about how you do it. The links are still very valuable and the direct traffic is still there. Read my reply above to see what article marketing has done for me. You can also look into Tim Gorman's work to see how article marketing brings in $11k/month for him.

[stymiee]

The links are still very valuable

The links aren't valuable because the pages are weeded out of the search engines index which means they essentially do not exist. Thus they have no value.

and the direct traffic is still there.

Most article sites deliver little to no traffic. And that's besides the point as the point of this thread is how to build incoming links.

Read my reply above to see what article marketing has done for me. You can also look into Tim Gorman's work to see how article marketing brings in $11k/month for him.

Some people may be successful but the vast majority of people get nothing out of it. If article marketing was really that good everyone would be doing it as part of their normal site promotion. The fact that less and less people are doing it shows how its effectiveness has deteriorated.

The way search has evolved has shifted the emphasis to putting quality content on your own website. You get far more out of it that way. It's just how it is nowadays.

[Josh Spaulding]

Not true, but were all entitled to our opinions Have a good day.

[stymiee]

Not true, but were all entitled to our opinions Have a good day.

What's not true? I would like to hear your thoughts on what I said.

[Josh Spaulding]

lol I figured I was getting your blood pressure up so I figured I'd end it

First let me say that what I know of article marketing isn't from what I've "heard." It's what I "know" through my own success using it.

The links aren't valuable because the pages are weeded out of the search engines index which means they essentially do not exist. Thus they have no value.

This statement is true only if you're doing things wrong. If you're using services like ArticleMarketer, Isnare etc. to take shortcuts then you'll most likely find your articles either being pulled from the index eventually, ending up in Google's sup index or never being indexed in the first place. Instead, articles should be submitted to only the not 10-40 article directories. I normally submit to around 30 and my articles always rank well.

Most article sites deliver little to no traffic. And that's besides the point as the point of this thread is how to build incoming links.

That's very true. Most article sites are very low quality! That's why we shouldn't be submitting to most article sites.

Some people may be successful but the vast majority of people get nothing out of it.

As with anything else, if you don't do it correctly you aren't going to get much out of it. I believe the reason so many people do it wrong is because they take poor advice.

If article marketing was really that good everyone would be doing it as part of their normal site promotion. The fact that less and less people are doing it shows how its effectiveness has deteriorated.

I haven't done a IM-wide poll lately, but I hear of people who frequently use article marketing as part of their normal site promotion quit often. Of course the true popularity is debatable on both sides.

The way search has evolved has shifted the emphasis to putting quality content on your own website. You get far more out of it that way. It's just how it is nowadays.

We should be publishing quality content to own Websites anyway. Using article marketing to get free traffic doesn't mean we can't publish quality content to our sites at the same time. That's not to say one should publish the same articles to their own site, but hopefully they can come up with enough unique content to take care of both.

What it all comes down to is writing (or outsourcing) alot of quality articles with a solid title and CTA in the sig to only the top article directories.

[stymiee]

Thank you for taking the time to respond and article a good reply. I do appreciate it.

The two main issues with article marketing is the duplicate content and where the content will better serve you.

The duplicate content filter does mean articles submitted to multiple sites will result in some, if not most, essentially being ignored. As the search engines improve those filters more and more of those articles will be ignored by the them driving down the traffic to the articles significantly. So not only has the effectiveness of those republished articles already been reduced significantly, but it's only going to get worse. The only way around it is to rewrite the article repeatedly but then the ROI on your time is reduced to a point that it isn't worth the effort any more. So its potential effectiveness is only going to decrease over time. Is it worth it to choose a method of gaining links, and traffic, if that method is clearly in decline? Wouldn't it be more prudent to choose another approach that will be effective for the foreseeable future?

As for where to put that content, which is better?

1) Putting content on your own website and having all search traffic and links point directly to your own website?

2) Putting that content on someone else's website and then hoping to get links and traffic by proxy?

I know I would prefer to have all of the links and traffic come directly to my sites rather then adding a third party to the mix.

Plus on a related note the quality of the content comes into play. If the content is high quality I can't imagine any reason why someone would want to put the content on another website when that kind of content is clearly what attracts great links and traffic. If the content isn't that good, then it isn't going to attract any real readership and thus won't send lots of traffic to your website so writing it suddenly becomes less worth the effort. With a little bit more effort you can make the article of a higher quality and receive the rewards of high quality content on your own website.

Back when search engines didn't differentiate between duplicate content and considered all links equal article marketing was not a bad way to promote a website. But now that they do weed out duplicate content and do differentiate between quality links and such, article marketing just doesn't fit into the big picture any more and will only get worse as the search engines get better at what they do and people continue to realize it. I'm not saying it wasn't good in the past and that some people can't make it work for them. But for the vast majority of webmasters it just won't cut it anymore. There are too many more effective ways to promote a site and get backlinks that will still be viable a year from now.

[Websiteguy]

Hi Stymiee,
You and Josh are talking a bit over my head, so this leads me to have to ask a question. Hopefully I can word it clearly.

I have recently submitted 3 articles. I submitted them to 4 of the larger article directories. I had been wondering about the duplication of the links you were talking about.

My question is: How would my articles create links if they were on my site only? Would the link to my article be submitted somewhere, or is this just something that takes time to get linked to by others seeing it?

It certainly makes since that these links could disappear eventually. I have been doing considerable research on SEO recently and am aware of how much the search engines have changed the way they value backlinks. Especially reciprocal links.