12x Incredible Link Building Strategies For 2019

We all know that more links = higher rankings.

But building links isn’t always easy.

So I am going to share 12x incredible link building strategies with you today.

You can use any of these proven link building strategies to attract high quality links to your website quickly and easily!

….but you should only use 3x of them.

Why?

Because it’s easy to get overwhelmed and do nothing.

 This is what you should do- 

That will stop you from getting distracted & help you increase your search traffic in 2019!

#1 – Testimonial Link Building

This link building method almost seems too easy…

Well…

That’s because it is!

With just a few minutes work you can create powerful
homepage links
to your website.

Let me explain what I mean.

By reaching out and offering positive testimonials for services and/or products that you are using…

…you can have your testimonial published with a link back to your website.

Here is one of my testimonials for MyThemeShop–

Which includes a backlink to my blog.

So let’s take a look at how you build links with testimonials.

Step #1 – Generate A List Of Targets

First, you need to find the websites for services and products that you could provide a testimonial for.

Each site needs to-

So start by writing a list of tools/products/services you are already using in your business.

This could be anything like-

• You favorite brand of horse saddle
• The action camera you use
• A training course you took
• Any tool/service you use regularly

If you’re struggling to come up with any ideas you could cheat a little bit.

Look at what other tools and services people in your niche use….

And you’ll quite often find that a free trial will be on offer to test the tool…

You can also look for people in your niche who have just launched (or about to launch) products/tools/services.

Usually they need/want testimonials to help with a product launch.

You can typically find these people hanging out in-

Just collect all your targets together and add them to a spreadsheet:

Step #2 – Find The Right Person To Pitch To

Now we need to find the right person to contact.

Sometimes you can just ask via the contact form on the website and some will even have dedicated testimonial submission forms.

But if you’re doing more than a few of them, you should use a tool like NinjaOutreach to help you out.

Just search for the website from your list and it will show you the contact details-

Or you can use on of these handy extensions to help you find email addresses-

They will also pull the role of the person behind each email address to help you figure out which is best person to pitch too-

Then you can add each email address to your spreadsheet and start to contact everyone on your list with a pitch.

Step #3 – Send Your Testimonial Pitch

Before spending time creating a testimonial…

First pitch them with the idea that they could have a testimonial created by you.

Here are some thing’s to keep in mind when putting together your pitch:

You could write something like-

Hey,

I was just reaching out to say thank you for building #TOOLNAME#.

I have been using #TOOLNAME# for the past 6 months and it has helped me 5x my results.

Before I found your tool I was really struggling with #COMPETITORPRODUCTNAME# so thank you again – honestly it has really transformed my business.

If it’s any help-

I would love to write a testimonial about my experience.

Is that something you would be interested in?

Thanks

Just keep it short, simple and sweet.

Step #4 – Writing The Perfect Testimonial

Writing the perfect testimonial is pretty straight forward.

You want to write a short piece of text that includes-

Here are some good example testimonials from my readers-

Your advice helped me get 30,000 visitors per month

I would never expect that your advice could really help me increasing my search engine traffic rank. I am sceptical at first but my site arieon.my was able to go to another level where I get 30,000 unique visit per month in just 5 months. The best part is that your advice and tutorial is easy to follow.

Arieon Sumber


Arieon

I was able to double organic traffic

Hi Matt, Your online tutorials are quite easy to follow and replicate. I was able to double the organic traffic in many of my clients’ websites relatively easy in very short time. Keep up the good work.

George Papatheodorou


Digital Bang

To be put it simply:

Write a testimonial that they would be stupid not to publish.

BUT!

Make sure what you write is true.

You are attaching your name and recommendation to a tool/product/service after all.

This Section In Short

Using testimonials as a link building strategy is a fantastic way to build high quality homepage links.

1. Generate a list of target services and products
2. Find the right person to pitch to
3. Send them your pitch
4. Write the testimonial

It really is that easy!

#2 – Link Roundup Link Building

Link Roundups are blog posts that “round up” links to awesome content.

This is usually done daily weekly or monthly and often includes a short write up.

Take a look at an example from SnapAgency’s Blog:

You can find thee types of blog posts in nearly every niche.

All you need to do is-

1. Find websites that regularly post roundups
2. Pitch your content for the next roundup

It doesn’t get much easier than that!

Step #1 – How To Find Link Roundup Sites

Use Google to do the following searches…

…and then go through the results and add any suitable roundup sites to a spreadsheet.

For example:

If I wanted to build links to my Ecommerce SEO Guide…

My Google search would look like this-

In a matter of seconds, I have a bunch of relevant search results to add to my list-

1. bigapplemedia.com/weekly-link-roundup-no-46-latest-marketing-links/
2. theleverageway.com/blog/mobile-ecom-link-roundup/
3. blog.spiralytics.com/monday-reading-list-seo-and-link-building-edition/

Repeat the search for each suggestion mentioned above.

And once you have a list ready…

Step #2 – Pitching Your Awesome Content

Find the contact email address for each site by using a tool like NinjaOutreach or FindThatLead.

Or if you’ve got time search their site for an email address or contact form.

The problem with this kind of pitch though…

Is that the bloggers that publish these kind of roundup posts get emails like this everyday-

So if you want to get featured…

…you need to do something a little bit different.

I suggest that you use a 2 pronged approach-

1. Send the initial outreach email (that doesn’t ask for anything)
2. Then pivot to the pitch

You could send something like this at first-

Hey,

I am a frequent reader of #INSERTROUNDUPNAME# – thanks for putting it together every #WEEK/MONTH/YEAR#.

When you featured #INSERTURL# it really helped me to #INSERTRESULT#

Looking forward to the next roundup!

Thanks again for putting it together all the time!

– Your Name

Once they reply, then pivot with your link pitch.

And that’s it!

Link Roundup Link Building is so simple and easy to carry out.

All you need is-

Not only will you get a link, but you’ll likely receive targeted traffic as well!

This Section In Short

There are loads of blogs out there who regularly publish link roundup posts which you can take advantage of.

1. Identify blogs in your niche who publish link roundups
2. Find contact information
3. Pitch your content

Be sure that any content you pitch is top quality & adds value to their roundup.

#3 – Resource Page Link Building

Most websites have a resource page where they list all the tools, guides and articles that they use or have found useful.

I have a few of them across the blog-

And it’s not just me.

Take a look at this resource page from the Goinswriter team–

This is in essence just a list of links with some added commentary.

I’m sure you have figured out where this is going right?

The concept is pretty simple-

1. Find resource pages in your niche
2. Reach out to them asking for a link

Voila!

Step #1 – How To Find Resource Pages

There are a couple of ways to do this…

It really just depends on how much elbow grease you want to put in.

But if you are doing this for the first time you should do it the hard way with Option #1 to learn the ropes.

Option #1 – Google Search (The Manual Way)

Jump over to Google and search these terms-

If I wanted to build links to a meditation blog, it would look like this-

Just look through the results and pick any that fit your content.

Add those to a spreadsheet and you’re ready for the next step.

Or if you don’t want to do the heavy lifting yourself…

Option #2 – Ninja Outreach (The Automatic Way)

Another great way to find resource pages for your niche is with NinjaOutreach

Type in your keyword to the search bar and then filter the results by “Resource Page”–

You will get a nice long list of relevant resource pages instantly.

Then in just a couple of clicks you can automatically find their contact details and send them your pitch.

Step #2 – Pitching Your Content

The next step is to reach out to the website and pitch them your content to add to the resource page.

 This is easier said than done. 

But just like we did earlier, it’s better to take a 2 pronged approach to getting the link placed-

1. Send the first outreach email
2. Then pivot to the link placement

Either contact the website owner manually or use one of the prewritten NinjaOutreach templates.

Here is an example pitch-

Hey (insert name)

I just want to thank you for putting this page together #INSERTLINK#

It really helped me #INSERTHOWITHELPED# eg I was having a hard time wrapping my head around copywriting but having your central hub of resources really helped me overcome it.

Especially the article with all of the different headline templates!

Thanks again it was really appreciated!

Just send that to each of your targets and wait for the reply’s.

Once they bite:

Pivot to asking for a mention on their page-

It really is as easy as that!

The more people you ask, the more links you will get.

Simples!

This Section In Short

A simple, yet effective link building method is Resource Link Building.

Find resource pages that relate to your article, tool, product or service and pitch to the website owner to feature your content.

Give them useful evergreen content and earn a valuable backlink in return.

Use Google and tools like Ninja Outreach to find prospects and pitch them your content.

#4 – Internal Link Building

Internal link building is one of my favorite link building strategies.

Not only do you have complete control over where you place your links…

But:

It is super easy to implement and carries very little to no risk of penalisation.

What Is An Internal Link?

An internal link is a link placed on one webpage that links to another webpage of the same domain.

For example-

And because they are internal links that we place on our own sites and pages-

It means that we have complete control over them and the anchor text that we use.

Why Internal Links Are So Valuable

Internal links carry a lot of value and most people don’t realise just how much they help your SEO.

Here’s why…

This the most underused link building strategy in SEO.

And I don’t know why-

Because it’s very easy to implement!

3x Internal Link Building Strategies

There are 3x internal link building strategies that I like to use when it comes to placing links…

I’m going to show you the manual linking process here.

It takes a lot more time to apply…

..but you’ll end up with a powerful internal linking structure and a dangerous amount of know how.

However, you can still learn the other 2x easier methods in my Ultimate Guide To Internal Link Building.

The Manual Internal Link Building Process

First up you need to make a list of your URL’s and the target keywords.

Then use Google to search for posts on your website where you could add relevant links.

Add your links and then repeat for each URL/keyword in your list.

It might take a while – but I promise you it’s worth it.

PRO TIP: Internal link building is not a set and forget process. You must be sure to add internal links from old content to new content every time you publish!

If you want a quicker way to complete this step then take a look at my more detailed guide which includes a downloadable template.

This Section In Short

Take Internal linking seriously!

It can do wonders for your SEO and you can use them to-

• Help Google find your content and rank it better
• Use them to direct traffic to high conversion pages

Use the manual internal link building strategy to have complete control over your link placements.

And be sure to add internal links to each new post you publish from old content.

Learn more @ my Ultimate Guide To Internal Link Building

#5 – Expired Domains

One of my favorite link building hacks is to use expired domains.

Why?

Because some expired domains-

Regardless of which side of the stupid white hat/black hat argument you subscribe to-

You should be wielding their power for your business.

 And if you’re are super smart about it… 

You can buy them for the same price as new domains! (more about that later)

You have a few choices when you buy an expired domain-

This is why so many people use them, because if you build out a site on a highly authorative and relevant expired domain…

Not only will you get a head start with an awesome link profile but you will have complete control of-

And if you do it right…

It’s like having an invisible army of authoritative websites all with the sole purpose of linking back to you.

But the trick is finding relevant expiring domains that have authority in the first place.

Because once you have one, there are so many different ways that you can use it to your benefit.

How To Find Expired Domains

Finding expired domains can be as hard or as easy as you want it to be.

I have used every tool under the sun over the years and for me the best tool by far is DomainHunterGatherer.

It will help you to find expired domains and pull in key metrics for you.

Take a look at this video to learn how to use it-

What you do with an expired domain once you have found it is up to you.

You can use them to build powerful backlinks or to build out a new site with instant authority.

The power is truly in your hands with expired domains.

This Section In Short

Expired domains that have great backlink profiles are worth their weight in gold!

Buying these domains and either building your websites on them or using them to create links is an intelligent strategy.

You can-

But whatever you do:

Don’t ignore the power of expired domains!

#6 – Guest Blogging – Yawn!

Boring right?

But guest blogging is one of the most popular, simplest and most effective link building strategies there is…

 The funny thing is most people label guest posting as a white hat strategy. 

But Google have given us multiple warnings-

And more recently:

John Mueller advised to nofollow guest post links-

My point is:

 ALL FORMS of link building are against Google’s guidelines. 

And in the end…

All Google’s ranking algorithm wants to see is specific metrics. It’s your job to feed it those metrics.

And guest posts will always work very well as a marketing function to build an audience and feed the algortihm the metrics it wants.

The idea behind guest blogging is simple:

I won’t lie to you:

Guest blogging isn’t what it’s used to be a few years ago.

It’s much much harder to earn a genuine link placement in 2019.

Most website owners have caught on and often want payment to place your guest posts.

Which is nothing more than just a long winded way to buy links right?

And some people are much much more direct-

That’s not to say that guest blogging isn’t worth doing.

Feel free to walk that line however you choose.

To get started with guest blogging, there are 5 steps you need to follow:

The really easy way to do that is with NinjaOutreach that makes the entire process really easy.

But you can also do it the “good ole fashioned” way-

Step #1 – Find Your Prospects

The first step to getting started with guest blogging is to find your prospects. These are the websites where you are going to publish your piece of content.

Ideally, you want to publish in sites with high DA (domain authority) and high traffic.

To find sites that let you publish your guest posts, use some of the following footprints:

• Keyword + “guest blogger”
• Keyword + “guest post”
• Keyword + “guest article”
• Keyword + “Add Guest Post”
• Keyword + “Submit Guest Post”
• Keyword + “Submit a Guest Article”
• Keyword + “Guest Post Guidelines”
• Keyword + “become a contributor”
• Keyword + “contribute to this site”
• Keyword + “Add Content”
• Keyword + “write for us”
• Keyword + “write for me”
• Keyword + “submit your writing”
• Keyword + “submit article”
• keyword + “inurl:category/guest”

For example, let’s say you wanted like to publish a piece of content about tourism in London.

This is how the results on Google would look like:

Open Excel, and make a list of all the sites you find.

Step #2 – Qualify The Blogs

With the list you have created, run each site through Ahrefs, my favorite backlink analyser, to check their domain authority.

Take the first website in your list, and go to the Site Explorer.

Once you are there, add the website you want to analyze and click on the orange loop icon.

In the menu, take the number that you see in the center of the screen, under the DR sign.

Add these numbers to your list and repeat the process until you have the DA of every site.

If you want to get an approximation of the traffic the websites get, you can also run the sites in SimilarWeb.

In there, add each prospect to the top search bar.

Scroll down, and under “Traffic Overview”, copy the number that shows in “Total Visits” and paste it into your Excel sheet.

Of course all of that takes a lot of time:

Which is why you should use NinjaOutreach as it does all of that in a couple of clicks-

Much much easier!

Step #3 – Reaching Out

With the list of websites, go to each site and contact the manager to check if they are interested in your pitch.

To contact each blog you can use the following template:

Subject: Writing for SITE

Hi [NAME],

I was checking out [SITE] today and found the guest post you published from [GUEST POSTER’S NAME].

I loved that article, I just shared it with my audience.

I’d love to be your next guest author. Here are some topics that I think would do really well with [SITE] readers:

1. Topic #1
2. Topic #2
3. Topic #3

Do any of these ideas look good? Let me know your thoughts.

Best,

[YOUR NAME]

I highly recommend that you customise that a little bit and also take a peak at any specific guest post guidelines they may have.

Step #4 – Creating Incredible Guest Post Content

Once you get accepted, start creating the content.

Its important to write with the blog’s audience in mind!

If you need to dig into the site’s audience, read the comments from previous articles and check the posts that got the most shares and comments.

Don’t hold anything back, write everything you know about the subject-

Take a look at this incredible guest post by James Johnson-

He teaches everything he knows about becoming a freelance writer.

And he holds nothing back!

Once you finish writing it, send it their way.

Step #5 – Build Relationships

A great thing about guest blogging is that it helps you build relationships with the blog managers.

Creating a network is important if you ever need help promoting a specific piece of content from your site and you want to publish often in a high-authority site.

Even though the whole guest blogging process can be quite tiring, you can use automation to guest post faster.

Nick Pierno talks about the importance of site authority and how you can build it in his article – The SEO Equation.

BONUS TIP: Engage Their Audience

One of the most overlooked benefits of guest blogging is the ability to open direct conversation with someone elses audience.

What does that mean?

Well it means that you should-

If you do those 3 things alongside your guest post, you will accelerate your results.

This Section In Short

Guest blogging can take some time, and due to the amount of content you have to create, it can get messy.

1. Find your prospects with the help of the Google footprints I previously shared
2. Then, qualify every blog you found to make sure you are pitching to the right place.
3. Reach out to the right people using the template I shared as a basis.
4. Send your guest post and get it published.
5. Engage with their audience as much as possible.

It can be a pretty long-winded process, but it is an effective one.

To save time you should use NinjaOutreach your campaign.

It will allow you to find, qualify and reach out to hundreds of blogs in just a few clicks.

#7 – Broken Link Building

Most websites have hundreds, if not thousands, of links. Many of them link internally, while others do it externally.

For whatever reason, these links can easily break and stop working.

Most website owners don’t realize this when it happens, and it can break their user experience, reputation, and SEO.

In fact as I am writing this, I just did a quick check on my own blog in Ahrefs–

And I have broken links from an old a/b experiment where I didn’t redirect the test page!

Finding broken links represent a magnificent opportunity for you to-

All of that makes this one of my favorite types of link building.

Broken link building is the tactic Nikolay Stoyanov used to acquire 15 links in 1 day with a 15% conversion rate.

It really is one of the most underutilized link building strategies in my opinion.

The process of finding and fixing broken links is straightforward-

Step #1 – Define A Target Website

The first step is to define the website where you want to get a link from.

You can pick any website you want, but I’d recommend you be realistic about your expectations.

The chances of getting a link from Inc or The New York Times after you find a broken link are slim to none.

The best websites where you can get a link from are personal blogs and small companies.

The owners and managers will be grateful for your help, and they will likely thank you with a link.

Step #2 – Finding The Broken Links

Once you have created the list of the websites you want to get a link from, you need to start searching for the broken links.

To do so, you can use two tools: Check My Links and Ahrefs.

Check My Links is a useful Chrome Extension that finds for links within a specific page.

This tool works great if you have a page with lots of links, like an article with a list of recommendations or a resource page.

For example, let’s say you sold cooking tools. This page features a long list of tools they recommend.

In this page, you’d click on the Check My Links extension and wait until the tool analyzes the whole page.

Unfortunately, on this page, the tool didn’t find any broken links.

It’s a good habit to search for broken links on every website you usually visit, so you become aware of the opportunities available.

In every page you do find a broken link, you need to create a list where you add each link from each page you search. You will use this later on.

If you find this process too time-consuming and prefer to search for broken links within a site, regardless of where the link is located, you can use Ahrefs.

Ahrefs will analyze the site thoroughly and will make a list of all the broken links it has.

To do so, go to Ahrefs’ Site Explorer and add the website you want to analyze in the main search bar in the middle of the page.

Then, go to Backlinks > Broken.

In this page, you can see all the broken inbound links the website you are analyzing got.

This represents a massive opportunity to pitch the site that linked to the one you are analyzing to get a link from them.

Export this list and save it to a separate Excel sheet.

After you are done with this, go back to the left-side menu, and click on Outgoing links > Broken links.

There, you will find all the broken outbound links from the site you are analyzing.

You can use this list of links to let the website owner know about them.

If the page they linked to still exists, let them know about it.

After you do so, you can also recommend a similar page on your site that’s similar. Later I will show you a template you can use for this purpose.

Just as you did before, export this list.

Finally, you are going to find all the internal broken links. To do so, click in the search menu bar under Pages > Best by links.

There, click on the third button from the left, and click on “404 not found.”

In here, you will find the list of all the internal broken links organized by its URL rating.

This means, the higher a page is on the list, the more link authority it carries. Therefore, if you can get a link from a top page, you will get an important link boost.

As you did before, export the list of links and save it on your sheet.

Repeat the process for every site you want to get a link from.

Step #3 – Contacting The Blog Manager

Once you finished analyzing all the sites and pages, it’s time to contact the blog owner or manager to let them know about the broken link.

Your first goal should be to
create a relationship and build some trust
.

If you have a page that’s relevant to the page where you find the broken link, then let them know about it.

Don’t do it to get a link; do it to help them have a great page for their readers.

If you don’t have something relevant to offer, focus on fixing the broken link at hand. It’s likely you will find more opportunities later on to ask for a link.

You can use the following template to contact the blog manager:

Hi [MANAGER NAME],

I was searching for some information on [INSERT TOPIC] today when I found your [PAGE TITLE].

I liked it a lot, I already shared it with my Twitter following.

Unfortunately, I came across a few broken links in that page:

BROKEN LINK URL 1 (Add replacement URL–yours or not–if available)

BROKEN LINK URL 2 (Same as before)

BROKEN LINK URL 3 (Same as before)

By the way, I recently published something relevant to your [INSERT TOPIC with URL].

It could be a nice addition to your page.

Anyway, I hope this helps.

Best,

[YOUR NAME]

Send this template to every owner or manager you have found on every site on your list.

You’ll be amazed at the types of responses you receive from people!

This Section In Short

The key to broken link building is finding the right sites to pitch, so to begin, start by picking websites that you’d want to get a link from.

You can find the sites with the most amount of broken links with the help of a tool like Ahrefs, or you can just check case-by-case with the help of Check My Links.

I prefer to use Ahrefs as it’s more scalable.

1. Once you have defined the website you want to analyze, add it to Site Explorer.
2. Start the analysis by clicking on Backlinks > Broken.
3. The links you find in this page are former pages of the website you are analysing that don’t exist anymore, but that still get a link.
4. You can use these links to pitch the linking website to replace it to one that points to your site.
5. Then, go back to the left-side menu, and click on Outgoing links > Broken links. In here, you will find all the broken links the site is linking to.
6. These links represent a great opportunity to ask for a link, as the website is basically linking to another site; this could easily be your own.
7. Finally, go to Pages > Best by links. Then, click on the third button from the left, and click on “404 not found.”

The pages you find here are all the most important internal broken pages which the website you are analysing has.

Another great opportunity for pitching.

Once you are done with this process, use the template I gave you to reach out to the site.

#8 – Reverse Engineering Competitor Backlinks

Your competitors probably spend thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours developing their link building strategies to and acquire high-quality links.

If you have a small budget, why would you try to compete with those companies? You’d most likely fail to get the same quality of links your competitors get.

Instead of hitting your head against your wall in anger and decide to work harder, you should work smarter.

The idea I’m suggesting is simple:

 Spy on your competitors and steal their best backlinks. 

You are basically drafting with your competitors; they work hard to get links, you follow them and get the same ones.

For example, Brian Dean likes to analyse his competitors’ backlinks to come up with similar but better pieces of content.

Then, he creates a new and improved article which he then uses to pitch to the sites which linked to his competitors so he can also get a link.

That simple tactic has helped him increase his site’s traffic and make it one of the world’s leading SEO sites.

Of course, this is easier said than done, but if you do it right, you can get great results with little effort.

This is how you do it:

Step #1 – Make A List Of Your Competitors

Start by making a list of all your competitors.

It doesn’t matter if they are bigger or smaller than you.

They will all teach you some valuable lessons.

However, it will be harder for you to replicate the links from the bigger sites as they likely get the links thanks to their brand (i.e., the perceived authority they have within a given industry).

If a site has a similar level of domain and brand authority than yours, it will be easier to copy them.

Most importantly, you will see what you could do to acquire more links within a similar budget.

Step #2 – Analyse Their Backlinks

Once you have your list of competitors, you will need to analyse their backlinks profile.

As you already know, my favorite tool for this is Ahrefs.

The analysis is simple: go to Ahrefs’ Site Explorer, add the link from one of your competitors, and click the orange loop button.

In the left-side menu, click on the link that says Backlinks.

In here you can see all the inbound links my competitor (in this case, a paleo blog) got.

To make your analysis more interesting, click on the Link type button in the bar above the results.

Here you can organize the links by those that are “follow”, governmental, educational, and editorial (i.e., those that are linked naturally within a piece of content).

Let’s say I wanted to see the educational links my competitor got.

These links show this competitor is respected within its industry. Also, you can see some educational sites linked to recipes, which shows interest in that type of content.

Export the list of URLs you find for every competitor.

Once you have found a list of inbound links, start by opening in a separate tab each link one at a time.

From here, you need to start thinking. What did your competitor do to get that link?

As you work through the list replicating links you’ll get a good feel for this process.

You will be able to uncover new opportunities, get a feel for what people like in your industry, and see what type of content gets the most links.

This Section In Short

Reverse engineering is simple, yet it takes some creativity from your end.

You want to know why your competitor got its links; your analysis will try to uncover just that.

1. Start by making a list of your competitors in the top 10 search results.
2. Ignore those that have few links as well as those that have a strong brand and get links exclusively due to their fame.
3. Then analyse the backlinks with the help of Ahrefs or Serped.
4. In Ahrefs, go to the Site Explorer, add your competitor, and once you have the results, click on the link that says Backlinks.
5. There, click on the Link type button, and export the whole list of URLs you get.
6. With this list, you want to open each link and figure out how and why they got the link.

Ask yourself, is it because of the quality of their content? Is it because they offer something unique and valuable?

You want to know the why behind the link.

#9 – Newsjacking

One of the key elements of any effective link building campaign is creating great content that stands out and commands attention.

Creating content that has a higher likelihood of going viral, however, isn’t easy.

Instead of wasting time trying to figure out what people may like, you can take what people are already talking about and use that as inspiration for your next piece of content.

This tactic is known as “newsjacking” because you are taking advantage of a popular topic from the news and use it to create and promote your own content.

A classic case of newsjacking is what Oreo did in the Superbowl 2013.

After the energy shut down in the stadium, they tweeted the following:

This Oreo tweet got more than 15,880 retweets and 6,200 favorites in just a few hours.

They also got a lot of press (and the links that come with it), including mentions in The Huffington Post, Wired, and CNET.

You can use this same press to get links to your site.

Here’s how you do it:

Step #1 – Find Popular Topics

Research what people talk about with the help of Google Trends.

You can put your own ideas in the top search bar and see their popularity, or write down the list of topics that show up on the homepage.

The royal weddings, for example, represents a great idea for many articles, especially if you are in the design, beauty, and fashion industry.

Go broad with your list of ideas; later you will analyse them in more detail.

Step #2 – Brainstorm content ideas

With your initial list of popular topics, brainstorm a list of content articles. You want both to have some relationship with one another.

For example, if you have a blog that talks about leadership, you could write something related to Tim Cook’s leadership style-

1. 5 Things Sales Managers Can Learn From Tim Cook
2. How Tim Cook’s Leadership Style Will Accelerate Your Success
3. The 3 Leadership Mistakes Tim Cook Made That You Must Avoid At All Costs

Step #3 – Define And Create The Content

With your list of content ideas, define one that suits you best, and start creating the content fast.

Time is your friend in here. The popularity of some topics lasts only a few weeks, if not days.

Make sure to have the article done no longer than a week after you found it.

Step #4 – Publish And Promote

Talking about a popular topic makes promotion easier, but it’s not a fool-proof way of creating viral content.

As it always happens with content, focus on the promotion. Don’t promote it on social media alone; use it as a way to call the attention of people both within and outside your industry.

Reach outside your industry. Using the previous example, you may want to reach blogs that talk about technology, business, Apple, and Uber.

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Newsworthy content always attract attention (and links).

It’s really easy to do and there are new opportunities every single week!

1. To find newsjacking opportunities, get to know what people are searching for with Google Trends.
2. You can go deeper with the help of the categories section.
3. With the results, brainstorm potential ideas that tie your expertise with the news.
4. Create the content fast, and aggressively promote it.

Remember, people like sharing content that’s new and unique; newsjacking can help you achieve just that.

#10 – Influencer Marketing (ego bait)

Dale Carnegie said once “You can make more friends in two months by becoming interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get other people interested in you.”

Similarly, if you play on famous people’s ego, the chances of getting links from high-authority sites increases significantly.

First, you build relationships with people that manage high-traffic, high-authority sites.

As you know, relationships are one of the key ways to get anything in life, including links.

If you get influencers interested in your article, they will feel invested. Once you publish it, they will feel “pushed” to share and link to it, even if you don’t tell them.

This is the basis of influencer marketing.

Creating ego bait list posts (ELP for short) has helped get 2000 views to a blog that wasn’t even getting 50 visits per month.

In the image above you can see the sessions went up 482%, while the pageviews increased 1382% and the users 624%.

If you want to get started with ego bait, follow these steps:

Step #1 – Pick Your Headline

As I recommend on the ego bait list article, start with the headline, which sums up the idea of the article.

You can use the following structure:

Number + (industry) blogs/experts + promise/keyword

Pick a list of influencers from your industry, and define the promise that your article will fulfill.

You can pick as little or as many as you want, depending on how much in depth you want to go with each influencer.

For example you might want to ask what everyone’s favorite link building tools are.

That makes it easy for the influencers to know exactly what they are expected to write about. The audience will also appreciate a specific piece of advice they can use on their own.

Step #2 – Define the Question

Even though you have already specified the main promise of the article, you want to define the question you will ask the influencers.

Be specific and focus on one question only.

Influencers are busy people, that’s why you want them to answer your question with the greatest level of detail possible.

When defining the question, remember what people would want to read about.

Pick a unique angle for the question.

For example, if I were to do another SEO ego bait article like the one I showed you before, I’d focus on something like the best local SEO strategy or favorite 30 minute SEO quick win.

It still focuses on SEO, but has a new angle that brings a good answer to people’s problems.

Step #3 – The Experts

Create a list of all the experts you want to contact.

You can brainstorm the experts or search on Google.

Make sure to define experts that have sites with high domain authority as well as social following. This will make the sharing as well as the linking more powerful.

After you define the list of experts, find their contact information.

Look in their personal websites, use LinkedIn, or simply ask them on Twitter.

Again I recommend you use Ninja Outreach to do this, just enter your keyword and it’s all ready for you-

Then in just a couple of clicks you can send them all an email with your question otherwise you have to do it manually which can take some time.

Step #4 – Outreach

Finally, send the influencers an email with your question.

If they don’t answer right away, wait a few days.

Follow up two times more, and if they don’t answer, ask a different influencer.

NinjaOutreach can automate this process end to end including all of the followups.

You should get a response rate around 10-25%, maybe more if you already have a relationship with some of the influencers or if you are one yourself.

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Creating egobait articles is simple.

The key to success is to structure your article for success and be organized with the pitching.

1. Start by defining your headline.
2. It must convey the value right away so people want to click on it.
3. You can use the structure I recommend which is: Number + (industry) blogs/experts + promise/keyword
4. Then, define the question (or questions) you want to ask to the influencers.
5. Make sure to make it super concise and actionable.
6. Then, define the experts you want to contact.
7. Finally, contact the experts with the question you previously defined.
8. Once you publish your content, make sure you contact the experts so they help you promote it.

Also, remember it’s all about the relationships; once an expert knows about your site, it will be easier for them to link to your site in the future (assuming they like your site).

BONUS EGO BAIT STRATEGY: Take a look at this awesome link building tutorial that you can use to ego bait people in a different way.

#11 – Data Driven Content For Link Building

Creating content that drives attention has become harder and harder as time goes by.

To create relevant and useful content, it needs to stand out.

Using unique data to develop and enrich your content can help it stand out, command the attention it deserves, and attract the link your website needs.

Take a look at this post-

I designed 6x tests and signed up to 7x different WordPress hosts to test them.

Then I published the results (data)-

Now this cost a lot of money and time to do.

But it answered a common question with data and attracted a bunch of links-

I also shared data with my monthly income reports for the same reason.

People like learning from successful people, by showing them how I do it others follow me and respect me.

To get started, here are a few ideas you can implement to make your content more data-driven:

There is no step-by-step plan for this. Rather, it’s a process you need to follow.

Before you hit the “Publish” button, ask yourself-

Does this article has any unique data?

If not, try to add some so you give it more substance.

 Here are some other examples that I have published- 

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You can make this as simple or as complicated as you want.

1. Find a common question in your niche
2. Then compile data to answer that question

That might mean running your own tests or aggregating the data of others.

You could even take someone elses data and do a better job of presenting it with graphics/infographics/interactive charts/tables.

This approach also works well with the NewsJacking strategy above because it’s often easy to compile quick reference data/infographics when a story breaks.

#12 – Mention Link Building (Link Reclamation)

If you have a respected brand in your industry or location, people likely write about you.

When someone mentions you online, an opportunity to get a link appears.

Unfortunately, many times people forget to link to your site when they mention you.

Therefore, reclaiming your links is one of the easiest and most effective strategies you can use.

Here’s how you get started:

Step #1 – Look For Your Company Online

In a moment I am going to show you an easy way to automate this but for now, I want you to understand the process.

First, search your site on Google-

“matthewwoodward.co.uk” -inurl:matthewwoodward.co.uk

This returns a list of results that mention my domain name but excludes all the pages from my own blog.

Be creative with your keywords; people may misspell your company’s name more often than you think.

Step #2 – Find Your Mentions

Make a list of all the sites you find where you have gotten a mention.

Check for-

Step #3 – Outreach

Once you have created the list of websites, find the person who’s responsible for managing it.

If you are in doubt, use the “Contact” page, but it’s better to go straight to the person who can actually fix the mention.

Ninja Outreach also has a great email finding tool that can find the email addresses for any domain name-

Once you have the email addresses you can just use this template-

But don’t forget to customise it first!

Hey [NAME],

I’ve seen you mentioned us on [PAGE].

Thanks a lot!

By the way, I’ve seen you haven’t linked to our site. It’d be of great use for your readers if you added a link, so they can learn more about us.

Here’s the link you can use: .

Thanks a lot,

[YOUR NAME]

Step #4 – Setting Up Automatic Alerts

Many people won’t answer you because it’s been a long time since they published the page where they mentioned you.

That’s why it’s so important to respond fast whenever you get a mention without a link.

To do this, set up Google Alerts so you’re always ready.

My detailed tutorial will teach you all of the in’s and out’s of this.

But in essence – every time you see you get a new mention alert, make sure to check there’s a link.

Otherwise, contact the writer or editor of the website and ask for the link, using the template shown before.

This way, you’ll be able to bring high-quality links to your site with no effort from your end.

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Link reclamation is one of the easiest link building techniques there is.

You are basically getting links from people who already like you, so your pitching will be more effective than usual.

1. To get started, look for mentions your company or site has gotten via Google.
2. Whenever you find a mention without a link, contact the site owner asking for a link with my template.
3. Finally, set up alerts with the help of Google Alerts to make sure never to miss any future mentions.

This is one of the more quick win link building strategies that nearly anyone can apply instantly!

Wrapping It Up

The new year brings lots of new opportunities to your table.

Today, you’ve seen 12x link building strategies you can implement in 2019 for maximum results:

1. Testimonials
2. Link Roundups
3. Resource Pages
4. Internal Links
5. Expired Domains
6. Guest Blogging
7. Broken Link Building
8. Reverse Engineering
9. Newsjacking
10. Influencer Marketing
11. Data Drive Content
12. Link Reclaimation

Now it’s time to get started.

 Pick 3x link building strategies you want to use this year. 

Then, put on your calendar the first step of the first tactic you’ve chosen to be done this week.

Then just repeat the process with the other 2 link building strategies of your choosing.

Before long, your website will have gotten dozens of high-quality links that will drive lots of traffic to your site.

And before you go:

Please tell me-

Which 3x link building strategies are you going to be focusing on this year?