Launch of BusinessBuilders Group - exciting times

We're really excited to announce a new partnership with the Business Builders Group (BBG) to help you grow your business via a powerful referral marketing community.

The BBG process is specifically designed to overcome the key challenges that small business owners face when attracting referrals ... through their community, unique BBG Structure, Professional Mentoring and best-of- breed online tools.

We are hosting a breakfast briefing, where you will find out how BBG can help you achieve your growth objectives. And - we're looking for proactive small business owners to become Founding Members.

Join us for breakfast - register at www.bbgevents.net

To find out more go to www.bbg.business

Referron Sponsoring SME's to attend a 2 day seminar with the Industry Rockstars!

Last month we launched an exciting new smartphone app called Referron, an app that enables you to refer to and get referred by someone you know , like and trust within 3 taps of your phone, with the ability to track and reward your referrals!
 
It's been a whirlwind since then, with Referron taking the market by storm - mostly because it's the missing link for any business that gets sales through word-of-mouth referrals (and that means just about EVERY business) by making it really easy for your customers to refer your service to every contact in their phone... yes, you read that right, every contact in your customer's phone.
 
Imagine what a difference that kind of referral power could make to your bottom line!
 
Now I've got some more great news for you... and it includes a Free Gift to you valued at $147.
 
Naturally, I want to help people using Referron to be as successful as possible, and the best way to raise awareness of the app is to have users talking about how much business they've been able to bring in by using it.
 
That's why we've decided to sponsor some unique business workshops around the country over the next few weeks.
 
Kane Minkus is a serial entrepreneur who has launched 5 multi-million dollar businesses, all in different industries. 
 
He made each one successful through networking, personal branding and building a high profile within the industry.
 
Kane is in Australia to teach you these same strategies... because, with the right personal brand and profile, new clients and business opportunities will seek you out rather than you always needing to chase them.
 
Tickets to these 2 day workshops were discounted to $47 each, however, thanks to our sponsorship of the event, you can now book in at no charge.
 
Click here to learn more and book your complimentary seat
 
In addition to learning the most cutting-edge strategies for personal branding, these workshops are an ideal environment for networking to find new business.
 
 
You'll be in a room with a couple of hundred like minded businesspeople, who all understand the value of referrals to generate sales.
 
Spend some time networking, and I guarantee you'll make some valuable contacts to find new business.
 
This is the perfect place to use Referron for generating new sales; make sure it’s installed on your phone before you attend.Click here to connect with me,  Upload your profile and download the app.
 

So grab a seat now, as my guest, the first event is less than a week away! 

Top 5 Viral Posts and Why They Were the Most Successful

This is such a cool article that I read, that I had to share it! what are your best ways to get posts viral?
best Ivan

by Chris Hughes

Chris has stumbled upon a secret to building fan pages ranging from 500,000 fans and above.

Why do Some Facebook Posts Go Viral While Others Flop?

1. Major Events Posts

While you might think its not good to take advantage of tragic events that happen in life, these events do happen and as owners of Fan Pages, you are providing a platform for your audience to communicate and share their feelings. With major events that happen in life people always want to share their thoughts on Facebook. As you’ll see here during the event that happened in Boston I placed a picture on one of my fan pages that had 700,000 fans on it at the time. All I did was share “We pray for the people in Boston at this time.” and shared a picture of the people from this show praying during one of their family dinners.

Duck Dynasty is a show all about family, faith and duck hunting so praying for this audience was something that was 100% accepted because its a major part of the show. However in other major events you could do things like congratulate the winner of major sporting events, send condolences if something bad happens or simply just provide a platform for your audience to share their thoughts on the subject at hand.

We’ve got to remember that Facebook is like a personal journal for the majority of people who use it. This means that they crave the opportunity to share what they are thinking at the time. Sometimes this leads to other major discussions happening on your page. As a part of Facebook’s edge-rank, the more people that comment/like/share your posts the more likely these posts will stay at the top of your fans newsfeed. This means there’s more exposure for you.


2. Click LIKE/SHARE for X on Your Facebook Fanpage

Want to know a secret about getting more people to Like or Share your content?
Have you thought about just telling your fans EXACTLY what you want them to do?
This post got over 97,000 likes… did you notice what I left as the description?

Even though I spelled it wrong, it still generated that many likes. I asked a question which led to a few hundred comments and said “aClick LIKE for Sadie and Phil!!”

It’s like “Its a ME Mario!” in the Super Mario games, but a little improved.

Instead of trying to hide the fact that you want people to interact with your fan page, just be honest with them. Tell them that you want them to comment on your picture, to share it with their friends and to click that “Like” button to prove that they do actually like the content. It works wonders when you tell people exactly what you’d like them to do.

3. Ask questions to make Facebook Posts Go Viral

Questions are engaging. They get people to actually do something when they’re otherwise just aimlessly browsing pictures on Facebook. I can admit that I’ve lost myself many times just browsing random pictures on facebook and realize I’d spent at least an hour without doing any real work, not commenting on anything and only clicking “Like” once or twice that whole time. I know for a fact that I would have taken more action if pages would be a little more engaging with me.

This is a post about one of the characters on the show and I had a picture of White House 2016 in the picture with the question “What do y’all think? Good idea/bad idea?”

It’s an open ended question and I let people know that its okay if they think its a bad idea. People just want to be heard and I’m providing a platform for them to be heard. Over 3,600 people commented on this along with almost 11,000 shares and 59,000 likes.

What do you think that would do for your page if you had interaction like that? Would it help your page grow more?

This strategy works great when you have pages that have an emotional attachment to something. When people are emotionally invested in an idea or concept, they love to talk about it. Providing them with this platform to talk about it grows a community of active people who will eventually buy from you.



4. Using Quotes Posts on Facebook Fan pages

Check out this quote. It’s pretty generic, right?

But can you disagree with it? I posted this 3 hours ago (from the time I’m writing this post) and it’s already been shared over 5,700 times with 14,000+ likes.
Finding quotes that are related to your specific topic helps to increase the amount of interaction you will get, but having these fairly generic quotes from time will resonate with a percentage of your audience.

….and you never know, someone on your fan page may need to hear something to help them have a better day so you are doing a good thing for your audience. From time to time I’ll share some posts that are all about positivity and love because I enjoy spreading that type of message with my fans.

5. Like Vs Share When Posting on Facebook

These posts can be extremely fun.

You might be curious…what do I mean by Like vs Share?

Well look at this.. here’s two examples of times I’ve done this.

Creating images like this is super easy to do and guess what happens when you have these “little competitions”?

You’ll get a TON of comments, Likes and Shares. By doing tests like this you can find out who or what your fans like more and this shows you exactly what people want. You can then take this feedback and share more pictures related to whichever performed best.

You can also use a strategy I share in the FB Fanpage Method for creating ads that lead to new likes on your Fan Page for less than a penny using this research.

By providing the option for people to choose, you are going to have some people commenting and replying on other peoples posts which will improve the interaction on your page and get a more active following.

Come and Network - Theme "Inspiring Leaders!"

Join us for our 10X Sydney Rooftop Networking Night - Inspiring Leaders
Wednesday, 26 September 2012 from 5:30 PM to 8:00 PM (EST) Commercial Associates Accountants and Advisors Rooftop via Level 11 117 Clarence St Sydney, New South Wales 2000 Australia View Map Will you attend? Yes NoMaybe
The theme of our September 10X Rooftop Networking Night is Inspiring Leaders. Throughout the night you will learn from experienced business leaders that have empowered the people around them to achieve remarkable success.

Meet the dynamic Kerry Chikarovski -  learn how she has made "the transition from politician to business owner"; her advice on how to work with government to get the best results for your business. Meet Brendon Hook -  the specialist in 'State and Federal funding initiatives for learning and development in the workplace' Our resident networking expert Wayne Donnelly will also ensure that you don't just walk away from the night with a pocket full of business cards. Instead, you will have people asking "Tell me more!" and further opportunities to connect for coffee after the event will soon follow...... Read More Share this event on Facebook and Twitter We hope you can make it!

5 bad habits that prevent you to listen effectively and the 6 things you can do to improve your listening skills!

A great article By

Mary Goodman and Rich Russakoff - I can really benefit from this!!

Listening is a skill that will make you more successful.... It seems as if some people are just naturally good listeners... the truth is, it is not a gift, its an acquired skill!! (Thank the lord - as I need to do a lot more of it!!!!)

Its interesting that "Listen" and "silent" has the same letters!!

The better you listen, the more others appreciate you and, in turn, the more they listen to you. By listening better, you learn more and misinterpret others less. 

5 Bad habits that get in the way of effective listening. 

1. Multi-tasking - Do you ever look at your phone or check emails during a conversation? If you think you can multi-task while listening, then you don't know what you're missing. It's also painfully obvious to the other person when we are distracted.
2. Me, Me, Me - If your major concern is how others perceive you, or what you'll say next, then you can't focus on what is being said.  Listen with a view to understand - not with a view to respond!! 
3. Brain Speed - If your thoughts outpace the speaking style of the person you are talking with, do you let your mind wander? Do you  interrupt the other person because we believe we know what the person is trying to say but taking too long to say it.
4. What did you Say? - Hearing loss can adversely affect every conversation, from missing out on a pleasant exchange to serious safety issues. If you suspect you have a hearing problem, get tested. If you know you have a hearing problem, get hearing aids. If you own hearing aids, wear them.
5. Line Butting - You're bored with the subject so you interrupt and introduce a new topic. Or worse, you start talking about yourself.

Which ones are you guilty of? 

6 things that you can do that will dramatically improve your listening skills.

1. Paying attention - give the other person your undivided attention. In the words of Gandhi, "Wherever you are - Be there."
2. Listen with your voice -  Practice "Active Listening". Say "no kidding", "um hmm", "go on", or by paraphrasing, which, by definition, is the act of restating or rewording what others say.  Say, "So what your saying is..." Or simply repeat the last thought the other person said. There is no better skill for effective listening then paraphrasing. If you've heard correctly, the other person will generally respond with an enthusiastic yes or nod. If you've heard it wrong, they'll know they need to clarify. Paraphrasing gives them the opportunity to restate what they said so accurate and meaningful communications take place.
3. Listen with your body - Lean forward, put your hands on your chin, or listen with open arms. When your body conveys a listening posture, others become more comfortable and open. If appropriate, take notes. In a business meeting, it shows your interest and helps you stay focused. Nodding is also a key component of your listening posture. And smiling. Smiles are contagious and make others feel comfortable, and the more comfortable we are, the better we communicate. Establish and maintain eye contact. Not only is this reassuring to the other person, but it enables you to read their body language which can convey more than their words. As Yogi Berra said, "You can observe a lot by just watching."
4. Button up!! - Don't interrupt. You hate it. So do others. It's rude. Unless you're seeing a fire erupt behind the person speaking, let them finish. Encourage them to fill out their thoughts by saying, "tell me more." When we interrupt, the other person loses their focus and we lose the opportunity to fully understand what they're trying to convey. Make a conscious effort to see how often you interrupt others over the course of a day. Hopefully, it won't be a rude awakening.
5. Ask questions - In the words of Stephen Covey, "Seek first to understand, then be understood. This involves a very deep paradigm shift. We typically seek first to be understood. Most people do not listen with the intent to understand; they listen with the intent to reply. They are either speaking or preparing to speak."
6. Talk less - A good philosophy is that conversations should not just be about you, but about we. As the Greek sage, Epictetus, observed: "Most of us were born with two ears and one mouth." That's a pretty good ratio between listening and talking.

really - listen up and listen better!!

The 10X The Inner Circle Club and Mastermind Group

“None of us is as smart as all of us” - A Japanese Proverb 

Join a safe, confidential and trusting “10X Inner Circle” of up to 10 Peer CEO’s, Executives or Business.

Owners from non-competing companies and organizations – free of any conflicts of interests and hidden agendas, with the objective of helping each other grow!

Your “10X Inner Circle” , is a powerful forum of up to 10 members, meeting once a  month,  where you discuss opportunities, challenges and issues relating to you business. It provides feedback and guidance on an intellectual and emotional level (food for the business soul) , tapping into the core source of true leadership .

As a member of the “10X Inner Circle Club” you are also invited to a 10X Network Breakfast, where you meet  the various Inner Circles Clubs members, to network and connect.

The Inner Circle is facilitated by an accredited “10X  Coach/Chairman”  who facilitate the group, and discusses a “leadership Insight”, enablinig you to “lift your leadership lid” and “grow as  a leader”.

The Goal – to have 10,000 members in 10 Countries within 5 years!

The difference between a Consultant , Coach and Mentor

I recently read a newsletter from Viki Forrest , Anzatech Technology Network, where she explains the difference between a Consultant, Coach and Mentor

Consultants push

Consultants bring specialty expertise that a company needs but doesn't have (enough of) within their own team. They are typically used to execute a well-defined project and deliver the results to the company. When a consultant leaves, the value they have delivered stays with the company but the expertise leaves.

Coaches pull

Coaches bring out the best in us at an individual level. They are typically used when we want to improve our ability in a specific skill or capability such as public speaking, leadership or fitness. When a coach leaves, the individual's level of expertise is changed - hopefully for the better.

Mentoring is a two-way street.

Mentors are role models, individuals who have done what we aspire to do. They've made the mistakes we are about to make, they have lived through the failures we are about to experience and they have succeeded in areas that we value and are striving to succeed in. We seek out mentors when we are looking for major breakthroughs, quantum changes in business and in life. The value exchange between a mentor and mentee is two-way, both are enriched by the experience - a mentor doesn't leave. Typically, a mentor and mentee maintain their professional connection long after the official working relationship ends. 

10 Ways To Increase Your Leadership Lid

1. Give Credit & Take Blame:  Give credit where credit is due and take responsibility. Don't be afraid to ssay “My Bad” or “It’s My Fault!”

2.Embrace Your Team : There is no “I” in team and teamwork makes the dream work.

3. Take Risks.  Your risks can be calculated or not,  playing it safe does not cut the mustard!!

4. Challenge things that you think nneed change:  Don't be afraid to challenge. This can be the process of leading-up or leading-down.

5.Stay Calm:  When you are wrong - you have no right to be angry.... when you are right you have no need to be angry!!Remember the 3C’s in all situations – Cool, Calm & Collected. 

6. Empower Your Team:   Don’t be a micro-manager.

7. Get To Know Your Team Members On A Personal Level:  Know what’s going on in the lives of your team members outside of work.  Know their interests, their children’s interests… To know is to care.

8. Take Time To Develop Your Team Members Leadership Skills : Leadership development isn’t a system but rather an on-going act of moving people from where they are to where they need to be. If you want your overall leadership capacity to increase, you must increase the capacity of those around you.  Leadership development isn’t optional, it’s a necessity.

9. Surround Yourself With The Best:  Be willing to hire people that may be smarter, sharper, and  better leaders than you are. Empower those people to strengthen your team and compliment your leadership.

10. LISTEN: - same letters as SILENT!!

 What are some other ways to increase your leadership skills?

Lead Generation via email marketing is a Vital Part of Growing your Business

I have found that direct mail and emarketing campaigns are a fantastic way for us to generate leads for our business.

Email Marketing is trackable, inexpensive, and easily measurable. 

Emarketing enables you to have  a predictable number of leads coming into your pipeline on a regular basis at an affordable cost.

Below are the seven strategies that are necessary to ensure a successful direct marketing campaign.

Step 1: Build Your Database (Subscribers) , add value to them and educate them on what your value proposition is. .

The better you know your subscribers and the better they know you,  the more effective your direct mail campaign will be.

A generic database will generate an open rate of between 10% - 20%, and an open rate of between 2 % is good.

If you can segment your database, and market relevant items that are of interest to the relevant segment, the above open rates and click through rates will escalate dramatically.

The more you are able to segment your database, the better!

 The majority of the time, it is much more effective to send out several hundred pieces to your specific niche market such as recent retirees, truck drivers, coaches, accountants, doctors, rather than blanket neighborhoods at random.  

You can get lists of your prospective customers from list brokers who sell contact information for different groups of people.  To get a good idea if your email campaign is working or not you should be sending out a minimum of 3000 emails at a time.

Step 2: You must have a follow up sequence in place for your mailings.

The majority of people who send information about a subject or an event, send out one email  and then stop.

 

To maximise the chance for your success,  you must have sequential mailings, I recommend a minimum of three mailings for each campaign. 

To increase the effectiveness of each email, reference the previous email you have sent instead of sending the same email. 

 Ideally,  you must use multiple steps and multiple media.  As long as each mailing sequence you do is profitable you should continue emailing until the last step is no longer profitable.

Step 3: Build a collection of “R&D files.”

If you see or receive any marketing materials including mail that is eye catching or is just great marketing, keep it for ideas on your next mailer that you send out.  

If you are having a hard time coming up with what to mail look through your “R&D file” and adapt your marketing based on your favorite ideas and pieces that you have collected over time.

Step 4: Track your leads and how much they cost.

By tracking your leads and costs per lead you can improve on your response rate and increase your effectiveness. 

What you can measure you can manage!

Some of the easiest ways to do this include using different names on letters, different telephone numbers, or asking the customer how you heard about your business. 

Send different emails to different parts of your database to track your marketing to see what is working the best.  

Send out two or more different mailings to prospective customers with different messages and designs to see which ones achieve a better response rate. 

We call this “split testing”

You should be split testing regularly so that you can sharpen your ax and have the most effective marketing.  For those just starting out you can keep track of the prospects that respond in an Excel spreadsheet but it would be wise to switch to a CRM tool  as soon as possible.

Step 5: Headlines are everything in direct mail marketing.

People are swamped with advertisements from TV, radio, online, and direct mail so you must make your headline stand out and be relevant to your target customer. 

 Most people are not paying attention to every advertisement so you really have to shake them to their core with something that is relevant and attention grabbing.  

Part of the reason why tabloid magazines are succesful is because of the exciting and gripping headlines the writers use.  

When you are choosing your headline, write down as many as you can think of.  Some copywriters write as many as 100 before choosing the one that best fits for the message they are trying to convey.

 The headline is the most important part of any sales pitch because if you can’t grab attention with the headline then there is no way your prospect will care to read the rest of your message.

Step 6: To truly be successful with direct mail and leverage your time effectively you must create an automated system for your direct mail campaigns.

With an automated system you know how many emails you send out, how many responses you are getting, and how many leads it takes to convert into a customer.  Based on that information you can tweak your marketing by sending out more or less mail depending on your response rate. 

Step 7: To dramatically increase your response rates with direct mail, follow up the people who click through to the various opportunities with a telephone call

There is nothing like personalised service! The objective is to develope a relationship with your customer!

Happy Marketing!

5 Reasons why Cloud Computing offers better Security

We have just done a deal with our IT Provider to provide total Cloud solution and total support for a fixed $ amount per person.... No additional costs, no IT hassles.... what a pleasure ...

if you want to know more - email me

from http://www.inc.com/daniel-saks/small-businesses-safer-in-cloud.html 

The cloud can offer far better security than you can provide on your own. Here are five reasons why: 

1. Cloud security is stronger. 

The current cloud ecosystem is built on a global network of world-class data centers operated by big names like Amazon, Rackspace, and Google. These providers host applications for the companies that develop them, and security is the backbone of their state-of-the-art infrastructures. 

From security guards and video surveillance, to access controls and perimeter fencing, big data centers have exceedingly strong physical security. At some small business like yours, data breaches can happen because people simply walk off with a server or laptop that stores sensitive information onsite. You can bet your biometric security devices that thefts like these are rare at modern data centers.

2. Cloud security is smarter. 

Almost every type of hacking threat--from viruses to phishing scams and beyond--is on the rise. In just one month last year, Kaspersky Lab detected more than 640 million hacking events on devices running its products. Numbers like those could make any business long for the good old days of telegraphs and typewriters. 

Anti-virus software and firewalls provide basic protection, but data centers that host cloud-based software utilize cutting-edge encryption and security tools. These include advanced intrusion and zero-day threat detection, which means security teams can fend off hackers before they attack. Yes, they really are that good.  

3. The cloud makes security compliance easier. 

Besides “taxes,” few words inspire more dread than “compliance.” And for good reason: Depending on your industry type and standards, security compliance is expensive, time consuming, and involves a mountain of paperwork. 

Take an e-commerce business. Companies that handle credit card information must follow PCI data security standards, a set of 12 requirements--and 220 sub requirements--developed by credit card companies. Given that, it's no surprise that the vast majority of small online merchants work with a third-party, cloud-based payment processor, like PayPal. These large providers have the resources to ensure PCI compliance, and make life much, much easier for their customers. 

4. The cloud makes security more cost effective.  

If you decide to take a do-it-yourself approach to security, you not only have to buy the right equipment and software to secure your on-premise deployments, you also have to worry about maintaining it and keeping it up to date as threats evolve--or hire staff to do this for you. None of this is cheap. 

When you use cloud-based software, on the other hand, all you need to purchase is a subscription to your software of choice. Security is covered by the cost of your subscription, which means you, and your wallet, can breathe a sigh of relief. 

5. The cloud lets you focus on your business, not security. 

I know a small, successful law firm that has an on-premise document storage server in one of its office closets. The backup server is located in the same closet; actually, it's stacked on top of the primary server. 

From that, you can probably tell that the firm has no IT staff and the partners don't know much about data security. Their documents would be safer if they used a cloud-based solution hosted in a data center, where one fire or electrical surge couldn't knock out both document servers in an instant. This would also stop the partners from spending time setting up or managing hardware or software. And that's the real beauty of the cloud: You can focus on your business without having to worry about technology that may fall far outside of your area of expertise. 

6 things to include in an Investor Presentation

OK, you have listened to Wayne from 10X Sydney and you have had an investor saying "tell me more" - and you want him to invest in your business.... these are the 6 things you need to articulate in a simple, clear presentation.... A powerpoint slide show works well.

1. The problem and your solution.  What pain are you going to solve? Have you got the "pain killer". This is your hooks, and needs to be covered in the first paragraph. You have articulated this in your 30 Second Pitch.... State your value proposition, and what specifically you are offering to whom. Skip the acronyms, history of the company, and the disruptive technology behind your solution.
2. Market size and growth opportunity. Is your Opportunity SCALABLE? Investors are looking for a large and growing market. Spend a few sentences providing the basic market segmentation, size, growth and dynamics – how many people or companies, how many dollars, how fast the growth, and what is driving the segment. Skip the comment that you are conservatively estimating your penetration at 1%.
3. Your competitive advantage. What is your X FACTOR ... how do you make it 10X? Identify your sustainable competitive advantage, like unique benefits, cost savings, or industry ties. Don’t kill your credibility by saying you have no competition. At minimum, you compete with the way things get done currently. Most likely, the investor has already seen multiple plans with similar solutions.
4. Business model. Who is your customer, what is the price, and how much does it cost you to build one? Do you now have real customers, are just starting development. Outline your sales and marketing strategy (direct marketing, sales channel, viral marketing, and lead generation (what is mobiffiliate?). Identify key quantities, such as customers, licenses, units, and margin.
5. Your team. Remember that investors back people, more than ideas. Why is your team uniquely qualified to win, and what have they done before? Have you got the attributes of a good leader? Explain why the background of each team member fits, by naming roles and names of relevant companies. Include outside advisors if they have relevant experience.
6. Financial projections and funding. You need to show your summary revenue and expense projections for three to five years. Investors need to know the amount of funding you are asking for now, and what they get. The request should generally be the minimum amount of cash you need to reach the next major milestone in your plan.The plan needs to be realistic, and you ned to know these numbers like the back of your hand.

Your first page and first paragraph (maybe a picture of your brand) is key. Less is more here, so include the grabber, show your passion and commitment.

Have a feedback form asking them to fill it in.... you are after a follow up meeting, where they are interested in doing due diligence..... That’s your metric to see if you have their attention. It is unlikely that you will have an investor invest after this session.

101 ways to build your links

By Aaron Wall and Andy Hagans.

Link building is still the trump card for seo
BUILD LISTS
1. Build a "101 list". These get Dugg all the time, and often become "authority documents". People can't resist linking to these (hint, hint).
2. Create 10 easy tips to help you [insert topic here] articles. Again, these are exceptionally easy to link to. 3. Create extensive resource lists for a specific topic
4. Create a list of the top 10 myths for a specific category.
5. Create a list of gurus/experts. If you impress the people listed well enough, or find a way to make your project look somewhat official, the gurus may end up linking to your site or saying thanks. (Sometimes flattery is the easiest way to strike up a good relationship with an "authority".)

HIRE HELP
outsourcing all or part of your link building campaigns can prove to be a quite profitable business strategy.
6. Hire a publicist. Good old PR can still work
7. Hire a consultant. - you can outsource link building.  Developing Authority  Easy to Link At

8. Make your content easy to understand so many people can understand and spread your message. (It's an accessibility thing.)
9. Put some effort in to minimize grammatical or spelling errors, especially if you need authoritative people like librarians to link to your site.
10. Have an easily accessible privacy policy and about section so your site seems more trustworthy. Including a picture of yourself may also help build your authority. PPC as a Link Building Tool
11. Buy relevant traffic with a pay per click campaign. Relevant traffic will get your site more visitors and brand exposure. When people come to your site, regardless of the channel in which they found it, there is a possibility that they will link to you. News & Syndication

X FERTILISE
12. Syndicate an article at EzineArticles, GoArticles, iSnare, etc. The great thing about good article sites is that their article pages actually rank highly and send highly qualified traffic.
13. Submit an article to industry news site. Have an SEO site? Write an article and submit to WebProNews. Have a site about BLANK? Submit to BLANKinformationalsite.com.
14. Syndicate a press release. Take the time to make itGOOD (compelling, newsworthy). Email it to some handpicked journalists and bloggers. Personalize the email message. For good measure, submit it to PRWeb, PRLeap, etc.
15. Track who picks up your articles or press releases. Offer them exclusive news or content.
16. Trade articles with other webmasters.
17. Email a few friends when you have important relevant news asking them for their feedback and/or if they would mind referencing it if they find your information useful.
18. Write about, and link to, companies with "in the news" pages. They link back to stories and blog posts which cover their developments. This is obviously easiest if you have a news section or blog. Do a Google search for [your industry + "in the news"].
19. Perform surveys and studies that make people feel important. If you can make other people feel important they will help do your marketing for you for free. Salary.com did a study on how underpaid mothers were, and they got many high quality links. Directories, Meme Trackers & Social Bookmarking
20. submit your site to DMOZ and other directories that allow free submissions.
21. Submit your site to paid directories. Another oldie. Just remember that quality matters.
22. Create your own topical directory about your field of interest. Obviously link to your own site, deeplinking to important content where possible. Of course, if you make it into a truly useful resource, it will attract links on its own.
23. Tag related sites on sites like Del.icio.us. If people find the sites you tag to be interesting, emotionally engaging, or timely they may follow the trail back to your site.
24. If you create something that is of great quality make sure you ask a few friends to tag it for you. If your site gets on the front page of Digg or on the Del.icio.us popular list, hundreds more bloggers will see your site, and potentially link to it.
25. Look at meme trackers to see what ideas are spreading. If you write about popular spreading ideas with plenty of original content (and link to some of the original resources), your site may get listed as a source on the meme tracker site.

 Business Links
26. Join the Better Business Bureau.
27. Get a link from your local chamber of commerce.
28. Submit your link to relevant city and state governmental resources. (Easier in some countries than in others.)
29. List your site at the local library's Web site.
30. See if your manufacturers or retailers or other business partners might be willing to link to your site.
31. Develop business relationships with non-competing businesses in the same field. Leverage these relationships online and off, by recommending each other via links and distributing each other's business cards.
32. Launch an affiliate program. Most of the links you pick up will not have SEO value, but the added exposure will almost always lead to additional "normal" links. Easy Free Links
33. Depending on your category and offer, you will findCraigslist to be a cheap or free classified service.
34. It is pretty easy to ask or answer questions on Yahoo! Answers and provide links to relevant resources. 35. It is pretty easy to ask or answer questions on Google Groups and provide links to relevant resources. 36. If you run a fairly reputable company, create a page about it in the Wikipedia or in topic specific wikis. If it is hard to list your site directly, try to add links to other pages that link to your site.
37. It takes about 15 minutes to set up a topical Squidoopage, which you can use to look like an industry expert. Link to expert documents and popular useful tools in your fields, and also create a link back to your site.
38. Submit a story to Digg that links to an article on your site. You can also submit other content and have some of its link authority flow back to your profile page.
39. If you publish an RSS feed and your content is useful and regularly updated, some people will syndicate your RSS content (and some of those will provide links; unfortunately, some will not).
40. Most forums allow members to leave signature links or personal profile links. If you make quality contributions some people will follow these links and potentially read your site, link at your site, and/or buy your products. Have a Big Heart for Reviews
41. Most brands are not well established online, so if your site has much authority, your review related content often ranks well.
42. Review relevant products on Amazon.com. We have seen this draw in direct customer enquiries and secondary links.
43. Create product lists on Amazon.com that review top products and also mention your background
(LINK!).
44. Review related sites on Alexa to draw in related traffic streams. 4
5. Review products and services on shopping search engines like ePinions to help build your authority.
46. If you buy a product or service you really like and are good at leaving testimonials, many of those turn into links. Two testimonial writing tips — make them believable, and be specific where possible.

Blogs and the Blogosphere
47. Start a blog. Not just for the sake of having one. Post regularly and post great content. Good execution is what gets the links.
48. Link to other blogs from your blog. Outbound links are one of the cheapest forms of marketing available. Many bloggers also track who is linking to them or where their traffic comes from, so linking to them is an easy way to get noticed by some of them.
49. Comment on other blogs. Most of these comments will not provide much direct search engine value, but if your comments are useful, insightful, and relevant they can drive direct traffic. They also help make the other bloggers become aware of you, and they may start reading your blog and/or linking to it.
50. Technorati tag pages rank well in Yahoo! and MSN, and to a lesser extent in Google. Even if your blog is fairly new you can have your posts featured on the Technorati tag pages by tagging your posts with relevant tags.
51. If you create a blog make sure you list it in a few of thebest blog directories. Design as a Linking Element
52. Web 2.0-ify your site. People love to link to anything with AJAX. Even in the narrowest of niches, there is some kind of useful functionality you can build with AJAX.
53. Validate and 508 your site. This (indirect) method makes your site more trustworthy and linkable, especially from governmental sites or design-oriented communities. There are even a few authoritative directories of standards-compliant sites.
54. Order a beautiful CSS redesign. A nice design can get links from sites like CSS Vault. Link Trading
55. Swap some links. What?! Did we really just recommend reciprocal link building? Yes, on a small scale, and withrelevant partners that will send you traffic. Stay away from the link trading hubs and networks.
56. In case you didn't get the memo — when swapping links, try to get links from within the content of relevant content pages. Do not try to get links from pages that list hundreds of off topic link partners. Only seek link exchanges that you would consider pursuing even if search engines did not exist. Instead of thinking just about your topic when exchanging links, think about demographic audience sets. Buying Sites, Renting Links

Advertisements
57. Rent some high quality links from a broker. Text Link Ads is the most reputable firm in this niche.
58. Rent some high quality links directly from Web sites. Sometimes the most powerful rented links come direct from sites not actively renting links.
59. Become a sponsor. All sorts of charities, contests, and conferences link to their sponsors. This can be a great way to gain visibility, links, and a warm feeling in your heart.
60. Sell items on eBay and offer to donate the profits to a charity. Many charities will link both to the eBay auction and to your site.
61. Many search algorithms seem biased toward older established sites. It may be faster to buy an old site with a strong link profile, and link it to your own site, than to try to start building authority links from scratch. Use the Courts (Proceed with Caution)
62. Sue Google.
63. Get sued by a company people hate. When Aaron was sued by Traffic Power, he got hundreds or thousands of links, including links from sites like Wired and The Wall Street Journal. Freebies & Giveaways
64. Hold a contest. Contests make great link bait. A few-hundred-dollar prize can result in thousands of dollars worth of editorial quality links. Enough said.
65. Build a tool collection. Original and useful tools (and collections of tools) get a lot of link love. What do you think ranking for mortgage calculator is worth?
66. Create and release open source site design templates for content management systems like Wordpress. Don't forget the "Designed by example.com" bit in the footer!
67. Offer free samples in exchange for feedback. 68. Release a Firefox extension. Make sure you have a download and/or support page on your site which people can link to.

Conferences &Social Interaction
69. It is easy to take pictures of important events and tell narratives about why they are important. Pictures of (drunk?) "celebrities" in your industry make great link bait.
70. Leverage new real world relationships into linking relationships. If you go to SEO related conferences, people like Tim Mayer, Matt Cutts, and Danny Sullivan are readily accessible. Similarly, in other industries, people who would normally seem inaccessible are exceptionally accessible at trade conferences. It is much easier to seem "real" in person. Once you create social relationships in person, it is easy to extend that onto the web.
71. Engaging, useful, and interesting interviews are an easy way to create original content. And they spread like wildfire.

30 Bad Ways to Build Links
Here are a few link buiding methods that may destroy your brand or get your site banned/penalized/filtered from major search engines, or both. Directories
72. Submit your site to 200 cheesy paid directories (averaging $15 a pop) that send zero traffic and sell offtopic run-of-site links. Forum Spam
73. List 100 Web sites in your signature file.
74. Exclusively post only when you can add links to your sites in the post area.
75. Post nothing but "me too" posts to build your post count. Use in combination with a link-rich signature file.
76. Ask questions about who provides the best [WIDGET], where [WIDGET] is an item that you sell.
From the same IP address create another forum account and answer your own question raving about how great your own site is.
77. As a new member to various forums, ask the same question at 20 different forums on the same day.
78. Post on forum threads that are years outdated exclusively to link to your semi-related website.
79. Sign up for profiles on forums you never intend on commenting on. Blog Spam
80. Instead of signing blog comments with your real name, sign them with spammy keywords.
81. Start marketing your own site hard on your first blog comment. Add no value to the comment section. Mention nothing other than you recently posted on the same subject at _____ and everyone should read it. Carpet bomb dozens of blogs with this message.
82. Say nothing unique or relevant to the post at hand. Make them assume an automated bot hit their comments.
83. Better yet, use automated bots to hit their comments. List at least 30 links in each post. Try to see if you can hit any servers hard enough to make them crash.
84. Send pings to everyone talking about a subject. In your aggregation post, state nothing of interest. Only state that other people are talking about the topic.
85. Don't even link to any of the sites you are pinging. Send them pings from posts that do not even reference them. Garbage Link Exchanges
86. Send out link exchange requests mentioning PageRank.
87. Send link exchange emails which look like an automated bot sent them (little or no customization, no personal names, etc.).
88. Send link exchange requests to Matt Cutts, Tim Mayer, Tim Converse, Google, and Yahoo!.
89. Get links from nearly-hidden sections of websites listing hundreds or thousands of off topic sites. Spam People in Person
90. Go to webmaster conferences and rave about how rich you are, and how your affiliates make millions doing nothing.
91. Instead of asking people what their name is, ask what their URL is. As soon as you get their URL ask if they have linked to your site yet and if not, why not. Be Persistant
92. Send a webmaster an alert to every post you make on your website.
93. Send a webmaster an email every single day asking for them to link to your website.
94. Send references to your site to the same webmaster from dozens of different email accounts (you sly dog).
95. If the above do not work to get you a free link, offer them $1 for their time. Increase your offer by a dollar each day until they give in. Getting Links by Being a Jerk
96. Emulate the RIAA. When in doubt, file a lawsuit against a 12-year-old girl. (Failing that, obtain bad press by any means necessary.)
97. Steal content published by well known names. Strip out any attribution. Aggregate many popular channels and just wait for them to start talking about you.
98. Send thousands of fake referrals at every top ranking Web site, guaranteeing larger boobs, a 14-inch penis (is that length or girth?), or millions of dollars in free, unclaimed money.
99. Wear your URL on your t-shirt. Walk or drive your car while talking on a cell phone or reading a book. When you run into other people say "excuse you, jerk".
100. Spill coffee on people or find creative ways to insult people to coax them into linking at your site.
101. Sue other webmasters for deep linking to your site  Sent from my iPhone