Your site is only as strong as it’s weakest link. Depending on your traffic development strategy, it’s possible to eclipse and exceed traffic from Google, Yahoo, MSN combined using alternative high-traffic funneling strategies such as web 2.0 based social media and links from propagating exposure through RSS Feeds and articles.
Fact: – If you write world class content, that alone is enough to build quality links for SEO to your website or blog using RSS feeds.
Why? Because people are looking for material on a daily basis to;
1) Report – Ranging from professional editors, influential bloggers and webmasters alike. Content makes the web go around, so those who can capitalize on being first to scoop the latest industry news can be the fortunate recipient of tons of backlinks and a social media traffic stampede from trusted sites with authority such as Sphinn, StumbleUpon, Digg or Blinklist just to name a few.
2) Integrate into Their Own Sites, through links or RSS – Webmasters know the value of fresh content and are constantly trolling article directories that offer RSS feeds for related content in their industry.
When you don’t have time to write, this sure-fire method (using RSS feeds to supplement content) will at least keep your pages looking fresh and can essentially sustain your relationship between your pages and search engine spiders (who love fresh content).
In order to capitalize on this you can promote your own pages by burning your feed at feedburner or offering a widget or link code to stream your content via RSS. Make it Easy for other’s to download and this can be a great positioning strategy as well. One great source is widgetbox.com that allows you to stream the latest 10 headlines from your blog.
3) Share – People are constantly searching for great content to share by email, IMS (instant Messaging Services) or blogging to friends or their own readers if topics are sympathetic to their audience. You never know how many referrals you can receive from a well written post, article or link bait, so put your best foot forward and let your blog, your admirers or your competition build links on your behalf.
Here is a WordPress Plugin by Cavemonkey that pulls 5 related posts into your feed every time someone publishes it. That’s 5 times the links with a broader range of topics to act as link-bait. Just make sure that you have a few SEO friendly links in your posts pointing back to your website, or to key pages that are related with the highest relevance so that way the link juice finds it’s way home (as a benefit of the exchange). You need backlinks, they need content so this essentially is a constant that is a given on the web.
Instead of thinking quantitatively here, if your pages reach the right person (an editor for an industry trade publication for example) who can truly leverage your content and position your posts or articles in front of a much larger audience. All it takes is one good high powered link to pull your pages up 50-60 results in the search engine result pages for a competitive term (particularly if it is from an industry authority).
So, if you are looking for ways to expand your RSS reach through submitting your blog to RSS directories or using viral marketing tactics, then you should make use of all potential means.
4) Make Blog comments – Blog comments are another way to build links via RSS. Link building through blog comments can add valuable one-way links back to your site to enhance your sites global profile. Despite the fact that most blogs use the no-follow tag, remember that only applies to Google. Yahoo, MSN, Ask and other search engines still see a link as a link and just for the record, in my opinion a sliver of link juice still gets through despite the no-follow. Not to mention a growing number of bloggers use do-follow links.
In summary, leaving a worthy comment to complement a great post, done in a timely fashion, can be another method to generate short-term traffic. Initially from those reading the post (short-term) and the long-term benefits are more apparent when the link goes out via their RSS feed.
Conclusion:
All links age, so in the event that they are do-follow links coming from sites that rank higher than your own, in a few months when they mature and get more link juice, they can be a great source of enhancing your rankings as a result of an authority link pointing at your pages. Once again, with so many ways to build links, you have to think outside the box.
Each link is just one more opportunity to funnel traffic to your site, the key to link building is website authority and link IP diversity (the more varied the IP addresses, the better).
Obviously, not all links are going to be from editorial giants in your industry, but every link helps to seed link popularity in search engines. Also, just in case you missed out latest guest post by John Lamansky, you should check out his informative post, 20 Practical SEO Tips to Super-Charge Your WordPress Blog!
Nice post Jeff … agree completely. Creating great content is the foundation upon which everything else is built. Then … the sky’s the limit.
Thanks Jeff,
It seems the be the safest way to build links and exposure. As far as search algorithms are concerned, links from an ideal on-topic site and authority to boot is the goal for developing solid organic links.
Great post!! And, so true…. Content is the key to it all…. RSS Subscribers and Incoming Links.
FYI… your blog is fast becoming one of my favorites. :)
Shana
Thanks for great article! The strategises that you have described in your article, are really crucial to building links.
Thanks Shana:
I am glad you enjoy the topics and tactics we cover. With so many ways to build links, diversification is an important factor in SEO. It’s like insurance, sure you can live without it, but why would you want to (Just in case something happens). Link diversity protects your current rankings while paving the path for new ones to emerge.
@Anowar:
Thanks for your comments, isn’t it great, you have successfully voiced your opinion and mutually built yet another link from such a simple act that will hit the RSS feeds shortly. You’ve gotta love blogs…Thanks for visiting.
Another great post. It reminds me of how much more I should/could be doing with RSS & widgets. Got any tips on 30 hours days?
@Arnie:
Thanks for your comments. I think we are all working 8 days a week in this industry. Aside from just being well positioned in RSS Directories (which we have not even done yet), I think viral social media marketing is the best way (by appealing to power users with massive traffic). One well placed link and “poof” tons of traffic, new visitors and the potential for them to browse your content regularly to look for more relevant linking opportunities.
We were surprised when http://www.SiteProNews.com picked us up out of the blue, they have published at least 10 articles right from our RSS, so you never know who is watching.
Don’t forget using widgets to distribute your RSS, also. Your feed can end up on all kinds of sites that way.
Great post on all accounts including the time consuming part. As a firm believer in good content leading to good readers I’ve also gotten fed up with trolling the web looking for good sites to link to my blogs.
If I may propose a mix of both worlds:
1. Content linking
2. Automation
So far the only widget I have found to do this effectively is Arkayne.
For the curious: http://www.arkayne.com
@Darren:
Thanks for the heads up on the Widgets for RSS. Timely mention indeed.
@Paul:
Thanks for the reference, I will definitely check it out.
Thanks for the great article on RSS link building. Good luck from http://www.rolloverusa.com
I’m new to the whole concept of using web 2.0 to build backlinks to websites. But my curiosity has been piqued! It seems very effective, and I love that it works by benefiting all participants. Commenters with links and writers with interested traffic. Good post!
Thanks for the great post and I love reading the comments. I’m new to SEO and these kind of posts are gold for me.
Glad you enjoyed the posts, appreciate the feedback. Thanks for visiting.
Thanks for this post, really helpful to those of us still tryig to understand how it all works, and how to make your site a success, thanks again,
Chris x
Thanks for this post. Very insightful.
I especially think RSS directories are very useful and I’ve been utilizing those since a few years.
The ease of submission combined with the possibility of having a link back from high-PR sites is definitely a plus for me.
I particularly found this resource capable of providing me with a ton of good venues on where to submit my website.
It’s also the first Google result in your search fro “RSS directories”.
Great post, thanks for sharing the insides of SEO and backlinks building. It’s very helpful.
My brother recommended I may like this website. He was once totally right.
This submit truly made my day. You cann’t consider just how so much time I had spent for this information! Thanks!