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Search Engine Optimization

304 Link Building Opportunities

Let the Link Building Begin!

Link Building Branch With PeopleYour new website just went live so you’re now enjoying the fruits of your labor and admiring the exceptional job you and your team did on design and development. The project is finally over and it is time to settle back and wait for your website traffic to climb to new heights.

Reality check! I repeat – it is time for a reality check. You’re about half done with your quest for internet dominance. The research, website design, build out, and on-page SEO are all only part of your ongoing battle for visitors and conversions. Link building is not only necessary – it’s critical! It is the only way to maximize your website traffic and get the most ROI out of your web design project.

Why Do We Need to Worry About Link Building?

Consider the internet like the homecoming queen contest. To win the crown (or page one ranking), you need to be pretty, have some depth, and have a lot of votes by your peers. A website is no different. It needs to be functional, have unique content, and it needs to have links pointing to it from other websites so Google and Bing know it is of value. The links represent votes and these votes help provide a method by which the search engines and their algorithms can score authority. Without incoming links, it will be impossible to win over the search engines. We SEOs call this off-page SEO.

Why Do We Wait for Link Building Until After Go-Live?

In an early blog post, titled Ten Steps to Quality Link Building and Strong Organic SEO, I discuss the need for a structured link building plan and map of your keyword to page strategy. This is critical because you need to build links into your home page, but also pages and posts. If you’ve followed my website design plan (my previous blog posts), each page of your website will have a specific keyword focus. You’ll need this list and the final page URLs before you can start link building and this list isn’t finalized until after go-live.

How on Earth Can We Find Linking Building Opportunities?

There are a lot of ways, although not all links are as beneficial as others. We SEOs talk a lot about “do follow” links and page authority and PR rank. Most regular people don’t get our SEO babble and they don’t need to get it. What they need is basic link building and a decent list of link building opportunities.

Link building opportunities include, but are not limited to the following:

  • Search engines
  • Social media websites for company or personnel profiles
  • Blogs and microblogs
  • Blog directories
  • Guest blog posts
  • RSS feeds
  • Blog comments
  • Press release distribution
  • Local listings and directories
  • News, bookmarking, and tagging websites
  • Review websites
  • Groups and forum interaction
  • Industry publications
  • Associations
  • Event listings
  • Presentations and document sharing
  • Image sharing websites
  • Wikis
  • Videos and podcasts

You’re probably feeling a little overwhelmed right now, but you don’t need to be. Link building is not so much difficult, as it is time consuming. When I first started link building, I spent hours every Friday working on this task. It was painful. Back then there were not a ton of helpful bloggers or SEO consultants giving out free advice. I had to research opportunities and find potential links by turning myself into Nancy Drew. Nancy Drew surfed the internet for websites related to our keywords, watched our competition, and did a whole lot of random queries.

These days link building is much easier. There are lots and lots of sources of information and lists of link building opportunities for generic and/or industry specific links. Liking you as much as I do, I’m going to give you a jump-start and provide a slew of websites to get you started.

Link Building 101

Website NameCategoryFocusURL
://URLFANBlogging & RSSwww.urlfanx.com
5 Minutes for MomBlogging & RSSWomen Onlywww.5minutesformom.com
5z5Blogging & RSSwww.5z5.com
AlltopBlogging & RSSwww.alltop.com
BizsugarBlogging & RSSwww.bizsugar.com
BlloggsBlogging & RSSwww.blloggs.com
BlogBlogging & RSSwww.Blog.com
Blog BunchBlogging & RSSwww.blogbunch.com
Blog CatalogBlogging & RSSwww.blogcatalog.com
Blog ClickerBlogging & RSSwww.blogclicker.com
Blog CollectorBlogging & RSSwww.blog-collector.com
Blog DiggerBlogging & RSSwww.blogdigger.com
Blog FluxBlogging & RSSwww.Blogflux.com
Blog FoldersBlogging & RSSwww.BlogFolders.com
Blog GapediaBlogging & RSSwww.bloggapedia.com
Blog HubBlogging & RSSwww.bloghub.com
Blog ListingBlogging & RSSwww.bloglisting.net
Blog PulseBlogging & RSSwww.blogpulse.com
Blog SearchBlogging & RSSwww.blog-search.com
Blog TreeBlogging & RSSwww.blogtree.com
BlogaramaBlogging & RSSwww.Blogarama.com
BLOGbalBlogging & RSSwww.blogbal.com
BloggedBlogging & RSSwww.blogged.com
BloggeriesBlogging & RSSwww.bloggeries.com
BloggersBlogging & RSSwww.bloggers.com
Bloggers BaseBlogging & RSSwww.bloggersbase.com
BlogHerBlogging & RSSWomen Onlywww.BlogHer.com
BloglinesBlogging & RSSwww.bloglines.com
BlogRollCenterBlogging & RSSwww.blogrollcenter.com
BlogsBlogging & RSSwww.blogs.com
Blogs by WomenBlogging & RSSWomen Onlywww.blogsbywomen.org
BlogSpotBlogging & RSSwww.googleblog.blogspot.com
BlogvilleBlogging & RSSwww.blogville.us
Feed AgeBlogging & RSSwww.feedage.com
Feed FuryBlogging & RSSwww.feedfury.com
Feed ListingBlogging & RSSwww.feedlisting.com
Feed NutsBlogging & RSSwww.feednuts.com
Feed SeeBlogging & RSSwww.feedsee.com
FeedaggBlogging & RSSwww.feedagg.com
FeedBurnerBlogging & RSSwww.feedburner.com
FeedcatBlogging & RSSwww.feedcat.net
FeedgyBlogging & RSSwww.feedgy.com
Free WebsBlogging & RSSwww.freewebs.com/blogotion/
Globe of BlogsBlogging & RSSwww.globeofblogs.com
Golden FeedBlogging & RSSwww.goldenfeed.com
Ice RocketBlogging & RSSwww.icerocket.com
instablogsBlogging & RSSwww.instablogs.com
Jordo MediaBlogging & RSSwww.jordomedia.com
LeighRSSBlogging & RSSwww.leighrss.com
LiquidaBlogging & RSSwww.liquida.com
Live JournalBlogging & RSSwww.LiveJournal.com
Loaded WebBlogging & RSSwww.loadedweb.com
MetaFeederBlogging & RSSwww.MetaFeeder.com
Million RSSBlogging & RSSwww.millionrss.com
Mom Bloggers ClubBlogging & RSSWomen Onlywww.mombloggersclub.com
My Blog 2UBlogging & RSSwww.myblog2u.com
Networked BlogsBlogging & RSSwww.networkedblogs.com
News To Watch†Blogging & RSSwww.NewsToWatch.com†
On Top ListBlogging & RSSwww.ontoplist.com
OobdooBlogging & RSSwww.oobdoo.com
Place BloggerBlogging & RSSwww.placeblogger.com
PlazooBlogging & RSSwww.plazoo.com
Quick Blog DirectoryBlogging & RSSwww.quickblogdirectory.com
Read a BlogBlogging & RSSwww.readablog.com
RegatorBlogging & RSSwww.Regator.com
RSS BuffetBlogging & RSSwww.rssbuffet.com
RSS MicroBlogging & RSSwww.rssmicro.com
RSS MountainBlogging & RSSwww.rssmountain.com
RSS NetworkBlogging & RSSwww.rss-network.com
Search SightBlogging & RSSwww.searchsight.com
Small BusinessBlogging & RSSwww.smallbusiness.com
Solar WarpBlogging & RSSwww.solarwarp.net
Spicy PageBlogging & RSSwww.Spicypage.com
Super Blog DirectoryBlogging & RSSwww.superblogdirectory.com
SysconBlogging & RSSTechnologywww.sys-con.com
TechnoratiBlogging & RSSwww.technorati.com
The Blog FrogBlogging & RSSwww.theblogfrog.com
TheVital.netBlogging & RSSwww.thevital.net
Top Blog AreaBlogging & RSSwww.topblogarea.com
Top BloggingBlogging & RSSwww.topblogging.com
Total Blog DirectoryBlogging & RSSwww.totalblogdirectory.com
TumblrBlogging & RSSwww.tumblr.com
TwinglyBlogging & RSSwww.Twingly.com
WebloogleBlogging & RSSwww.webloogle.com
Wil's DomainBlogging & RSSwww.wilsdomain.com
WordPress.comBlogging & RSSwww.wordpress.com
Work It MomBlogging & RSSWomen Onlywww.workitmom.com
XangaBlogging & RSSwww.xanga.com
XMeta.netBlogging & RSSwww.XMeta.net
Yahoo Blog DirectoryBlogging & RSSdir.yahoo.com/News_and_Media/Blogs/
Your Weblog HereBlogging & RSSwww.yourwebloghere.com
ZimbioBlogging & RSSwww.zimbio.com
AmplifyBookmarketingwww.amplify.com
DeliciousBookmarketingwww.delicious.com
DiggBookmarketingwww.digg.com
Folkd.comBookmarketingwww.folkd.com
Give a LinkBookmarketingwww.givealink.org
Jump TagsBookmarketingwww.jumptags.com
My Link VaultBookmarketingwww.mylinkvault.com
NewsvineBookmarketingwww.newsvine.com
Ping.fmBookmarketingwww.Ping.fm
RedditBookmarketingwww.reddit.com
StumbleUponBookmarketingwww.stumbleupon.com
WIKIOBookmarketingwww.wikio.com
DocstocContent Sharingwww.docstoc.com
IssuuContent Sharingwww.issuu.com
ScribdContent Sharingwww.scribd.com
SlideserveContent Sharingwww.slideserve.com
SlideShareContent Sharingwww.slideshare.com
SlideSixContent Sharingwww.slidesix.com
FlickrImage Sharingwww.Flickr.com
GigaPanImage Sharingwww.GigaPan.com
ImageShackImage Sharingwww.ImageShack.com
ImgurImage Sharingwww.Imgur.com
MinusImage Sharingwww.Minus.com
PegshotImage Sharingwww.Pegshot.com
PhotoBucketImage Sharingwww.PhotoBucket.com
Pinterest.comImage Sharingwww.Pinterest.com
TinyPicImage Sharingwww.TinyPic.com
TwitPicImage SharingTwitterwww.TwitPic.com
Contracted WorkJob Siteswww.contractedwork.com
eLance.comJob Siteswww.elance.com
Find a FreelancerJob Sitesindafreelancer.com
Freelance SwitchJob Siteswww.freelanceswitch.com
Freelanced.comJob Siteswww.freelanced.com
Freelancer.comJob Siteswww.freelancer.com
Guru.comJob Siteswww.guru.com
iFreelanceJob Siteswww.ifreelance.com
oDeskJob Siteswww.odesk.com
PeoplePerHourJob Siteswww.peopleperhour.com
Project4HireJob Siteswww.project4hire.com
Absolute MichiganLocal ListingMichigan Onlywww.absolutemichigan.com
Angies ListLocal Listingwww.angieslist.com
Bing LocalLocal Listingwww.bing.com/local/
Brownbook.netLocal Listingwww.Brownbook.net
City SearchLocal Listingwww.Citysearch.com
City SquaresLocal Listingwww.CitySquares.com
Discover Our TownLocal Listingwww.DiscoverOurTown.com
FoursquareLocal Listingwww.Foursquare.com
Google PlacesLocal Listingwww.google.com/places/
HotfrogLocal Listingwww.hotfrog.com
InfogroupLocal Listingwww.Infogroup.com
Insider PagesLocal Listingwww.InsiderPages.com
Judy's BookLocal Listingwww.JudysBook.com
KudzuLocal Listingwww.Kudzu.com
LocalLocal Listingwww.Local.com
LocalezeLocal Listingwww.Localeze.com
M LiveLocal ListingMichigan Onlywww.Mlive.com
Made in Michigan MovementLocal ListingMichigan Onlywww.madeinmichiganmovement.com
Magic YellowLocal Listingwww.MagicYellow.com
MantaLocal Listingwww.Manta.con
Map QuestLocal Listingwww.MapQuest.com
Merchant CircleLocal Listingwww.MerchantCircle.com
Michigan MallsLocal ListingMichigan Onlywww.michiganmalls.com
MichiganBusiness.usLocal ListingMichigan Onlywww.michiganbusiness.us
Mojo PagesLocal Listingwww.MojoPages.com
Super PagesLocal Listingwww.SuperPages.com
SwitchboardLocal Listingwww.Switchboard.com
Yahoo LocalLocal Listinglocal.yahoo.com
YellowbotLocal Listingwww.Yellowbot.com
YellowPagesLocal Listingwww.YellowPages.com
YelpLocal Listingwww.Yelp.com
1888 Press ReleasePress Releaseswww.1888pressrelease.com
24-7 Press ReleasePress Releaseswww.24-7pressrelease.com
Before Its NewsPress Releaseswww.BeforeItsnews.Com
BigNews.BizPress Releaseswww.BigNews.Biz
Biz journalsPress Releaseswww.bizjournals.com
Drop JackPress Releaseswww.DropJack.Com
Express Press ReleasePress Releaseswww.express-press-release.net
Free PR 101Press Releaseswww.freepr101.com
Free Press IndexPress Releaseswww.FreePressindex.Com
Free Press ReleasePress Releaseswww.FreePressrelease.Com
Live PRPress Releaseswww.Live-pr.Com
My PR GeniePress Releaseswww.myprgenie.com
Online PR NewsPress Releaseswww.onlineprnews.com
Open PRPress Releaseswww.openpr.com
Pitch EnginePress Releaseswww.pitchengine.com
PR InsidePress Releaseswww.pr-inside.com
PR LogPress Releaseswww.prlog.org
PR USAPress Releaseswww.pr-usa.net
Press Media WirePress Releaseswww.pressmediawire.com
Small Biz TrendsPress Releaseswww.smallbiztrends.com
Wide PRPress Releaseswww.widepr.com
All ExpertsQ&Awww.allexperts.com
Answers.comQ&Awww.answers.com
AOL AnswersQ&Aaolanswers.com
Ask.comQ&Awww.ask.com
ChaChaQ&Awww.ChaCha.com
FocusQ&Awww.focus.com
Form SpringQ&Awww.formspring.me
Friend.lyQ&Awww.Friend.ly
Google KnolQ&Aknol.google.com
LinkedIn AnswersQ&Awww.linkedin.com/answers/
Mahalo AnswersQ&Awww.mahalo.com/answers/
MamapediaQ&Awww.mamapedia.com
QuoraQ&Awww.quora.com
Stack OverflowQ&Awww.stackoverflow.com
Wiki AnswersQ&Awww.wiki.answers.com
AskSearch.meSearch Enginewww.asksearch.me
BingSearch Enginewww.Bing.com
BlekkoSearch Enginewww.blekko.com
ClustySearch Enginewww.Clusty.com
Deeper WebSearch Enginewww.DeeperWeb.com
DMOZSearch Enginewww.DMOZ.com
DogpileSearch Enginewww.Dogpile.com
Duck Duck GoSearch Enginewww.DuckDuckGo.com
ExciteSearch Enginewww.Excite.com
GoogleSearch Enginewww.Google.com
HotBotSearch Enginewww.HotBot.com
InfoSearch EngineInfo.com
ix quickSearch Enginewww.Ixquick.com
MammaSearch Enginewww.Mamma.com
MetacrawlerSearch Enginewww.Metacrawler.com
StumpediaSearch Enginewww.stumpedia.com
WebCrawlerSearch Enginewww.WebCrawler.com
YahooSearch Enginewww.Yahoo.com
123 PeopleSocial Mediawww.123people.com
About.meSocial Mediawww.About.me
AboutUs.orgSocial Mediawww.aboutus.org
All About SiteSocial Mediawww.allaboutsite.com
All BusinessSocial Mediawww.allbusiness.com
B2B Yellow PagesSocial Mediawww.b2byellowpages.com
BiznikSocial Mediawww.biznik.com
Business Card 2Social Mediawww.businesscard2.com
Business ExchangeSocial Mediabx.businessweek.com
Business InsiderSocial Mediawww.businessinsider.com
Card.lySocial Mediawww.card.ly
CongooSocial Mediawww.congoo.com
Connect.meSocial Mediawww.connect.me
CrunchBaseSocial Mediawww.crunchbase.com
DirectoryMSocial Mediawww.directorym.net
DISQUSSocial Mediawww.disqus.com
Domain ToolsSocial Mediawww.domaintools.com
EcademySocial Mediawww.ecademy.com
Empire AvenueSocial Mediawww.empireavenue.com
EntrepreneurSocial Mediaeconnect.entrepreneur.com
Follow FridaySocial MediaTwitterwww.followfriday.com
FriendsterSocial MediaFriendster.com
Global SpecSocial MediaIndustrialwww.globalspec.com
Google PlusSocial Mediaplus.google.com
haystackSocial Mediawww.haystack.com
hi.imSocial Mediahi.im
HubpagesSocial Mediawww.hubpages.com
IdenticaSocial Mediawww.Identica.com
Internet EvolutionSocial MediaTechnologywww.internetevolution.com
internettaggerSocial Mediawww.internettagger.com
jaydeSocial Mediawww.jayde.com
LinkedInSocial Mediawww.LinkedIn.com
List CompanySocial Mediawww.list-company.com
ListoriousSocial MediaTwitterwww.listorious.com
Local SearchSocial Mediawww.localsearch.com
Local TweepsSocial MediaTwitterwww.localtweeps.com
MeeMiSocial Mediawww.meemi.com
Mom LogicSocial MediaWomen Onlycommunity.momlogic.com
My One PageSocial Mediawww.myonepage.com
MySpaceSocial Mediawww.MySpace.com
NaymzSocial Mediawww.Naymz.com
OrkutSocial Mediawww.orkut.com
Peek YouSocial Mediawww.peekyou.com
PlaxoSocial Mediawww.plaxo.com
PlurkSocial Mediawww.plurk.com
PosterousSocial Mediawww.posterous.com
ProSkoreSocial Mediawww.proskore.com
reverseinternetSocial Mediawww.reverseinternet.com
RyzeSocial Mediawww.ryze.com
ScribniaSocial Mediawww.scribnia.com
ScrnShotsSocial MediaDesignerswww.scrnshots.com
Social MomsSocial MediaWomen Onlywww.socialmoms.com
Social URLSocial Mediawww.socialurl.com
soup.ioSocial Mediawww.soup.io
SpokeSocial Mediawww.spoke.com
SprouterSocial MediaStart Upswww.sprouter.com
stuffgateSocial Mediawww.stuffgate.com
TaggedSocial Mediawww.tagged.com
ToolboxSocial MediaIT, HR, & Accountingwww.toolbox.com
TweetMeMeSocial MediaTwitterwww.tweetmeme.com
TweetwawaSocial MediaTwitterwww.tweetwawa.com
TwellowSocial MediaTwitterwww.twellow.com
TwibsSocial MediaTwitterwww.twibs.com
TwitaholicSocial MediaTwitterwww.twitaholic.com
TwitiqSocial MediaTwitterwww.twitiq.com
Twitter MomsSocial MediaTwitterwww.twittermoms.com
TwitterPacksSocial MediaTwitterTwitterpacks.pbworks.com
TwtrlandSocial MediaTwitterwww.twtrland.com
Viadeo.comSocial Mediawww.viadeo.com
VoisSocial Mediawww.vois.com
XINGSocial Mediawww.xing.com
YouTubeSocial Mediawww.youtube.com
zikiSocial Mediawww.ziki.com
Zoom InfoSocial Mediawww.zoominfo.com
AlexaWebsite Directorywww.alexa.com
BizWebWebsite Directorywww.bizweb.com
Feed PlexWebsite Directorywww.feedplex.com
Fyber SearchWebsite Directorywww.fybersearch.com
GozoofWebsite Directorywww.gozoof.com
GrokodileWebsite Directorywww.grokodile.com
Michigan Business DirectoryWebsite DirectoryMichiganwww.michiganbusiness.us
Michigan WebWebsite DirectoryMichiganwww.michiganweb.com
Web to ThumbWebsite Directorywww.webtothumb.com
WebotopiaWebsite Directorywww.webotopia.org
BizwikiWikiwww.bizwiki.com
MyWikiBizWikiwww.mywikibiz.com
wikiWikiwww.wiki.com
WikipediaWikiwww.wikipedia.com

Don’t forget about the anchor text when link building.  Anchor text is the text used to identify the link.  You don’t want to use “click here” because it isn’t descriptive for the user or the search engines.  Use words that relate to the destination page and make sure you have a good mix of phrases or terms.

Did I miss any great link building opportunities?  Okay I’m sure I did, because this list can really be endless.  If you have a great link I missed, please leave a comment and tell us about it.

Author’s Note: This blog post was originally posted in 2011. A lot has happened since 2011 and the world of SEO has changed quite a bit. Please realize that many of the above mentioned tactics were of value at the original publish date, but would not be recommended today. We are leaving the post live for historial reference only.

Rebecca Gill's avatar

Rebecca Gill

Rebecca is the founder and president of Web Savvy Marketing, a Michigan digital marketing agency. She has a well-rounded business background within SMB and enterprise organizations, as well as over fifteen years of experience in sales and online marketing. She provides SEO consulting services for clients and provides SEO coaching on Clarity.fm. Learn more at RebeccaGill.com.

Comments

  1. Yasmin Bendror says

    Thank you so much for this fantastic blog. One question: So how do you go about inserting links to my website on the the website list you provide? How does the process work? Do you have to send an email to request them put up my link?
    Thanks so much for your fabulous content, always.
    Yasmin

    • Rebecca Gill says

      Yasmin each website is different, so you’ll have to visit them individually and follow the sign up instructions. It will be time consuming, but it will produce inbound links, which are critical to good SEO.

      Thanks for your continued reading and support of my blog. Love seeing your comments!

  2. Julie Rogier says

    Wow! 304 thanks to you! This is a wonderful resource – just listed my marketing consulting website on a few of these. I wasn’t familiar with many of these, but am a big fan of: http://bx.businessweek.com/ This is an awesome community for those of us in PR to share client news.

    Thanks again – much value here!

        • Rebecca Gill says

          Great survey! SEO rocks, there is no doubt about it. I’ve built my business around it and have witnessed it’s magic for years. I think social media certainly has value, but strong SEO can beat it any day of the week.
          Thanks for proving the link, I had not read the article yet.

          Note to readers: If you need a great PR person, Julie and her team are the best. This is especially true if you are a B2B technology company.

  3. Ningsang Jamir says

    I’ve seen 101,201 and 301s before but this has taken the number games to the next level.Very useful for newbies like me!!
    Can you kindly elaborate a little bit more on the Anchor text which you mentioned at the end of the post?

  4. Marshmalo says

    Rebecaa, that’s a great list of sites – very productive for newbies and also a good reminder for the pros. In fact, I must say that most of the websites mentioned here helped me remind of the very essential tasks that I missed while building backlinks for my site. Great !

  5. Robert Hurst says

    Nothing new or original on this list. TAGGED??? FRIENDSTER??? Ridiculous. FOURSQUARE? Useless for SEO. Most of these are the old-style thinking. Get a link from a comment post on blog, and keep doing that over and over.
    That strategy doesn’t work. It has not worked for over year.

    • Rebecca Gill says

      At the time this article was originally written, I would have said yes to directories. THey’ve been taken over by spam and significantly devalued by Google so you’re best to ignore them except for high value local ones.

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