Just about everyone you talk to about websites knows that links are as good as gold, and if you've ever tried to build links manually you know that sending countless emails can be as hard as mining for real gold, and often as big of a waste of time.
So let's look at the DNA of a good link. In my book, a website worth getting a link on should be:
1. On a unique Class C IP
IP Addresses are broken down into AAA.BBB.CCC.DDD so for example MartinBowling.com is on 64.79.167.6. I would want a single link from this IP C class. 64.79.167.5 would be no good, but 64.79.155.6 would be good because the third octet is unique. Many times when web hosts buy IP addresses, they buy them in bulk so it's likely that 64.79.167.5 is also owned by Martin's web host, and Martin might even have websites on that IP address as well.
2. Root domain has PR or rankings and backlinks
If the root domain has no visible Page Rank and no rankings, it's a waste of time because there are a variety of factors that could have raised a red flag and that is why Google isn't showing their results. I use Yahoo! Site Explorer to check backlinks and WMTips.com Site Information Tool to check PR, IP address, domain history, etc. The Firefox plugin is wonderful.
3. Contextually related
Whenever possible, I always try to get a link in the middle of a paragraph on a page that is related to my keywords. For this post, a good link would be my SEO Services. It meets all of the criteria.
Easy Way to Get Qualified Backlinks
You can search using custom operators finding sites within your niche and ask them for a link or even consider buying a link from them. For traffic and branding of course (sarcasm), not for link juice. Good search operators for finding links are allintitle: and inurl: You can also look at your competitors links and go get those links as well. In addition, you can buy a few good links from sites like Yahoo! Directory or Ezilon Regional Web Directory.
Easier Way to Get Qualified Backlinks
The first way (Easy Way) basically has you searching for links. The Easier Way has you creating sites that meet the 3 qualifications and then linking to yourself. My favorite method is by using Wordpress MU. Wordpress MU sites are all on different IP address, the root domain is usually decent and you can create you own content so it can easily be related. Search inurl:wp-signup.php.
After you create your blog, get a post or two up with a link to a trusted website on a somewhat related term. My favorite is Wikipedia. After a day or two, start posting your content with links. Now you have a contextually related site with links to you. Then you need to promote this new blog. Since you don't care about the quality of links, use an automated method for building links, don't spend a lot of time doing this.
Have fun and build out sites you own!
This is a guest post by Brandon Hopkins. Brandon does Madera website design.