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Link Building - Social Networking Sites

By Brad Carroll

Real Estate Agent with Dakno Marketing

May 25, 2007 05:41 PM

I had a few people read my last post and ask me about Social Networking Sites. So hopefully this post can help answer some of those questions.

What Are Social Networking Sites

The Short Answer: Link Builders!

Social Networking Sites are communities where like minded people share ideas, thought and links (Active Rain is a perfect example.) They are great places to build links (and SEO) for your website. But please, offer real content and not spam. If not, you will just waste your time and the time of your visitors. Offer tips, create unique Top 10 list, answer questions, etc. All these things help to build credibility in the Social Community. The more creditable you are in Social Network Sites, the more creditable your backlinks to your main site will be.

Don't Take The Easy Way Out

After All, Readers Want Real Content

Don't just think you can copy an article off your website (or worse, off someone else's site) and paste it on a Social Network Site. It's important to offer real value.

Why Social Networking Sites are Better than Secondary Sites

One Word: Credibility!

You may be thinking, "if I have all this great content, why not build another site for myself". Here are a few reasons...

Google already knows and trust Social Networking Sites
Social Networking Sites give you immediate access to thousands of people
They are usually easier to maintain or add content

Linking Strategy

Never Link To The Site

Think of your Main Website (your flagship site) as the Hub. Every other marketing extension should point back to your main site. It's important that you don't link back from your main website to the Social Network site, otherwise it just becomes a reciprocal link. And we all know how much Google hates those!

A Real World Example

And a Shameless Plug For My Company :-)

There are really two examples. One example is exactly what you are reading right now. I am using Active Rain to build buzz and link back to my real estate web design company. The other example is a Squidoo Page that I created that contains Statistics About Online Real Estate Buyers. You will notice that this Squidoo page gives real value to the visitor and then has a "call to action" at the bottom of the page.

A List Of Social Networking Sites

Resources to Jump Start Your Backlinks

I recently wrote an article for ePOWER News that talks about SEO. Toward the bottom of the article, I list a few ways to jump start your linking strategy. In the next few weeks my company will also be releaseing a PDF ebook that contains over 100 free places to drive more traffic to your site. The ebook also gives tips and advice on how to maximize each resource (including a rank of their effectiveness).

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Connie Ragen Green

Small Business UnMarketing - Santa Barbara, CA

Online Marketing Strategist

I have a couple of Squidoo pages, but they don't seem to show up in the search engines. Am I doing something wrong? I looked at yours and can't see what you are doing differently.

May 27, 2007 06:31 PM

Missy Caulk

Missy Caulk TEAM - Ann Arbor, MI

Savvy Realtor - Ann Arbor Real Estate

ARe you saying not to link from my main site back to activerain. ? I don't understand that, since I want people to go to my AR blog to read about Ann Arbor realestate.

May 28, 2007 01:16 PM

Brad Carroll

Dakno Marketing - Knightdale, NC

Real Estate Web Designer

Connie: Building Squidoo pages is only the first step. You then have to promote it (that is, if the Squidoo page is worthy of being promoted). Put a tease to in on your blog. Ask one of your friends on Active Rain to link to it.

Missy: I know AR wouldn't like this but yes. That is exactly what I am saying. Active Rain should be used to drive people (and search engines) to your main site. If you link back to Active Rain then you just create a reciprocal link (which reduces the value of the link coming into your website. I always suggest having a blog on your own domain (the same domain your website is on). This way, your main domain is built up as the Hub or the main Authority site. This is the key, you want Google to focus it's eyes on your domain and not Active Rain. Make sure all your best content is not on Active Rain. It needs to be on your website.

May 28, 2007 02:22 PM

Brad, most of us have Big links and logos linking back to activerain on our sites. If Caleb and Matt are following this can you jump in and comment ?

What is your comments on double posting? So far I see a lot of it, so it this OK at this time ? I have clients all day today from out of town. But, I will follow up with a call to you tomorrow. Also I looked at some of your sites. I don't see a blog on them.

I am looking for a new custom site AND a blog site. Can you do that ?

May 28, 2007 09:41 PM

Gita Bantwal

RE/MAX Centre Realtors - Warwick, PA

REALTOR,ABR,CRS,SRES,GRI - Bucks County & Philadel

I am not sure what a squidoo page is.I will look for it. I did not think of posting my AR posts on my web site. Is there a way to do it without typing everything again.?

May 28, 2007 10:54 PM

Axel Weiss

Bradenton Realtor and Sarasota Homes for Sale - Bradenton, FL

Sea to Sky Realty

As always, great post. Thank you!

May 30, 2007 07:15 AM

Joe Dallorso

Ocala, FL

Ocala Real Estate

Hi Brad

An interesting post. I'm looking forward to your comments on double posting. Perhaps even the subject of another blog.

May 31, 2007 06:29 AM

Gita: Squidoo is a website where you can create "lenses". Lenses are just website pages about a particular topic. I would suggest signing up for Squidoo and begining to build these lenses. I would not suggest double posting. While Google will not penalize you for dup content (at least not in this way) they just will not give you any credit for the content. I would suggest you have some content on Active Rain that has an overview of the article (more than just a single sentance tease, and then link over to your blog. Mix things up, Every now and then you can put the entire resource in AR again with a link to your website (just don't also post the info on your website)

Again, In my post, I said, Don't think you can copy and paste, it's important that you have original content.

In an effeort of full disclosure. I just deleted a comment on this post. It had some good information but it ended with an ad for his company (and this company is my competition). I don't want to be anti-community but I think it's a bad practice to use someone elses post to advertise themselves. If you want to get eyeballs, go write an original post. Just my opinion.

May 31, 2007 08:14 AM

Kerry Jenkins

Prime Properties - Crestline, CA

You really have great posts! I think I need to read you every morning after the Bible so that I can make sure I am being smart with my internet marketing, and not wasting my time. I am ashamed to say that I haven't checked my statistics for a couple of months. I changed my site and don't know if my counter still is on there. A friend of mine in internet marketing was going to set up some google tracking for me, and never has, so now I have to figure it out myself.

Keep up the great posts!

Jul 08, 2007 10:52 AM