How to Get Backlinks with HubPages

We keep being told that we need to get as many backlinks from as many sources as possible. The problem is that it's very easy to spread ourselves too thin and we miss quite a few important details.

A lot of people use HubPages as a variation on EzineArticles.com the problem is that it's NOT. You can't simply write an article, add a few links and expect that to be OK. HubPages is a social site but unlike Squidoo, if your profile score dips below a certain number, all outgoing links have the "no follow" tag attached to it.

Some people still think no follow can help with MSN and Yahoo but if you want to rank with Google it's advisable to get regular do follow links wherever possible.

So How Do You Get Do Follow Links With Hub Pages?

I'm by no means an expert but I have spent a little bit of time looking into it. Basically if you're profile is set to Average (of possibly worse) the no follow tag is attached. When you first sign up you're account will be given a setting of Prodigy but you'll quickly lose this if you're not careful.

Simple steps to follow are:-

Comment on other pages. Don't leave crappy "nice page" comments. Leave something like"I'm terrible at boiling an egg; they always crack. It's probably because I have the heat up too high like you said. I will try out your tips next time."

• Join other user's fan clubs. Hopefully they will return the favor.
• Get links pointing to your pages in hope that you get some traffic. If you have a strong StumbleUpon profile you should be able to get at least 50 hits with just the one stumble.
• Update your pages with images, links, amazon and ebay modules, change the wording of text etc.

I think that's pretty much it. HubPages have implemented this rule to prevent spammers from setting up dozens of accounts. Remember the site is a social site so you need to take part. By doing this you'll increase your score and ensure that all outgoing links are do followed.

Feel free to leave some decent comments on my own pages and join my fanclub. I'll try to do the same for you. Click here to see my profile.

April

PS I'm also trying to get my Ellen Page blog indexed, please Google, visit this link.

Submit to Free Directories

UPDATE: I now use the free version of Brad Callen's Directory Submitter instead.

There's a big debate as to whether these SEO-friendly web directories are useful of not. Some people use software to semi-automate the process, submitting their website to hundreds of sites. Matt Cutts (head of Google spam) on the other hand says that they are worthless.

My personal view is that it doesn't harm to submit to a handful, plus they'll show up on Yahoo links which will help boost the perceived value of the site to prospective purchasers.

These are the sites that I have submitted www.dailydosh.net to, it isn't by any means a comprehensive list but it's what I have used for the last year:-

• www.kinds.biz
• www.directory4u.net
• www.bluedirectory.org
• www.abigdir.com
• www.littlewebdirectory.com

Writing a Press Release to Promote Blog

When you read a lot of blogs about making money online they tell you to send a press release (PR). But how many of you have actually done this? The main reasons people are apprehensive is because:-

• They have never written one before
• They don't know if they have anything newsworthy
• They are not an expert on the topic of their website
  

These are certainly the reasons that have I have. However some time ago I listened to an interview that Jim Morris did with Howie Schwartz who said that he simply sends out an article with intro to the effect of "we are proud to announce the launch of a new website called..."

So last week I decided to test this out. I re-wrote an article about debt and added in a quick intro. The result was that it was accepted on some distribution sites but www.prleap.com rejected it because it wasn't in the traditional PR style. To see the PR I submitted to Press Exposure, click here.

If you use an article as a PR don't expect to get a ton of traffic however it does add to your overall linking strategy. Also, these PR distribution sites get no-where near the same amount of submissions as article directories so each link may carry more weight.

I haven't submitted to that many sites but here are the ones that accepted the article/pr:-

• www.freepressreleases.co.uk
• www.1888pressrelease.com
• www.free-press-release-center.info
• pressexposure.com
• www.free-press-release.com