Author Archives: Ryan Clark

About Ryan Clark

I'm the CEO of Linkbuildr Marketing and the brains behind our branding and blog content. I specialize in effective marketing strategies for hotels, luxury brands and real estate. If your brand is in need of a boost then don't hesitate to contact me for a free proposal. Follow me on Google+: +Ryan Clark Twitter: @Linkbuildr on Twitter. You can also come ask me a question on our Facebook Page.  

SMX West Link Building Keynotes

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January 8  |  News  |   Ryan Clark

SMX West 2010I’m on the fence about going to SMX West but I’ll still let you folks know what link building topics are on the agenda. I was supposed to go to Mexico in late February, but I might consider a little California instead. I’ve never been to a SMX event but I always hear good things about the conference both inside and outside the venue. There is also no shortage of deals going on in California right now travel wise, but then again this is also true for Mexico.

There are only a couple of link building keynotes which is not bad considering the range of topics they have to cover. The main attraction is Steve Ballmer who is speaking for the first time on the topic of SEM. I’d be interested to hear what he says. I’ve been very impressed with the high quality search platform for images Bing has deployed. Other than that the weather in Santa Clara hasn’t been all that bad and it looks like a great location for an event. To view the keynotes you need to buck up some cash, but to hit the event floor it’s all free. I find this is usually a great time for any conference, just the connections you can make are reason enough.

There is of course an introduction to the fundamentals of link building, as well as the rewards. Disa Johnson is giving this keynote I believe, so if you’re new to all this check her speech out. Having the basics down is just good measure for anyone wanting to make the best of this crazy task.

Danny Sulliven is moderating a panel of link builders for a 15 minute sessions covering a range of intermediate to advanced link building topics. I’m sad to see this section is so short and I hope if the people that do go continue that discussion somewhere else on site. Danny should have an excellent panel on hand so it should be a learning experience none the less.

[old video from past SMX]
SMX Resources & Links:

Search Marketing Expo – SMX West content is so compelling, you’ll want to implement what you’ve learned before leaving the conference. Dramatically increase the number of people who come to your site with ROI enhancing paid search advertising and search engine optimization techniques and best practices.

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Getting Links From About.com

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January 7  |  Link Building  |   Ryan Clark

It has been a long while since I’ve dropped a decent link building tip so I thought I would give you folks something to work with. One of the link building tasks you should always have in your sight is getting links from authoritative websites. These types of links are so coveted because they come from a source your competitor might be able to leverage. About.com is a wealth of high quality information that is written by people who know their facts. If you have SEO Quake for Firefox then I suggest turning it on while browsing the site. For those of you with that app, you can download the information here.

About.com has information on just about everything you can think about (no pun intended). What I like about this link building tip is that it can’t be spammed or scammed. If you have a valid resource in some form of media( widget, resource guide, video, unique product, etc), then you stand a good chance on getting your site a juicy link. I by no means have the intention of making lives of the editors more stressful with an influx to their inbox. So if you consider emailing them with a suggestion, make sure you aren’t going to embarrass yourself and ruin your chances. If you fancy yourself a guru in your niche you might want to think about becoming a guide.

If you don’t think your website/business/blog has the stuff it takes to be worthy of a link then there are a few things you can do. No, I’m not talking about bribery. Take a good long look at what kind of websites are linked to in not only your niche’s section, but on others as well. Although each section has its own guide, you should quickly see a pattern emerge. I mentioned earlier if you have something unique, you website stands a chance to get those links. For example, take a look at this page from the online business section of About.com. Here is another example of how a company’s website with a widget for their niche got picked up and linked to. If you think you have a better link to offer why not hunt down the guides email address and let them know. Most guides list their contact information so be polite and be honest.

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Dealing With Duplicate Content

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January 5  |  Link Building  |   Ryan Clark

Well this repost of the video might be dupe content all on its own(lol), but I still cannot let you folks go without seeing it. Rand brings a lot of the issues and questions out in the open and I cannot think of a clearer way of getting the message. If you’ve been enjoying these Whiteboard Friday videos then check out the rest of them on Scott’s Vimeo account.

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BOTW.org Coupon Just In Time For Christmas

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December 12  |  News  |   Ryan Clark

Well I wanted to give out some savings for my favorite web directory before they up the prices come 2010. BOTW is raising the roof on prices next year by a little bit, so now is the time to get in while the prices are cheap plus the 15% off with this coupon. This BOTW coupon is good until the last minute on December 31st, 2009.

I know a lot of you hear me praising BOTW.org a lot and it is for good reason. Earning your site a level of trust in Google is what good quality link should do, and this is a piece of the puzzle. The BOTW review process weeds out low quality sites so getting accepted here lets Google know your site is worthy of a little more trust. I’ve personally the positive results obtained from being accepted into this directory which is more than 15 years old!

Coupon Code: LINKBLD for 15% off botw.org

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MyGuestblog.com For Quality Link Building

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December 9  |  News  |   Ryan Clark

Anne Smarty wrote about this already on a post  called “Why Guest Blogging Is An Ideal Link Building Strategy“, so I won’t go too heavy into it. I’ve been using forums like Bloggeries to find my guest bloggers, but this new site hopefully will fill that void. My Guest Blog is a forum for networking with other guest blog owners. The site is just kicking things off but I imagine it will become a popular network hub soon enough, so join up and start earning some rep!

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Link Diversity Whiteboard Friday

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December 8  |  Link Building Videos  |   Ryan Clark
SEOmoz Whiteboard Friday – Link Diversity from Scott Willoughby on Vimeo.Rand gives yet another Whiteboard Friday talk, this time on link diversity within your profile. We all hear about this, so now take a couple minutes to see it talked about with pretty pictures and sound. Rand, I noticed you got your hair done extra nice for this video!

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SEO + Social Media + Press Release = PRbuzzer.com

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November 26  |  Link Building Tools, News  |   Ryan Clark

I’m finally writing something and even though it’s a little bit promotional, it’s still something you can build links with. A couple social media addict friends of mine just recently launched PRbuzzer to fill the need for a stronger buzz. The main idea is to provide a powerful press release service that would not only get the word out, but maximize the link acquisition and harness social media traffic.

There has been talk of Google not passing much value to links via press releases and I can see why people would say that, and why it’s true. A lot of people use press releases for the sole fact of garnering links, and not because they have PR quality news to get out. This usually leads to a uninformative press release that should most likely not have gone out to the public.

PRbuzzer has in house PR writer’s that are there to make sure your release is the highest quality possible. Your release gets put through all the usual avenue of authoritative news sites, sent to tens of thousands of journalists and is distributed through a network of over 400,000 RSS partner’s. Those RSS partner’s I found are  best utilized by carefully selecting the tags in your release.

The social media aspect is still in beta, and by that I mean the Twitter and retweet network they’re building will be a huge asset. Twitter is a great way to bring some targeted eyes to your news and they’re working on building quite the “Tweet Presence”. You can follow the PRbuzzer Twitter account if you’re wanting to follow releases and participate in the social media aspect. They’re growing the account naturally in order to make sure the most amount of social interaction takes place.

On top of it all your business gets a profile in the PRbuzzer business directory which includes a custom written “About Us” profile, links to your companies websites and social media accounts as well. Every press release put through will also be added to your companies news archive which is housed on your company profile in the directory. They are also working on a widget your company can embed into their news section which helps you promote your companies news on your website and social media profiles.

I’ve been testing it with my clients and I’ve quite happy with the results in regards to links obtained and the traffic it has generated. No press release gets massive traffic despite what some vendors might say, so keep that in mind when hunting for a PR service. Although it’s a new service you still get those sexy sexy links, your news gets pushed around all over and you should be pretty happy with the outcome. This post by the way was not asked for, paid for or exchanged for any midnight loving.

*I have been told that I can offer a discount to try it out, so anyone wanting to just use my contact form to get in touch! You can also use the PRbuzzer contact page and tell them linkbuildr(Ryan) sent you.

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Link Growth Patterns On Whiteboard Friday

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November 22  |  Link Building  |   Ryan Clark
SEOmoz Whiteboard Friday – Link Growth Patterns from Scott Willoughby on Vimeo.

This week, Rand looks at how some typical link growth patterns tend to be interpreted by the engines. Did you launch your site with a massive PR blitz and then stop all efforts? The resultant spike and sudden drop-off in link acquisition could cause you some serious problems in the SERPs. There’s got to be a better way, right? Indeed! Rand will also show you how to construct a staged link acquisition strategy that will provide a much more natural link-growth curve that the engines will trust and respect.

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