When it comes to link building, the strategies are wide; numerous; and often time-consuming or expensive, yet widely accepted as a necessary aspect of SEO. Generally, link-building will include commenting on relevant and reputable sites to build web cred in the eyes of the engines. Jeremy Bencken, founder of WordLoop and WebsimpleSEO, proposes a unique alternative method to build links and establish presence.
Bencken suggests that you find sites that are generally relevant to your marketing efforts, and check their content for broken links. Once you have found one, recreate the content on your own domain and let the webmaster know about the broken link. Bencken says it is a “safe bet” that sites will take the time to fix broken links on their domain, so you pretty much have your foot in the door. Furthermore, by re-creating the types of content that the site wanted to link to in the first place, you are offering yourself as a valuable resource to be in included in the next update. Win- win.
See Bencken’s full article for steps on implementing this tactic as part of your own SEO efforts. Keep in mind that standard link-building best practices still apply, so you will want to make sure to choose sites in a good “neighborhood” for maximum benefit. Naturally, as with all marketing efforts, a good analytics program is a must for measuring the results of your efforts.