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Linking Matters

Report on an event in which Ken McGaffin of LinkingMatters.com explained how to drive traffic and promote your site using only a linking strategy.

In this evening seminar, Ken McGaffin of LinkingMatters.com explained how you can drive traffic and promote your site using only a linking strategy. Report by Robert Dennis.

The idea of using a link strategy to drive traffic to your site is not new. The magic of the hyperlink helped to fuel the early years of the World Wide Web's growth in popularity, when sites like Yahoo! consisted of little more than directories of links, and any self-respecting webmaster was intent on making sure that their site was included. But in the years that followed, as wave after wave of 'the next big thing' hogged the limelight and Google quietly began its all-conquering rise to dominance, the humble hyperlink became so commonplace that many of us forgot just how much power it can wield. The time is ripe for a reappraisal.

People follow internet links like traffic signposts, using them to navigate around the web. Following a link is one of the most popular ways for people to find new sites - only a couple of percentage points behind search engines. Quite simply, the more quality websites that link to your site, the more traffic you will get.

According to the Bow-Tie theory of the Internet (as put forward by IBM, Compaq and Alta Vista back in around '98), for any topic there is a 'core' which makes up about 30% of sites that consistently share links, attracting a concentration of traffic and sending it out again to a more diverse range of destinations. 'Origination sites' drive users into the core, but have few links from the core, while 'termination sites' are destination sites that are linked from the core, but have few links back in.

A good linking strategy maximises the number of inbound links that point to your site.

LinkingMatters.com started as an experiment dreamed up one night by Ken McGaffin and Archie Binnie, who decided to set themselves the challenge of building a site to see how much traffic they could generate using only a link strategy. They began by thoroughly researching their subject, building their knowledge beyond what they already knew, adding some insights of their own, and then producing the Linking Matters Report, which is the distillation of their findings and thinking on the topic. They then created the LinkingMatters.com website, and published the report online.

The next step was to start contacting key sites which had been identified during the research phase and requesting a link to LinkingMatters.com. NMK and e-consultancy were the first to oblige, but progress was otherwise slow for the first five or six weeks, and Ken admits that he began to wonder whether the experiment was destined to failure. Around week seven, however, Search Engine Watch published a favourable article about the report, and traffic to the site shot up significantly. More links soon followed, many generated by an offline article in Germany and an influential plug on Sitepoint in Australia, and the project began to take off.

Ken stresses the importance of making sure you try to attract quality links, by which he means links from a relevant, influential and popular site. The Search Engine Watch link did wonders for Linking Matters, and 15 such links will do more for your traffic than 500 random, poor quality links.

After a little more than six months, over 900 domains now link to Linking Matters. Nearly 13,000 (free) copies of the report have been downloaded. On the keyword 'linking' on Google, Linking Matters now ranks eleventh out of nearly 9 million results, and on the keyword phrase 'linking strategy' they occupy first and second spots out of nearly 10,000 results.

Linking Matters have identified at least 24 types of inbound links, including: editorial links from a news site to the homepage of a company or organisation named in the article; product reviews; links from a directory, such as dmoz.org; and sponsorship.

What are the business benefits of effective linking?

1. First, you get qualified traffic: people who follow links have already expressed an interest in your product or service.
2. Linking enhances your search engine ranking. Nearly all search engines now use some form of 'link analysis' in compiling their results: the more good links you have coming in to your site, the better.
3. Links from high quality websites help to build trust. They improve your credibility and increase confidence in what you have to offer.
4. The research you conduct as part of your linking strategy provides invaluable market knowledge and information about your marketplace
5. There is a power law at work - the more links you have, the more you will attract without even asking. Links attract links.
6. Having a good network of both inbound and outbound links moves you closer to the core of your industry sector, and establishes your position in the 'virtual market space'.

How do you measure link popularity ?

The simplest way to do this is to download the Google toolbar browser. The Page Rank feature measures the importance of the site you are looking at. (Although, since many Webmasters won't link to sites with a low page rank, Linking Matters initially had a problem getting links.) Useful free link popularity services are offered by Linkpopularity.com and the freeware Link Popularity Check (www.CheckYourLinkPopularity.com).

But there are problems with measuring link popularity. These include deliberate tactics to artificially boost link popularity, corporate links and internal links. Ken gave some examples of each of these. Google and the other major search engines will penalise sites which are found to have used these methods.

Referrer logs are the most important way of checking the number and quality of sites that bring you traffic. As part of your linking strategy build a database of sites that refer to you.

The main principle behind developing a Linking Strategy is that when you create great content and link to great content, great content will link to you.

You must have an adequate source of current and future content. Have outbound links not because of reciprocal links, but because they provide value. Build up your reserves of inbound links and they'll continue to attract interest over time.

Developing a linking strategy requires eight steps

1. Find out who links to you
2. Find out who links to your competitors
3. Define your linking objectives
4. Ensure your site is 'linking friendly'
5. Define the sites that you will provide links to
6. Define the sites that you'd like to link to
7. Ask for inbound links
8. Monitor and build

Ken highlighted several resources for marketers, such as ARELIS from www.axandra.com , which shows the relevance of keywords to particular sites.

One highly effective approach to getting quality links is to have good PR. Building a rapport with editors, packaging your 'story' and carefully identifying your targets, are all essential. Be persistent - get used to rejection. Despite getting few links early on, Linking Matters' growth spurts followed a good press and links from SearchEngineWatch and Sitepoint.com.

Linking Matters started out as an experiment and several key lessons were learned on the way:

1. Don't be afraid to give information or services away - e.g. the Linking Matters report.
2. The amount of traffic you get is less important than the quality: a linking strategy helps you to target your market with greater precision than search engine optimisation.
3. Remember that links cut both ways: links to other sites in 'the core' are part of establishing your site's credibility, and consider reciprocal affiliate arrangements where appropriate. (At the same time, plan the user experience carefully, to make sure the user can easily get back to your site if they do leave.)
4. Put your links in the right place - you wouldn't want to divert a customer from the buying process, for instance.
5. Finally, a linking strategy can achieve amazing results, but it takes hard work, careful research and perseverance, and this can take time. Don't overdo it. Your link strategy should be part of your overall marketing plan, not a substitute for it.

Ken McGaffin, CEO, McGaffin.com
Ken McGaffin has over 15 years consultancy experience, first in general marketing, then multimedia. Since 1996, he has concentrated exclusively on e-marketing, working with both clients and their agencies. Over the years McGaffin.com has worked with major companies, government agencies and non-profit organisations, including: WWAV Rapp Collins, Pfizer, Novartis, Gala Group, Legal and General, Recruit Media, e-Consultancy.com, e-Hub.com, NMK, British Interactive Multimedia Association, Wired Sussex, Cancer Research, Business Link, Industrial Development Board, Welsh Development Agency and London Chamber of Commerce, as well as scores of small to medium sized companies.

Have a look at the original event here.