I recently received an email asking me to point to a blog entry the author had written. He said the issue was important and I should therefore point to his post. Only problem is the post literally insulted my intelligence. What can I say? If you want link love don’t insult the people you’re hoping to get it from, especially not in the same post you ask them to point to. Seems pretty straightforward. So here are top five tips for not getting linked to:
1. Insult your target linker in the post you send them
2. Ask someone to link to a post that is on a subject they never write about
3. Send an email request that makes it clear you’ve never actually read the blog
4. Get a PR person to contact the blogger and ask for a link
5. Don’t include any links to the in your own post.
If you avoid those five, then bloggers you ask may well be willing to link to you. Top five ways to get linked to:
1. Use gentle ego boosters. Many people will find it hard to link to a post that describes them as a “godlike genius” though, so don’t lay it on too thick.
2. Add a new thought or angle to an idea put forward by the blogger in question.
3. Become known to the blogger first by providing helpful comments on their blogs.
4. Keep your post short and sweet if possible, so its easy to read.
5. Use link clusters, so the blogger can see other people in the mix.
just a few thoughts. Have a nice day everyone.
Ian Skerrett says:
April 17, 2007 at 1:22 pm
James,
This just begs the question, what blog post insulted your intelligence? 🙂
TimB says:
April 17, 2007 at 1:39 pm
That was my initial thought as well!
jgovernor says:
April 17, 2007 at 2:48 pm
i would rather make it a general point than anything else thanks guys.
ewH says:
April 17, 2007 at 4:47 pm
Great tips, James. You don’t really realize it until you start blogging yourself, but your tip #3 about commenting is so so valuable. There is nothing better for a blogger than to realize that someone is out there reading and they have actually provoked enough thought to warrant a response.
I always visit all my commenter’s blogs to see what they are all about.
Thanks for the post, you are a godlike genius. 🙂
Cheers,
ewH
jgovernor says:
April 17, 2007 at 4:52 pm
ewH ha ha ha ha ha.
Ian Skerrett says:
April 17, 2007 at 5:48 pm
Oh man, ewH should get bonus points for passing the test; ‘godlike genius’ wow, I see some link love coming your way.
I guess I should have mentioned how insightful James can be. 🙂