Building Quality Links: 8-Week Link Building Course

Register now - next class runs May 25 - July 13, 2006 This class is closed - for the new training program for 2009, see the Link Liberation web site - class begins June 18, 2009.

Are your linking strategies failing you? Unfortunately, many websites have suffered in the recent Google update due to unnatural linking strategies and excessive reliance on short-term strategies like reciprocal linking, paid links, and automated link exchanges.

Now more than ever, you need to take control of your linking strategy, and focus on building long term, quality links that can withstand the occasional shift in search engine algorithms.

Personally led by Dan Thies, author of SEO Fast Start and the Search Engine Marketing Kit, this class will give you the knowledge and skills that few professionals possess, and teach you to build the links you need quickly and efficiently.

No travel is required, thanks to our online training format: weekly sessions are held with a group conference call and online presentation. These weekly classes last 2 hours, typically consisting of a 60-75 minute lecture/presentation followed by question and answer time.

This group will begin work with our first session on May 25th (a read-ahead and optional questionnaire will be distributed the week prior), and we expect to complete our final class session on July 13th. Classes will be held on Thursdays, from 11am-1pm US Central Time, with an optional make-up call on Tuesdays from 10am-11am. Those who miss the Thursday class can download the recorded presentation and call in on Tuesdays for question & answer time.

You'll Learn To Build Links Quickly, Profitably, and Naturally

This class is not about some new "scheme" to build links without planning or effort. It's about doing things that build links, drive traffic and improve a website's online presence - the methods we use are quite often very profitable by themselves. The class includes the following 8 weekly sessions:

1. Link Building Concepts & How Search Engines See Links
   In our first session, we'll take a high speed run through the world of link analysis, examining the different types of links and how search engines see them and the web as a whole. We'll look at different link analysis algorithms, from Google's PageRank to new and coming developments like Spam Mass, TrustRank, topic-sensitive PageRank, communities, and latent semantic indexing (LSI). We'll also consider how search engines can use historical data and web graph analysis to sniff out link farms, paid links, and various 2-party and multi-party link exchange schemes.
    
2. Planning & Budgeting For Linking Campaigns
   Planning Cycles, Keyword Research & SEO Process, the SEO Research Labs Matrix Ranking System, Mapping Keywords to Content, Measuring & Analyzing Competition; Inventory of Natural Assets; New Assets: Link Targets, Content, Buzz; Bottom Line - How Many Links?
    
3. Demonstration & Practice: Research Tools & Techniques
   Breaking Down SERPs; Analyzing Competitor's Links w/ Backlink Analyzer & SEO Elite; Finding Hubs & Authorities w/ Hub Finder; Finding Content Sites w/ Adwords; Finding Content Sites w/ Search Engines; Article Promotions w/ Article Submitter Pro & Announcement Lists; Press Release Creation & Distribution w/ PRWeb
    
4. Optimizing Site Structure: From The Web To The Target Page
   PageRank & Link Analysis Review; Distance From Web; Resolving Indexing Issues; Internal Linking; Page Reputation; Conversion Funnels vs. PageRank Funnels; Mapping Out General, Topical, & Keyword Links
    
5. Planning & Executing Directory & Resource List Campaigns
   Paid vs. PPC vs. Free vs. Reciprocal; Quality: Edited vs. Rubber Stamped; Major Paid Directories: Business.com, MSN BCentral, Yahoo; Secondary Directories: BOTW, DMOZ, Gimpsy, GoGuides, JoeAnt, Skaffe, Wow; Vertical Directories & Vortal Hunting; Creating A Directory; Exchanging & Upgrading Links; Preparing & Managing Submissions - Categories, Titles, Descriptions, Follow-Up; Directory Tracking Worksheet
    
6. Content Distribution: Natural Promotion For Quality Links
   Content Distribution Pyramid; Understanding RSS; Forums & Discussion Lists; Blogs & Blogging; Press Releases & Public Relations; Articles & Editorial; Plug-In Content: Information, Applications, Tools; The Value of Following Up; Profitable Promotion Campaigns
    
7. Affiliate Programs & The Technical Side of Links
   What Is A Link Anyway?; Understanding Redirects; Robots.txt, .htaccess, and nofollow; Link Recovery; Monitoring 404s; Mapping & Implementing Redirects; Understanding Affiliate Tracking Systems; Natural & Unnatural Affiliate Links; The Perfect Affiliate Program; Adjusting The External Profile; RSS For Affiliates
    
8. Planning Workshop & Demonstrations
   Executing an Article Promotion; Executing a Press Release Campaign; If You Insist On Trading Links...; Linking Campaign Case Study / Walkthrough; Next Steps
    

How To Register - Space Is Limited, Sign Up Soon

This class is closed - sorry. My new link building course, Link Liberation, will begin June 18, 2009.

What's included:

• 8 Weekly Class Sessions (2 hours each)
• 7 weekly conference calls (1 hour each)
• 1 Year Membership to Private Access Website (including full catalog of video course modules) - this includes all of the videos from our "Site Workshop," "SEM Business Builder," and "Advanced SEO" programs.

  If you have any questions about this course, and whether it's right for you, let's talk about it! Email Dan Thies at or give us a call 214-550-1359.