Request One Way Links
You should spend the majority of your linkbuilding efforts on directly requesting one-way links from pages that are relevant to the theme of your own site. A one-way link request involves sending an e-mail or making a phone call to a Web site owner expressing interest in obtaining a link to your Web site from a page on his or her Web site. It can be the most difficult method of obtaining quality links, but it is likely to produce the best results because the links are coming from handpicked sites that meet the quality criteria that you desire.
Most of the sites you should be targeting when doing one-way link requests should come from your competition-evaluation efforts. Target only those links that meet quality link criteria. Also, make sure you request descriptive anchor text with your link.
You can also search for relevant keywords in the major search engines and contact the owners of the top results. One of the best resources for potential one-way link requests is DMOZ.org. DMOZ lists many old and established Web sites whose owners normally do not sell links. Often, these owners are unaware of the value of such a link, and they may not require compensation of any kind.
To ensure the best shot possible at obtaining a link from a Web site owner that you contact, try to establish a conversation related to the content of the site with the owner before requesting a link. This conversation can result in more than just obtaining a link; you are creating a relationship with another Web site owner interested in your niche.
Request One-Way Links
1 Navigate to DMOZ.org.
2 Search for sites related to your content. As an example, search for "spinach lasagna."
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The search results appear.
Browse through the Web sites and look for sites that appear relevant to your content. Look for sites that meet the link quality criteria discussed earlier in this chapter.
3 Click a site. In this example, click the www.igourmet.com link to Spinach Lasagna Val d'Aosta.
4,830,584 sites - 75,151 editors - oner 590,000 categories
4 Look for a method to contact the Web site owner to request a link. In this example, click Customer Service and look for an e-mail address or contact form.
5 Write a thoughtful e-mail to the owner of the Web site requesting a link back to your own Web site.
• Be sure to include the link as you want it to be added including the proper anchor text. Consider offering some financial compensation or a piece of useful content.
Continue reading here: An Introduction to Social Media Optimization
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