Using Web 2.0 Sites in Your Link Building Strategy
A basic definition of a “web 2.0 site” is as a website that is not static and allows users to interact with each other as well as contribute to the website’s content instead of passively viewing the information. Some examples include; social bookmarking sites, social networking sites, web based communities, wikis, blogs, video sharing sites, and more.
These Web 2.0 sites offer great opportunities to use them as part of your link building strategy for your own website or blog. It’s well known in the internet marketing world that building links to your site will help with your search engine rankings and bring you a lot more traffic. It’s also no secret that you should diversify your backlinks instead of using just one or two strategies. That’s where these web 2.0 properties can come into play.
There are virtually endless ways to use these sites to help boost the rankings of your own site, and below are a few good ideas to get you started:
1) Squidoo Lenses
Squidoo.com is a very popular place for sharing information through the creation of mini-sites called “lenses” and it is one of the most popular web 2.0 sites. A lens is a one-page website on a specific topic. On that page you can add relevant articles, embed videos, photos, products, and all sorts of other things. Of course, you can also post links back to your own website or blog.
They don’t allow all topics so check to be sure your topic is allowed before you get too far into creating a lens. If it is, create as many lenses as you like, each of them sharing good information along with links back to your website and/or blog.
2) Hubpages
Hubpages.com is another extremely popular web 2.0 site that allows you to create one-page websites but they are called “hubs” instead of lenses, and they aren’t as flexible as Squidoo. Hubpages requires you to use 100% unique content – you can’t use previously published articles or PLR content. What you can do is rewrite your articles so they are basically brand new, or pay a writer to do it for you if you don’t have the time. You are allowed to put links back to your own sites but do it in moderation.
3) Blogs
You might already have a blog but there are many different blogging platforms where you can create more of them to use in your link building efforts. Blogs are typically considered to be web 2.0 properties and you can use them for creating plenty of backlinks to your main website/blog. Some free platforms you can use are wordpress.com, blogger.com, livejournal.com, blog.com, xanga.com, and many others. The most common approach for this type of web 2.0 property is to regularly keep adding fresh content, and have relevant links leading back to your own website or main blog.
Private label rights (PLR) content also works well to help keep these blogs active. You can either modify the content to make it more unique, or simply use it as-is. But I do recommend re-writing it at least a little bit. If the content includes keyword phrases that go along with your topic, turn them into anchor text and link them back to your main sites.
You can also use free reprint articles by other people. Simply go to an article directory like ezinearticles.com, goarticles.com, or articlecity.com and pick a few articles that go along with your topic. Post one or more articles a day, including a link back to your site in the post. Be sure to keep the original author’s bio box with a live link to their site – you aren’t trying to steal the content, only use it to keep your blogs active, which is perfectly fine.
Okay, now you have 3 ways to use web 2.0 sites in your link building strategy. Start with those above and then expand into some of the countless other web 2.0 properties that are out there just waiting for you to use them.
Leave a Comment