Now, I knew that Free For All (FFA) sites are frowned upon…. so why would link building packages like this be any different.  So I haven’t personally used the services myself.

However, on reading this months Net Effect I see that they have some cautions to consider when using these services.  What they do say is the following:

1. Backlinks are a MUST to improve the rankings of your site in the Search Engine Results
2. You don’t need hundreds, or even thousands, of backlinks to your site though
3. You need highly targetted, high quality, well placed links back to your site.

Sure, you can pay for backlinks to your site — just be careful about where those links are from and how they link to your site.

Many link building services will offer to submit your site to directories.  The team from Stompernet advise the following on using directories:

Aside from the major directories like DMOZ, Yahoo! and Best of the Web, very few get any real traffic today.  In my [Jerry West, Stompernet Faculty Member] testing, I have seen a HUGE drop off in the quality of directories that are currently available.  Many directories are being sold to marketing firms and the current listings are either being dropped or the links are worthless.  Google has also removed the “submit your site to directories” in their Webmaster guidelines, so Google is “cooling off” in giving value to directory submissions.

So, if you’ve found a service that offers only directory submissions as their submission service – it possibly isn’t worth the effort – do your homework.  You can manually submit your site to DMOZ, Yahoo! and Best of the Web without much effort.

In following posts, I’ll discuss these services a little more.  For now, I wanted to share some great strategies that I’ve found work really well for my sites… and are relatively easy for anyone to implement….

1. Use the blogging facilities on high ranking social networks
Use the correct anchor text to link back to your site.  The anchor text — the text that shows as the link — should have your keywords in it.

Link to pages on your site, not just your home page.

Sites that seem work really well are Ecademy and, if you have a BlogTalkRadio show, the Blog Talk Radio blog.

2. Article Marketing
Using articles, with the Author resource box correctly set out, is incredibly effective.  The best directories to post on are:

• EZine Articles
• Qassia
• Associated Content (and you can earn some money here)

You should take one article and post variations of this article to these directories.  That way you avoid any duplicate content penalties.

If you want a wider distribution, I use the Free submission service for Article Marketer as well.

3. Blogging
My favorite! Create a blog and generate high quality content.  Use your blog to link your sales pages or website.

Better yet!  Make your website on the blogging platform.

To really juice up your blogs indexing, if you’re using WordPress, install Ultimate Plugins Smart Update Pinger and notify these directories at least when you add a new post:

http://topicexchange.com/RPC2

http://rpc.blogrolling.com/pinger/

http://www.blogdigger.com/RPC2

http://www.bitacoles.net/ping.php

http://rpc.wpkeys.com

http://rpc.technorati.com/rpc/ping

http://rpc.britblog.com

http://pingoat.com/goat/RPC2

http://bulkfeeds.net/rpc

http://api.moreover.com/ping

http://www.blogpeople.net/servlet/weblogUpdates

http://ping.fakapster.com/rpc

http://www.blogoon.net/ping/

http://bblog.com/ping.php

http://rpc.tailrank.com/feedburner/RPC2

http://ping.bitacoras.com

http://ping.feedburner.com

http://ping.weblogalot.com/rpc.php

http://pinger.blogflux.com/rpc

http://blogsearch.google.com/ping/RPC2

http://api.feedster.com/ping.php

Of course, one of the great strategies is to take your blog posts and write a short article about it and submit it to the article directories, directing readers back to your blog post for the whole story.

If you’re not sure how to install your blog and don’t want to pay someone (like me) to do it for you, check out WordPress Unleashed….

4. Create Squidoo Lenses and Hubpages
Another favorite of mine…. I’m not as active on Hubpages, but I really like Squidoo.

Create a Squidoo lens about your topic and link back to your website, pages or blog.  Squidoo ranks well in the Search Engine results and I found that my site was often found for my lens before it was found for itself.

Hubpages are the same — they use a different interface and system.

These are just 4 things that I use to help the rankings on my sites and they are very effective.  In my next post, I’ll talk about other methods I use including Social Bookmarking.

Please let me know what works for you by leaving a comment – you’ll also get the benefit of the backlink from my site.

Effective Social Networking is really about managing my time appropriately.

When I look to ‘play’ on a Social Network, I consider the following three questions and if I can answer them in the affirmative, then I believe the network is rights for me. The questions are:

1. Is this place the right place for me and my business?
2. Am I meeting people who I would be comfortable doing business with and recommending to others?
3. Is this the best use of my time?

Remember though, to be able to answer these questions appropriately, I need to invest some of my precious time in these environments to see what they are about.

I thought I would recommend 5 networks that, when used effectively, seem to be giving me most benefit, maybe they will suit you too.  If you click on the links below, you will see my profile or invitation to join the networks and, if you do decide to join, you will automatically connected to me.

1. ECademy – even the free membership provides lots of benefits.  A social network aimed at Business people.  Add to that, I’m also seeing my results in the Search Engines, so it is worthwhile!

2. Ryze – specifically the Women Business Owners network.  That was the main reason I joined Ryze. I only use the Free service and have great benefits.

3. Naymz – Excellent profiling site and when you get enough reputation points (which are easy enough to get), Naymz will provide a ‘top link’ on Google for your name.  Great opportunity.  Again, the free service is excellent.

4. FastPitch Online – The free service is o.k on FastPitch, but I upgraded to their premium service and have access to the Press Release Service.  Since releasing my first Press Release last week, I have had several Google alerts for it.  It works.

5. LinkedIn – LinkedIn is definitely a business network.  I don’t use it overly much, but I do see Google alerts for my profile and the answers I provide to Questions.  Easy to use and setup, the free service is worth considering.

If you think they will work for you – then come and join me there.

Leave your profile links to your favorite networks in the comments below and I’ll visit and connect with you too…..

Join me, Charly Leetham on July 7, 2008, as I talk with Joan Adams and Betty DeLorme about their EBook “Banish The Blahs and Be Happy”.

Banish The Blahs and Be Happy is a great concept! A compilation of 28 quick ideas that anyone can use to help as a pick me up, a way of refocusing for a positive mental attitude or just plain “beating the blues”.

Banish The Blahs is an Ebook created by Joan Adams and sister, Betty Delorme, and a fantastic group of guest writers. The advice and (extremely) simple exercises provided in the book is amazing and I find that everytime I read it, I get a smile on my face.

Join this live Teleseminar and listen as I speak with Joan and Betty about their new book.

When? July 7 at 8pm EDT

Register for this teleseminar and receive all the call in details and a fantastic special bonus, just for registering.

This call will be live and you will have the opportunity to question these two amazing ladies about their EBook and their experiences….. this is a not to be missed opportunity!

Do it now so you won’t forget!

http://youcanbehappyinlife.com/banishtheblahs/

I am slowly expanding my connections and have finally organised most of my connections here. If you are on any of these networks, please feel free to add me to your community list and add your community names on a comment to this post.

I am most active on Facebook, Twitter, Linked-In and Revver.

Facebook: Charlyjl
LinkedIn: CharlyLeetham
MyBlogLog: Arvoreen Treasures
Twitter: Charlyjl
Revver: charlyjl
Mixx: charlyjl
Bebo: CharlyL2
Delicious: charlyjl
Digg: charlyjl
Sphinn: CharlyLeetham
StumbleUpon: Charlyjl
YouTube: Arvoreentreasures

With Twitter, you connect to a wider International community by sending, and reading, 140  character text messages.  The question that your Twitter interface generally asks is “What are you doing now?”  Take that question and respond with imagination.

Two of my favourite Tweeters would have to be Mari Smith and Coach Deb – they manage to provide almost blow by blow descriptions of their day without being intrusive.  They also provide heaps of great information that you can use too.

Of course, I also connect with other wonderful people like Kim Beasley, Carol Dickson-Carr, Carol Deckert, Julie Wolf, Sally Witt and a whole host of others…..

I love Twitter because I work from home and often alone, so receiving little messages from all over the world during my day at least makes me feel “connected”.

I have seen Twitter used to write a book,  (Coach Deb and Warren Whitlock are writing the Twitter handbook) and I’ve even attended a Twitter party and had Twiteritas and Twips!

Seriously though, I also get a fair amount of traffic to my websites from Twitter, by carefully broadcasting various links to blog posts of interest via Tweets.

Let’s look at some terminology:

Tweet – A 140 character text message sent via Twitter

Twitterer or Tweeter – The person who sends the Tweet

Direct Message – A message sent from one Tweeter to another, that is only seen by those parties. You send a direct message by using a ‘d’ infront of your message.  e.g to Direct message me enter, d charlyjl I love Twitter too!

Replies – A way to speak directly to a particular Tweeter but include the Twitter community in the conversation.  You “reply” to someone by prefixing their username with the @ e.g @charlyjl isn’t Twitter great?

Hash Tags – a way to track a conversation about a particular topic.  Prefix the topic to track by a # sign, e.g #Twitter Handbook, #Australia, #Twitter.

The question that you should ask yourself and respond on this post is, What type of Tweets do you prefer to get?  What are the Tweets you read or respond to?

An interesting point of view, that REAL business people don’t use social marketing. Really? In the offline world, I wonder what would you call Conventions, Seminars, business mixers and the like? Certainly, there is an aspect of social marketing there, isn’t there?

So I guess, if I was a real business person, I would turn up to a conference for the talks only, definitely not speak to anyone, allow anyone to get to know me or get to know anyone else. I guess I’m not a real business person then. I certainly enjoy going to events as much for the social aspect as for the informational parts.

O.K, give Mr Mariotti his due, he does state:

True relationships may originate in email or other similar venues, but must become personal and not electronic to be of meaningful value.

He almost “gets” it here. Sure, as Mark Hendricks from Internet Success System always says, people have to “Know You, Like You, Trust You” before a successful business relationship can be entered into. However, Mr Mariotti is inferring that an “electronic relationship” can not become personal, that perhaps the two are mutually exclusive.

Isn’t that the benefit of Social Media? That you can take an electronic relationship and add an interpersonal aspect to it? Certainly, I have “met” many interesting people using social media sites and I would consider many of them business colleagues and some of them “friends”. By interacting appropriately through these mediums, I have be able to “Get To Know, Get To Like and Get To Trust” people I wouldn’t normally have considered dealing with through email and, conversely, I have been able to allow many people to “Know Me, Like Me, Trust Me” and we are doing business.

I have to agree that some of the Social Media sites are just plain tedious and not designed to allow Business People to connect and interact at a business level. However, I can draw parallels here to the many associations and clubs that exist for business people in the offline world. Some of these organisations are aimed purely at being social and having fun, whilst others deftly weave the threads of socialisation and business together; and the last group are there just to allow business to occur. This is the same with Social Media sites and it’s a matter of finding out what fits you best…..

Mr Marriotti further cites that

there are many other, more focused ways of networking and marketing instead of placing your identity, your information, photos, etc. in the public — very public — domain.

as another detriment to using Social Media.

Going back to the “Know You, Like You, Trust You” model, isn’t the ability to put your identity, information and photo into a very public domain, an excellent method to achieve this? I certainly wouldn’t share all my deeply personal information on these sites, but my business persona is definitely promoted. Mari Smith, from Facebook For Professionals, is an excellent advocate and example of how this can be achieved.

My next favourite quote from this post is:

When I want to expand my network, I want to choose who will be involved and know that their involvement is willing and enthusiastic — not the result of an email and a few clicks of the mouse.

Now here, I think Mr Marriotti doesn’t get it….. Social Media doesn’t rely solely on email to “get people involved”. If fact, by allowing people to view your public profile, see what your business is about and being an active member of the “social” community, you are more likely to guarantee willing and enthusiastic participants in your projects. Better yet,you can also see who is participating in your business and you can moderate your network to ensure the quality and type of people that you get.

I was left wondering about this statement:

Social networking is in the evolutionary stage, and as such, all of the sites that exist now will change, evolve become either more useful and secure or go away. The lessons are there in recent history: Compuserve, early versions of AOL, Prodigy and all the other now defunct or otherwise transitory Internet, email or proprietary Web systems

Oh come on! There will also be something bigger and better just around the corner…. what is Mr Mariotti trying to prove with this statement? If he was to wait for the next bigger and better computer, I guess we wouldn’t be reading his post now. What about the next bigger and better TV or DVD type machine? Of course technology will evolve and it is our responsibility to evolve with it. It is the use of these technologies that allow them to evolve to meet consumer demand.

However, this would have to be my favourite statement (I feel it gives a wonderful insight into Mr Marriottis point of view):

Face-to-face, person-to-person contact is always best, especially at the start, and there are so many ways and places to find that preferred “human network.”

This can be supplemented later by email contact and Web-based communications……

So, let’s examine this a little closer. If you are talking about traditional 80′s or 90′s style of business, where you only deal with organisations or people that you can physically influence (by, physically influence, I mean meet with and get to know on a person to person level) then Mr Marriottis view is quite valid.

However, the world has moved on and we are no longer a series of smaller local communities that do business together. There is a large global community that we can, if we choose, do business in. The ability to meet in person each and everyone you do business with, at the outset, is not always there and Social Media allows a quasi person to person interaction to occur.

I am a living example of this. In the last 6 months, through Social Media sites, I have met hundreds of new people. A smaller handful of those are people that I now interact with on a regular basis using “Social Technologies” and, we are developing some exciting business opportunities as a result. The Social Medium allows these relationships to develop and flourish.

What’s even better for me, is that when I decide to travel to the countries my colleagues are in, I will get to meet them and have people to visit whilst there.

I consider myself to be a real Business Person. I am embracing social media as another way to get my products and services to market and to grow a truly International business.

If I were to take Mr Marriottis view, I would be doing the hard yards to meet people personally and spending a lot of my time “on the road” and there are only so many hours in the day that you can take this approach. Thankfully, social media makes me more accessible and, in return, makes my customers and business colleagues more accessible.

For your business to flourish in the 21st Century and beyond, you need to be revising your customer and business partner contact strategies to leverage as much of the new technology as you can. If you don’t know how, or even where to start, seek assistance! There are businesses who specialise in helping business people leverage the social media beast to their benefit.

So, ask yourself, do you risk your business becoming extinct in the 21st Century by not embracing the current Social Media movement (and after that, the next technological advance)?

Suffice to say, that once Chris had stopped shouting his own diggs, his Search Engine Rankings started to improve. Interesting? I think so.

But what does that mean for my readers? Simply, you shouldn’t Digg or Shout your own posts. If you want your post to rate on Digg, you need to have someone independantly Digg it, and then get your friends to digg it as well.

This just comes back to my point in my original post, Should You Digg and Shout Your Own Articles?, you need to be a good social citizen. If you find a post you like in your journey through the ‘Net, do the right thing and promote it! Install the Share This toolbar, the StumbleUpon Toolbar and bookmark or vote on the sites, as you go. It really isn’t that hard.

Then go visit your favourite sites and see what your friends, and others, are bookmarking themselves and vote on them. You never know what you’ll find of interest out there.

If each of us did this as we surfed and read, the issue of “Digging and Shouting” our own posts would disappear.

Thank you Chris for spending the time to work it out for us.

For those new to the scene, Digg.com is a site where you can share sites that are of interest to you with a wider community and they share theirs with you. It is important to make friends on Digg so that you can ask them to look at your “bookmarks” and vote on them.

The more Diggs you get, the higher the site ranks on Digg itself and then, by relation, on Google. This is because Digg is classed as an “authority” site by Google – it has lots of new content. By Bookmarking your sites of interest on Digg, you are giving yourself a one way link from that authority site to your site.

The concept is sound and does work. However, you are advised to bookmark sites other than your own as well as the idea of Digg is to share lots of information, not just use it as a method to promote your own sites…… Be a useful member of the community….

I am also available for consultation and 1:1 assistance for setting up and organising your online presence. This assistance can be in the form of interactive tutorials (I video the session and you get a copy of that video) or to perform the work For more information, please use the form below.

Two other sites that I have had great success with are:
Mixx.com
StumbleUpon.com

About Diane Corriette
Diane Corriette is a mother of 3 living in London England who has been self employed for the last 11 years. Two and a half years ago a back injury meant she could not work, which meant no income. Her insurance company refused to pay out and Diane was left wondering how to create an income for herself. A CD on making money online was the thing that started her career and she has spent the last two and a half years developing her business with the help of mentors. Now she runs the women internet marketers alliance, a trio of businesses established to support women who market their business online. Her aim is to raise the online visibility of women using an online magazine and provide women marketers with a space to learn, share, connect and network.

Websites referenced in the interview
In our interview, Diane shares her vision for her business, the Womens Internetwork Alliance which comprises:

An online directory (or magazine) where Women, and of course Men, can advertise their businesses. This is a directory with a twist, as it provides the ability for Video and Audio to be added to the Directory Listing. http://womeninternetmarketers.tv/

A Social Network where women who are developing a business online can network, chat and share experiences. The dynamic on this network is amazing, and people are readily encouraged to join. http://womeninternetmarketers.net

A membership site to help develop your online business. Diane mentioned that the membership component is currently undergoing review and will be revamped in the near future.

In addition to these three fantastic sites, Diane is also promoting a month of events for women to show case their talents. Known as “Women Internet Marketers – Got Talent”, women from all over the world have registered to conduct free events to show case their abilities. To support these women, Diane is conducting the promotional activities to help these women generate attendees. A wonderful endeavour.

These events are being advertised at Seminarblog.info. There are several events each day, and they are well worth looking at. Please take time to review the events and perhaps sign up to attend a few. I personally, have four events listed.

If you are interested in conducting your own event, please visit the Women Internet Marketers – Got Talent site for information on how to sign up.

Finally, Diane has produced a wonderful EBook and Audio product that shares her experiences in Internet Marketing, the mistakes she’s made and provides advise on how you can avoid these errors yourself. I own the product and can’t recommend it highly enough. Read more about “What I Would Do Differently In My (Internet Marketing) Life If I Could Do It All Again”.

I trust you will enjoy listening to this interview, as much as did conducting it. Thank you Diane for a great interview.

Over the last couple of months, Diane has impressed me with her approach to Internet Marketing and how she supports other marketers.

Diane released an EBook last week, in response to a number of requests for help that she had received. This EBook is not only in electronic printed format, Diane has taken the time to record it to an audio as well. There is no excuse for not “reading” it.

In this publication, Diane shares a no nonsense view of her experiences (no fluff, no hype), just good down to earth discussion on what she did and why she wouldn’t do it again.

I think this is a publication that everyone should purchase, read it or listen to it again and again and again.

You can grab a copy of this EBook by CLICKING HERE

I will be interviewing Diane on April 16, at 9.30am GMT/UTC (time conversion) – if you would like to participate in that call, please use the form below to register and you will receive full details (plus reminders!)