Link building is becoming a very complex and creative discipline in the post Panda and Penguin days.

Link building can really be broken down into three separate tasks:

1. Identifying the target sites/pages that you want links from.
2. Determining a method/strategy for achieving those links.
3. Making an approach to the site owner/representative.

This post is really going to be focusing on Step Two of the process and in particular looking at some creative ways to get links.

It is generally true that the greater the value of the link the tougher it is to get. But tough is a very vague word – it could mean time consuming, expensive (I am not talking about paid links – I mean in terms of content creation etc.) or it could just require a lot of clever thinking.

This post is not about finding and getting niche directory links or about getting guest posts. It is about going after the big fish. Whatever it takes to get the link from a big site, the basis will be an understanding of the website that you want a link from and its aims. In the same way as you need to understand a customer to sell something to them, in order to get a link from a website you need to understand that site incredibly well.

How to Quickly Understand a Website

1. Read the “About Us” page – this will tell you how the website owners view themselves and what they are trying to achieve. This is perhaps the most important page in understand the intentions of a website owner so pay attention to the use of language and exactly what is said. Constantly be thinking about how you could help the site to meet their objectives more easily.
2. Take a look at their website hierarchy – what is prominent on their homepage? What content or products/services are they pushing most heavily? From this try to imagine yourself as the marketing manager of the site – what are your greatest fears or daily challenges? Now step back and think about how you can help alleviate those fears and make the challenges less arduous for the site owner/Marketing Manager.
3. If there is a blog then read through a couple articles and if you feel the inclination then leave a comment. From the blog you should be able to understand a bit more on what they are trying to do for their customers/contacts. From the depth of the content and the language used you will get a good understanding of their level of commitment to content marketing.
4. Finally you should take a look at their social media accounts and see which posts on FB or Twitter get the most comments/shares/retweets etc. This will help you to understand more about their customers and contacts and what they are interested in.

Think about what is missing from the sites and how you could add some value - what would make them better for their users?

Once you have an idea of what makes the website tick you can start thinking about how you may go about getting a link from them. If you do not currently have content that fits the perceived needs of the site then you will need to create the content - you need to commit yourself to quality content; it is an investment but if you get it right then you will pull in some big links.

The two key things to come out of this process with are:

1. A definition of the website type – e.g. blog / library / ecommerce site / news site etc.
2. A quick definition of the target prospect of the website – e.g. male, well educated, tech savvy, entrepreneurial could be a definition for Mashable.com.

Create Link Building Content Ideas that are Scalable and Transferable

Most websites are not truly unique – there will be other, lookalike websites that you could put in the same pot. To have a single link target site and a singular strategy that only works for that one site can be very inefficient if you do not get what you want 100% of the time.

It is worth identifying target websites in groups and to have a strategy that can be implemented across the group; there will usually be a bulls eye site in the group but you should also have a number of sites that would justify the strategy if you were to get a link from them.

Group the websites by their target market; e.g. blogs that service the female university student market or sites that service

Tying your Understanding of a Group of Websites to a Linking Strategy

I think that the best way to explain this is to give some specific ideas for different markets and to outline why I think that they are appropriate:

1) Create content that will get links from universities or industry information sources.

Most university students need help finding the best resources that will give them the knowledge they need to get through their course and pass it. Often lecturers and course organisers help out students by pointing them to specific books in a reading list or to blogs that cover topics related to the course.

Therefore why not help the students out that are studying courses that relate to your area of expertise. You have been in the trenches for years so who better to tell this bunch of wet behind the ears whipper snappers what it’s all about.

Curate a page that links to all of the resources you yourself have learned from and respect, ensuring that you organize the page in a clear and logical way to make it easy for the students to use.

Once you have put the resource together you need to conduct the outreach to organisers and lecturers, as they are the ones who will have the most editorial control of their web pages. However, if they are hard to reach then go for the students themselves who will hopefully put your content in front of the lecturers.

I worked with one of our clients to do this last week – they are a video production company so we created this resource for digital media students and media production students.

I am now researching the universities that run media production courses and contacting the lecturers to introduce them to the content. I see this as an evergreen piece of content that can be updated and improved on an ongoing basis to gradually pick up these hard to come by links. It took about four or five hours to put the resource together and will probably be another five or six hours to conduct the necessary outreach.

2) Getting coverage in press, news sites and blogs.

There is a pre-requisite here that you have a good-sized database of active customers/prospects or access to large amounts of data related to your industry.

Perhaps the most effective way to get a large number of links from the news sites and blogs in your niche is to conduct a piece of research into your market that will challenge commonly held beliefs in your industry or which will put speculation to rest once and for all.

The aim is really to rock the boat and create a heated discussion. Ideally you will simply be the source of knowledge which will cause a fracas amongst the bloggers and commentators.

The research could be quantitative or qualitative in nature but the more controversial the better.

A good example of this type of link bait is the research into the direct effect of tweets on search engine rankings that was conducted by branded3 earlier this year. I have seen it linked to by many highly respected people in the industry so am sure that they got a lot of traffic, kudos and ultimately (albeit indirect) sales.

3) Getting links through good manners.

This idea is a little more obscure but may have positive effects beyond your expectations.

The idea is to use promotional products to say thank you to significant influencers as well as your customers. Or to bring attention to your content amongst the key influencers in your market.

I had this idea as a close friend runs a promotional gift marketing company and told me about some of the things that their customers use corporate gifts for.

It turns out that people very much like receiving personalised corporate gifts. This can be pens, golf umbrellas, shopping bags or whatever it is that is most likely to appeal to the recipient.

The plan is to use corporate gifts as an integrated part of a link building campaign.

Using corporate gifts for link building with strangers

Corporate gifts can be used to generate intrigue and awareness in a way that general online techniques cannot achieve.

For example if a group of environmental bloggers were to receive a personalised letter along with a sample of a new recycled bag and in the letter was a link to your piece of content/research piece on how <insert environmentally related research> then they are very likely to read your piece of research. Of course anyone with any sense will not be bribed to link to you but if your piece of content stands up in its own right then it is likely you will receive a link or at least coverage. I know that I would be flattered and would read a piece of content if I received a personalised letter and small gift from someone telling me about it.

Using corporate gifts for link building with existing contacts

This is really just about nurturing your contacts and giving them the love that they deserve. The point is that acknowledging your appreciation for their custom or their contact with you shows that you care about them and that you care about the relationship.

In this case do not send a present or ask anything in return – just write to say thank you and give the corporate gift as a gift is intended – non-reciprocal.

I do not mean this to sound like a practice in manipulation; it is not. However; by taking care of your contacts and showing that you care will mean that they are warm to you and will be more responsive to future communications from you. People do always feel a strong desire to reciprocate following a kind gesture as we like to feel that we are equal, fair and that we are in no way indebted to others.

Therefore the next time you communicate with the same person there is a greater chance that you will be listened to and given attention. Again; your communication, whatever it is will need to stand up in it’s own right but the corporate gift will have opened the door for you.

I know from reading blogs in the SEO world that there are many creative and unique ideas for link building floating about. If you have had success with a creative idea in the past then please let us know about it in the comments.