Legitimate Link Building in Charlotte

July 8th, 2009

I’m sorry that this post is somewhat short notice, but the Charlotte SEO Meetup organizers are planning a pretty cool free meeting for Thursday, July 9 at 6:30 PM.

You can click here for the details on the Legitimate Link Building in Charlotte Meetup.

Here’s the inside scoop…

Last month the organizers got together and tried to plan out the next several months worth of meetings. We try to do 4 free meetups every year in order to let everyone in on what we are doing. We were due to do one specifically on Link Building.

One of the organizers had the idea of organizing a “link swap meet” of sorts. His idea was that there are several website owners and marketers in the room. Why not find a way for them to meet each other and determine if there is a legitimate way for them to naturally link to each other?

We all sort of laughed at the idea and even compared it to “speed dating”.

Yet, the idea of meeting the other members and finding out if there were good, natural ways for us to legitimately link to each other was a great idea.

So we’re doing it.

Here’s what I’m thinking. We’ll start with some basic explanation of linking. Then, move on to open discussion about link building so everyone gets a chance to express opinions and debate stuff.

Then we’ll move on to a “structured link swap meet”. I’m thinking of using cards to make this work. Here’s my idea…

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1. INDEX CARDS – Hand one out to everyone attending. Ask them all to write on one side the names of sites they would like others to link to. On the other side, they should list how they could link to others.

2. PLAYING CARDS – Give everyone one. Then, ask all spades to meet in one part of the room, hearts another, diamond another, etc. Within each group, each person will have the opportunity to explain what they wrote on their card to the others.

After 10 or 15 minutes, ask everyone to switch. Each Ace would meet in one area, Jacks, Queens, and Kings each in another. That way everyone gets to meet a completely different group of people.

After 15 more minutes, just break. People can then talk to whoever they want.

3. BUSINESS CARDS – If anyone finds someone else that might be a good match for link building, they should swap business cards and work out the details after the meeting.

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What do you think? Will that work? Please comment below.

Corey

PS: I’m really running late on getting the word out about this event. So please spread the word via Twitter, Facebook, etc. I would really appreciate it. It’s a free event, so let anyone know.

POSTSCRIPT: Sorry guys, but I had to go through and delete some of the back and forth comments we had going on below. It was a bit excessive. I’m trying to keep some of the good ideas, though. Please continue to post any ideas you may have in the comments below.

http://leadgenseo.com Jon

I love this idea and have been thinking of implementing something similar for years but never put the idea into action. Excited to see how it works out.

I think this needs to be really scalable though. I’ll be there potentially representing 25 websites of different topics, so if I give you my business card you might not recall which sites I have, etc. Others are in the same boat. For those who only have 1 website than their business card makes it clear what site / topic they are there for.

Also, I’d be hesitant to share specifics of my sites initially with a larger group. I think that should be more one-on-one. I don’t know why, I’m just paranoid. I also imagine there are a number of people in the crowd who have competing sites, etc.

How about doing #1 above and then simply inputting that data into a sortable database that everyone who attended can access? I imagine a simple little web-app (password protected) that would have each person interested in discussing linking relationships, their contact info, and some way to track what types of sites they are working with.

Like this:

John Smith
email@website.com
- Consumer Electronics (Blog)
- Consumer Electronics (E-Commerce Store)
- Legal: Personal Injury (Company Website)
- Medical: Dentist (Company Website)
- Medical: Rehabilitation (Company Website)

The idea here is that this event / application simply helps people make contact with other people who have good websites and are willing to link. Its no guarantee of getting a link, etc., just a contact.

If this is in a database than I can sort by all people who have medical sites and I’ll find John Smith and 3 other people. I can then contact them to discuss.

Thoughts?
http://www.HippoIM.com Corey Creed

Nice idea, but I’m hesitant to put anything together in a database or online. I would rather this not be about making a database, but about real people meeting real people and deciding as humans if they would like to link to each other’s websites.

There are plenty of other online options for listing “all I got” and finding others that are willing to reciprocate in one way or another.

But that’s just my personal opinion. I would definitely like to hear more thoughts on the matter.
http://Nonecurrent Ganti

Hi Corey,

Your post is full of good ideas. Using the playing cards this way is an excellent idea, which I am hearing for the first time.

I want to know about the Birth, Life Span and Death of a links that are built manually and/or mechanically – bought (paid) links built by robots??!!
What are different methods of link building available if you don’t want to use the paid links or link building by offshore outsourced staff?
Thank you
Ganti
http://www.HippoIM.com Corey Creed

Thank you. The playing cards idea is something classroom facilitators have been doing for years. It’s just a way to get groups organized quickly.

As for links obtained mechanically or sold, the general rule is “buyer beware”. It’s one thing to do it for sites that you are “spamming and jamming” with. But I would not do anything the least bit shady for legitimate sites. Maybe the others there tomorrow night will give you another opinion. But that’s mine. Keep it legit.
http://www.clicksniper.com David Kyle

All great ideas, and relevant points. I think the one-on-one idea is best. I was thinking of doing a setup like the old “speed dating” fads did. Half the group remains in a stationary seat, the other half moves one seat over every 2-3 minutes. This lets everyone meet and discuss in a one-on-one type situation, and see if they are a good “match”. It also allows time to introduce themselves and explain a little bit about their site, and why it’s worth linking to.

The trick with that is time.
http://leadgenseo.com Jon

@Robert – who is competing on that keyword? If you want competition there we may have to start fighting you for that keyword

I like David’s “speed-dating” idea. But again this is going to work for people who have 1 site, not work for people with 20. Personally, I’d rather meet someone with 20 b/c we can do more business per time spent.

Perhaps my solution will be this – I’ll just bring with me a list of the industries / topics I’m looking for links in, and hand this out instead of my business card. It will be my “link interest card”.

My whole objective for the night is this – find people with (good) websites in several different industries who I can call later (next week) to discuss potential partnerships with.
http://www.HippoIM.com Corey Creed

I like the “link card” idea. Very smart. Go for it.
http://www.clicksniper.com David Kyle

Right Corey!

The main point of this is to meet people in the Charlotte area that are webmasters, and learn about their sites and what they do. If you get to know someone, like what they do and what their site is about… then it’s reasonable to assume you’ll want to link to them because of that. It’s natural for quality businesses in Charlotte to link to other local, quality businesses.

This shouldn’t be viewed as a quid pro quo, what will you do for me type of thing. I imagine that is against Google’s webmaster guidelines.
http://www.clicksniper.com David Kyle

@Jon

I never read that you said that. I was commenting on what Corey said to Robert.

Jon gave me a great idea about how to break the groups up. Do it by number of sites you represent. That would be the most efficient use of time.
http://www.TheJungleMap.com Corey Creed

Nice idea, David. Then again, quantity vs quality… Which is more important? I don’t even know how many sites I have. Probably over 50.
SEO Assistant

I like the Index card, It’s an exhilarating idea for me. I really appreciate your work. Thanks for this. Now I know how to link in other links with understandable links.