From Flattery To Backlinks

Let’s be honest, here. We all want others to link to us. A good link from a popular blog does several things.

1. It draws attention to our blog
2. It directly sends traffic to our blog
3. It supplies a backlink which is important for helping us rank better in search engines

Getting a backlink from a popular blog isn’t easy, however. Thousands of bloggers are clamoring every day to get noticed by the more popular bloggers. So how can you get noticed? I should probably tell you to make intelligent, thoughtful contributions to the blogger’s comments, or help the blogger with some problem he or she may be having. That would be the “proper” advice for me to give you. Today, though, I’m going to tell you what else works.

Flattery. Yes, flattery really does work, even when the person you are flattering knows exactly what you are doing. People like to be appreciated, and love to be complemented. If your flattering is too obvious or overblown, you’ll probably be ignored, but if you take the time to tell a blogger how much you sincerely appreciate them, and WHY, there’s a very good chance that you’ll get noticed by that blogger. That may not lead to an immediate backlink, but it will be the start of a future relationship. Without a relationship with a popular blogger, there’s very little chance of being linked to by him. Once you’ve established a rapport, however, you may find yourself not only getting one link from him, but frequent links over and over again (assuming, of course, that your content is worth linking to).

Don’t be afraid to show your appreciation. Send a little sincere flattery out to the bloggers you admire most. Although they may sense some blatant flattery being thrown their way, there is a good chance they’ll remember you in the future.

Don’t forget to be sincere in your flattery, and let the blogger know why you appreciate the work they do.