How To Use Free Sitebuilders to Give Yourself Quality Inbound Links
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Link Experiment
All Squidoo lens masters and all webmasters look around intensively for links in order to improve the PR of our lenses. Squidoo lensmasters and webmasters spend time blogging, we trade links, we write articles, we join communities. But maybe there is ONE simple idea we are overlooking?
This Squidoo lens will document this simple idea. It is an experiment in creating links in a very simple way. But the question is, will it work?
Time will tell.
(photo by jungleboy, creative commons license)
The Idea
Started on 9 January 2009
Here is the idea in brief:
- Create 5 Accounts With Free Website makers
- Use directories and bookmarking sites to give a few free links to the free sites
- Link the 5 free sites to each other
- In addition to linking to each other, each site gives a one-way inbound link to my Squidoo Blog and a few of my chosen Squidoo sites.
- Wait a few months and see if the sites get PR.
Link Idea In A Drawing
This Drawing Is Simplified, See Notes Below
* Each arrow Indicates a link
* Some links are one way indicated by one way arrows
* Some links are reciprocal indicated by two way arrows
* ALL sites have reciprocal links between them (if I had drawn all links it would have made a very messy drawing)
* All sites give oneway incoming links to my blog and a few chosen Squidoo lenses.(exception: there are reciprocal links between this squidoo lens and my blog)
* To simplify the drawing, I have not shown the free incoming links ( Mr Wong, My Link Vault, etc) to my 5 free websites
Search Engine Optimization For Dummies
This book and the books below have nothing to do with this project. I am listing them here because I think if you are interested in this subject, you might be interested in them too.
This is what PC Advisor said about "Search Engine Optimization For Dummies":
Cuts through the nonsense, providing a clear, simple and concise explanation of how websites reach top positions in search engines ..."
Search Engine Optimization For Dummies (For Dummies (Computer/Tech))
Amazon Price: $18.89 (as of 11/29/2009)
Avg. Customer Rating: 
The purpose of this lens
The purpose of this lens is two fold. It will:
* Act as one of the 5 free sites and give links to the other sites.
* Document this experiment. Read the next steps to see EVERYTHING you need to do this yourself
101 Ways to Boost Your Web Traffic: Internet Marketing Made Easier
101 Ways to Boost Your Web Traffic: Internet Marketing Made Easier, 3rd Edition
Amazon Price: (as of 11/29/2009)
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First Steps:Create Free Websites
* Create 5 Free Websites. Why 5? Seems like a good number. But you could choose more or less.
* Add Relevant Content (content related to your website or blog. You can write an article or just some description of your project).
* Create links between the free websites.
* Create links from the free websites to your Squidoo lenses/blog, etc.
Which Free Websites? In ADDITION to this Squidoo lens, the other four free sites that I have used are::
- Google Sites
- Google Sites is Google's Free Web Builder. It is one of the nicest.
- Webs
- Used to be Freewebs. Disadvantage i that it puts ads on your site. But the domain name is much nicer than the others.
- Geocities
- Geocities has an old-fashioned editor. Very complicated to use. But hey, it is free.
- Wetpaint
- Wetpaint is a wiki type Free Webpage Builder. You can use it to create webpages and then let people edit it. Pretty cool website builder. One of the best I have seen. It deserves more time to explore it.
Do You Know Any Quality Free Site Builders?
I am looking for suggestions on how to improve this project. If I were to do this again, what other site builders or platforms should I use that are better? Remember, the site should:
* Provide links to the other sites, my blog and my Squidoo lenses
* Have no moderation (no administrator will shut down my site)
* Be free (I am cheap! I refuse to pay for links. Why should I when, with a bit of creativity I can get them for free?
* Have no maintenance requirements (I don't want to have to put alot ot time into this)
* Be easy to use. No learning curve to get started.
Please make suggestions below:
Increase Your Web Traffic In a Weekend
Increase Your Web Traffic In a Weekend, Revised Edition
Amazon Price: (as of 11/29/2009)
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Next Steps: Incoming Links
Give your sites free incoming links. This will help your sites to be found by Google and to get high PR.
These are the sites (bookmarks, directories etc) which give a few incoming, one-way links to the free sites and to my blogs. I have chosen them because they:
* Are not moderated
* Accept most any type of link (including subdomains, many directories don't)
* Give direct (do follow) links
* Are free (remember, I dont want to pay for this stuff)
- Mister Wong
- Mr Wong is a book marking site with a high PR. They accept everything. However, if you click the link and do NOT see EuroSquid's profile it means that a moderator set the linkis on Private. They do that sometimes if they think that the links are spammy. I don't think it should be a prolbem for these links, but it has happened to me before.
Interestingly, Mr Wong gives several links. Some are no follow and some are not. In the past, I have seen that Google has liked Mr Wong links. Google does not show ALL of the links to a website, but it would frequently show the Mr Wong links. Whether or not that is still the case, remains to be seen. - STart Links
- This is a dutch page that accepts all link submissions. Problem is that you have to struggle through the Dutch language. It is really not as impossible as it seems. If you can understand a little bit of German you can certainly manage.
The other problem is that it gives you an error message saying that you did not have a valid link. Nevertheless, if you look on the homepage, you will find your link there. - Spicy Page
- This is the Eurosquid profile page on Spicy Page. Spicy Page Gives Do Follow Links. It is very simple to get any site listed there.
Careful though. Spicy pages is a bit particularl about the URL. For example, it took most of my websites, but not the Geocities one, probably because the URL was so long. It also would NOT accept the URL of this page, probably becuase of the hyphen in the link address. It has accepted other Squidoo pages though, so be sure to avoid hyphens and such.
Due to this the Geocities page and this Squidoo page did not receive an inbound link from Spicy Pages. - Flenk
- Flenk is an Argentinian website. The problem? Everything is in Spanish. But if you use Bablefish, the online translation service you will have no problem regisering and submitting sites.
If you look at the coding, you will see both NoFollow and DoFollow links.
The reason I like it is that Google seems to like it. My flenk links usually appear in my google link search results. - My Link Vault
- This is a bookmarking site that gives do follow links AND does not require you to download another annoying toolbar onto your browser. Some bookmarking sites, like Spurl seem not to work if you do not download their softwear. Who wants to do that? This is a pretty cool looking bookmarking site. Another one to try is Yattle. I have not tried it yet, maybe one day.
Do You Know Of Other Sites To Provide Free Incoming Links?
I have provided 5 sites (Mr Wong, Spicy Pages, My Link Vault, etc) which I have used to give links to my sites. Do you know of others? They should:
* Accept most any type of link (including subdomains, many directories don't accept
* Not be moderated
* Give direct (do follow) links
* Accept most websites that submit to them
* Be Free
What Do You Think Is More Important, PR or Relevance?
Let's say you have a site about cars. Would you rather have a link from:
* A PR 1 site which is all about cars
* A PR 7 site which is general (such as CNN, Yahoo, etc) but where the word 'cars' is mentioned a 2-3 times on the page.
If you have a site about cars, which of the two links would you prefer?
Fetching blurbs now... please stand byI would rather have a link from a PR 1 site which is all about cars
I would rather have a link from a PR 7 site which is general (such as CNN, Yahoo, etc) but where the word 'cars' is mentioned a 2-3 times on the page.
This is the blog I am linking to
Fetching RSS feed... please stand byInternet Riches: The Simple Money-making Secrets of Online Millionaires
Internet Riches: The Simple Money-making Secrets of Online Millionaires
Amazon Price: $14.96 (as of 11/29/2009)
Avg. Customer Rating:
These are the chosen lenses
These are some of my most important lenses, so I have ginven them links from all of the free sites.
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Slippers With Multiple Personalities
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If you like slippers you are in the right place. This experience will change your concept of what slippers are meant to be. Here we feature slippers, from the strangest to the coolest. But all with a function OTHER than just something to wear on your...
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Ugg Boots & Uggs On Sale
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Uggs shoes are loved both for comfort and for style. Sheepskin boots have been popular in Australia and New Zealand for nearly a century. The real fleece inside Uggs shoes allow air to circulate and keep the feet at body temperature, warm in the win...
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★ Footed Pajamas for ADULTS!!! ★
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Most people think of footed pajamas as only for kids. If you are one of those people, this page will change your point of view. Today, footed pajamas are worn by "children of all ages". Why not? They are probably the warmest pajamas around....
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Spanx Shapewear: Say Goodbye to Lumps and Bumps!
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Have you heard of Spanx? If not, listen up! Spanx is one of the fastest growing brands of shapewear in the world. In fact, it is safe to say that Spanx reignited the interest in shapewear, which had nearly died off until a few years ago. Started les...
Books About Website Traffic
What Do I Hope To Gain From This Experiement?
From this experiment, I would like to see:
* The majority of the free sites obtaining Google PR 2 or above
* Some inbound traffic from the free sites to my lenses and blog.
Had I created it a bit smarter, I would have Key Word Optimized it. By this I mean I would have:
* Chosen certain key words for each site (Squidoo Blog, Squidoo Marketing, Squidoo Lenses, How To Squidoo).
* Made sure my sites used those terms frequently
* Made sure that the links to those pages used those keywords in the anchor text.
Had I done that, those pages would have had a good chance of ranking high in the search engines for those keywords, which would have increased the traffice to those pages and potentially to my sites..
Since I did not do that, the search traffic to those sites may be low. But nevertheless the PR from those sites should hopefully be significant.
I have, however, attempted to make the site 'relevant'. I have:
* used the word "Squidoo" in all of the sites frequently
* used the word "Squidoo" in most of my anchor text links
* Used the word "Squidoo" in the descriptions of the sites (metatags)
* Since the outbound links are to my Squidoo lenses and to my Squidoo Blog, I am hoping that the links are "relevant"
What do you think?
Will I achieve my goals?
Results
I will be reporting on the results of the link experiment in this module
- 17 January 2009: All 5 Free Websites are indexed in google in just one week.
- March 30: The Valley of the Giants Blog achieved Google PR3
- May 14: This Squidoo Lens achieved Google PR2.
Suggestions For Improvement?
If I were to do this project again, what should I do to improve it?
Please VOTE on the ideas below.
The Complete Idiot's Guide to Creating a Web Page & Blog
The Complete Idiot's Guide to Creating a Web Page & Blog, 6th Edition
Amazon Price: $16.47 (as of 11/29/2009)
Avg. Customer Rating:
What Do You Predict Will Happen
If ten free simple websites are all linked to each other and given a few links what will happen? Will they gather any significant PR? Will they give my blog or sites any traffic? Or will it all be a waste of time?
My prediction:
EuroSquid, at 1pm on January 9, 2009 predicts:
I think it is going to work, otherwise I would not be doing it.
Reader predictions:
Fetching predictions now... please stand by
slfocus, at 6pm on January 12, 2009 predicts:
Pretty cool experiment. This will boost the link popularity. But on the other hand relevancy matters too. I think this should work just fine.
makemoneywithamzill, at 11am on January 12, 2009 predicts:
I think it is an interesting concept but agree that I think for it to work efficiently, that each site would have to be related in some way if the whole 'circle' effect is to be pulled off.
But mainly I find that my website and blog gain traffic slower than my lenses and some of that traffic has actually come from squidoo, so I see squidoo more useful for providing links to build traffic to your pages than the other way around.
But I'm new to all this so I could be wrong - good luck
chefkeem, at 11pm on January 10, 2009 predicts:
We will see. I think more useful content would increase the chances for a higher PR.
mlmphr, at 9am on January 10, 2009 predicts:
I think you're on the right track but just like Mulberry said I also think it is important that you make sure the sites are related in topic in order for the links to have credibility and help you gain PR. The search engines and such want to know that the links that you link in to are related in order for them to help with PR....Good Luck!
mulberry, at 7pm on January 9, 2009 predicts:
I think I understand what you're doing. Certainly, linking among many of your own sites, blogs etc. is useful. For it to "work" I would think they would have to be related topics so that the links have some weight. So...it might work, but it depends. I think it's a good idea as long as your topics are related among the 10 free websites, your Squidoo pages, Blog, etc.
Fetching predictions now... please stand byLet us hear from you!
Do you know any other quality website builders? Have you tried something similar?
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Reply
- Jewelsofawe Jewelsofawe Jan 12, 2009 @ 8:08 pm
- Something to think about. Thanks!
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- vbright105 vbright105 Jan 11, 2009 @ 8:28 am
- Well, it is an interesting concept, it initially looked like OWM in reverse to me, but hey, I've been up all night and may be suffering from sleep deprivation. :)
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- dcristo dcristo Jan 11, 2009 @ 4:16 am
- Interesting seo experiment. Instead of using the free sites you listed I would be more inclined to use blogs such as blogspot and wordpress.
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Reply
- chefkeem chefkeem Jan 10, 2009 @ 11:55 pm
- Interesting experiment, ESQ! 5*s
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Reply
- susannaduffy susannaduffy Jan 10, 2009 @ 6:27 pm
- Perhaps instead of using those free services which (apart from google sites) are dicey, full of pop ups, pop unders, full of 1997layouts and pretty abysmal as a whole, you wrote some blogs? Surely a better idea is to write your own quality sites. If you can't afford the investment of $50 annually on domain names, use blogger.
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