Have you ever noticed that when faced with competition that you usually perform better? Think about cyclist Lance Armstrong and his tough competition – do you think he doesn’t push himself to WIN when he’s cycling against other world-renowned cyclists in the Tour de France? Look at his huge successes over the years!
Competition makes us WANT to perform better and push ourselves to be winners. This same theory is applied to link building tactics.
Whether you like it or not, you have online competitors out there but don’t think about your competition in the negative sense. You can TAKE advantage of your competition. They have something YOU WANT – LINKS!
It’s easy to find out what your competition is doing online – just follow these simple steps:
1. Run a Google search and see what sites rank in the top 10 for the keywords you want to rank. For example: the keyword phrase “California river rafting” brings up the top 10 “California river rafting” sites on Google. The #1 ranked site is http://www.arrafting.com
2. Use Yahoo Site Explorer to find out who’s linking to these top 10 sites.
3. Submit the site’s URL http://www.arrafting.com. Click on “Inlinks” (the second tab) to see a listing of linked sites – over 700 links are found. Site Explorer allows you to click on the “Explore” button for each URL and find MORE links/information. This is a great resource tool because you literally have hundreds of your competitors’ links at your fingertips!
How to Get the Same Links as Your Competition
Your ultimate GOAL is to get the SAME links as your competition. Easier said than done but armed with a link building strategy, it can be accomplished!
Don’t reinvent the wheel. There are MANY link building tricks you could use but the following tips will bring you high ROI (and SAVES TIME!)
• With a little research, you can find your competition on discussion forums and directories. Submit your sites to the same directory listings and play an active role on discussion forums. For example, if you are a copywriter and you found your competition’s links on copywriting forums online, you need to be there as well. Make yourself known on these forums and remember to add your link in your signature.
• Blogs are another great way to get the same links as your competition. For example, if you are a real estate broker specializing in short sales and found your competition’s link on a short sales blog, you need to be there too. Email the blogger and request that they write an article about you and include your link. Make sure these are active blogs (you want their subscribers to link to you!)
• Free article distribution sites are another great way to build links. If your competition’s links shows up on article sites, you need to be there too! Submit great content and make sure to include links in your byline/bio.
• If you found your competition on opinion/review sites, add your two cents worth on these sites and include your link. Make sure you don’t come across as “spammy” when you include your links – provide good information/feedback on these sites.
• Your competition is bound to be on social networking groups/pages such as Facebook so you also need to make your presence known. Add your links to these groups. Join appropriate groups/sites according to where your competition is hanging out! Add a REAL, interactive presence to these social networking groups – don’t just spam links!
