A couple of months ago, I didn’t know Adam (Connell) from Adam.
Then I started getting WordPress trackbacks from his blog – notifications that he linked to my blog posts.
Of course, I went to check him out and, once I saw his content, I became a fan.
Since then, Adam has been featured in several blog posts at Traffic Generation Café and, as long as he continues to create valuable content, I will continue to share it with my readers.
A couple of years ago, when I first started Traffic Generation Café, Kristi Hines didn’t know me from Adam either (or is it from Eve?).
I spent a lot of time on her Kikolani.com blog – reading, learning, commenting.
Eventually, I asked Kristi to take a look at one of my pillar posts on how to increase blog traffic to see if she minded including it in one of her famous Fetching Friday mashups.
And so she did. That gesture sent me some traffic, gave me a boost of confidence, but most importantly, started a blogging friendship with Kristi.
Iain Robson runs a marketing blog in a very interesting niche: marketing for farmers (great way to zero in on your potential audience!).
He likes Traffic Generation Café and is not shy to show it: he’s been including my posts in almost every one of his weekly link roundups.
He made it impossible for me to ignore him. And I am glad. Iain can now ask me for any favor he wants and, chances are, I’ll do it for him.
Blog Link Roundups
What do the three examples above have in common? All those relationships were built as a result of blog link roundups.
Speedlinking, roundups, mashups – all roads lead to posts that curate the best content on the web.
“Best content” is, of course, in the eyes of the beholder, i.e. the publishing blogger.
There are two ways to promote your blog and, as a result, get more traffic, with blog link roundups.
1. Get Mentioned at Link Roundups
You need to be proactive to get other bloggers to discover your content, and link roundups are the perfect way to do it.
The keys to promoting your content via roundups:
- Write stellar content (no one will mention it unless it’s worth its salt);
- Build relationships with the publishing bloggers (don’t just approach them with “how about mentioning my post?”);
- Only alert them to your best posts (don’t be the boy/girl who cries wolf).
Once those bloggers know you, like you, and love your content, seeing your posts pop up in their roundups will be just a matter of time.
My List of Marketing Link Roundups
Here’s a short list of blogs I know of that publish regular roundups:
- Kristi Hines Kikolani.com
Best way to catch Kristi’s attention: every week on Friday, she starts a thread on the Social Media Examiner Blogging Club so members can share their favorite blog post of the week.
- Danny Iny FirePoleMarketing.com
- Francisco Perez IBlogZone.com
- Laura Crest SEOCopywriting.com
- Tom Ewer at ManageWP.com
- Carol Lynn Rivera at WebSearchSocial.com
- Angela at UpCity.com
- Shonali Burke at WaxingUnlyrical.com
- Brooke Howell at Repcapitalmedia.com
- Rebecca Gill at web-savvy-marketing.com
- Nick Stewart at NicksTrafficTricks.com
- Iain Robson at MarketingYourFarm.com
- Kimberley Grabas at YourWriterPlatform.com
- Joseph Adediji at BloggingTipsToday.com
- MaAnna Stephenson at BlogAid.net
- Kimberley Castleberry at Just-Ask-Kim.com
- Sherryl Perry at KeepUpWithTheWeb.com
- Vernessa Talor at FamousBloggers.net
- Leo Dimilo at DrunkOnLife.net
To find link roundups in your specific niche, type this command into your search:
intitle:roundup “YOUR KEYWORD”
Of course, remember to add your keyword and also play with the word “roundup“. For instance, you can try “mashups“, “weekly links“, “linky love”, etc.
If you know of or find other roundups in the marketing niche, let me know in the comments.
I also publish my own version of link roundups here at Traffic Generation Café: I include a list of blogs that linked to any one of my posts in my Weekly Marketing Skinnies.
Naturally, if you want to see your blog mentioned there, simply mentioned any relevant Traffic Generation Café post on your blog. But please, don’t do it for the sake of a mention; link to my posts because they are relevant to your readers and will add value to your writing.
Google and I will thank you for that!
2. Publish Your Own Link Roundups
This is one of the best ways to increase your website traffic – be generous by mentioning other worthy blogs in your own link roundups.
Wonder why you’d want to to link out to other blogs?
- Chances are the bloggers you link out to will stop by your link roundups, leave a comment, and share them with their followers = TRAFFIC and EXPOSURE FOR YOU.
- Those bloggers you link out to will now know who you are = NETWORKING and LONG-TERM relationship-building.
- Your readers will get valuable content.
- When you publish roundups, it’s one less post topic you’ll have to worry about – whether it’s weekly or monthly.
Here’s an example of increasing traffic to YOUR site as a result of linking out to OTHER sites in your link roundups (a screenshot from MaAnna Stephenson’s BlogAid.net):
If you are on defense about linking out – for whatever reason – here’s why you shouldn’t be:
- In a Post Google Penguin World, It is Still Okay to Link Out - by Bill Hartzer
Plus, take a note of how many blogs I am linking out to in this or any other blog post at Traffic Generation Café – follow the leader!
More Link Roundup Ideas
Publishing link roundups is not difficult, but before I let you go, here are some other creative ideas to curate other bloggers’ content.
Scoop.it
There are many reasons to use a website like Scoop.it to curate content from around the web – even in addition to running link roundups on your own blog.
To learn more about it, I’ll send you over to the Queen of Scoop.it – Ileane Smith of BasicBlogTips.
Twitter Link Roundups
Here’s a fresh spin on creating link roundups: publish roundups of your favorite tweets instead.
Example: Twitter Link Roundups at Crowdspring.com blog
Of course, it doesn’t have to be Twitter – if you are a fan of Facebook or Google+, what stops you from publishing Facebook or Google+ roundups, right?
By the way, if you still haven’t embraced the power of Google+, read this post on Google Author Rank and add Ana to your circles:
More Link Roundup Tips
More tips on running successful link roundups:
- Blog Exercises: Weekly Link Roundups – Lorelle at lorelle.wordpress.com
Link Roundup Marketing Takeaway
It’s simple: link roundups are a great way to get your blog noticed – whether other blogs mention your epic content or you run a roundup of your own.
Plus this is the kind of traffic generation strategy that works for all niches.
Link roundups: what goes around, comes around.
And don’t forget to mention Traffic Generation Café in YOUR next link roundup!
