Using Free Ad Blogs for Building Links
What is a free ad blog?
A free ad blog is a blog someone has put up where they allow other people to post on the blog. Some have more rules than others, but the basic similarity is that you can put content on someone else’s blog.
What is the purpose of doing this?
The purpose of writing posts on a free ad blog is to get links pointing back to your lens helping it increase its search engine ranking.
How does it work?
It takes a few simple steps, then you’ll be ready to post.
1. Register. Look around on the blog for a register link. This will allow you to create an account on the blog so you can sign in and make your post. Some of the register links are more obvious than others, so look around. If you can’t find a register link, look around for a link that talks about creating an account, becoming a member or anything else that sounds like signing up.
2. Check your email. You will receive an email from the blog. It may have a confirmation link you have to click, it may have your username and password, but you will get an email, so look for it.
3. Sign in. Once you know your username and password (for some you will create those, for other sites they will create a password for you), you’ll need to log in to the site.
4. Create your post. Each site is different you will need to look for phrases related to creating or posting. It may be post an article, or post an ad, submit an article, submit an ad. Just look around for it on each site.
5. Write your post. Once you’ve clicked the create link you will be given a space to write in. It may be a text editor, with the little icons at teh top, it may be just a space you type in. Most of these are wordpress blogs so you will have a text editor where you can highlight the words you want to be your link and then click the anchor icon at the top of the editor to add your url for the link. (which will be your squidoo lens)
What Do I write?
I suggest you keep these posts longer than 150 words, and relevant to your topic. Do NOT put your keywords in the title of these posts ~ you do NOT want them to rank higher than your lens.
3 ways you can create this post.
1. short product review. Talk about the product, what it does, why it’s cool, why someone would want it etc.
2. Related benefit of the product. Think of one benefit the product has, then think of two other things that give the same benefit, then write a post about 3 things with that benefit. ex. coffee maker: save money not buying coffee every day. Think of 2 other ways people can save money, then write about those three things. When you talk about saving money by making coffee at home, use your product keyword in that area and then link back to your lens.
3. Quick Tips. What are some tips people could use related to your topic. coffee maker: tips for picking the best coffee maker (find some benefits listed in the product description, use those as tips to look for) At some point use your specific product as an example of a coffee pot that meets allt hose criteria and link to your lens using your keywords.
How do I link?
These are basically like blog posts, you can link within the content of the post, you do not have to reserve your links for a “resource box”.
Make sure you use your keywords or a variation of the keyword to link back to your lens.
If you have a bunch of lenses that need links you can link to all of them from the same post. You don’t have to do a separate one for each lens.
A great way to do this is to write a “gift idea post”. You can talk about gift ideas for picky people, or gift ideas for the hard to buy for, unique gift ideas ~ (those would be the title of your post), and then write a paragraph about each of your product lenses, linking to each in its paragraph.
Do I need to write a new post for each of these sites?
If you are linking to one product and your post is only 150 words then yes. I’d write a new post for each one. If you’ve written a 3 or 4 hundred word post linking to multiple product lenses I’d mix up the paragraphs and rewrite the first and last paragraphs.
Where do I find these free ad blogs?
Some of these blogs are listed on the mindmap. But here’s alist of some of them to start with. Remember, new sites come online every day. It never hurts to Google “free ad blog” or something similar to see what else is out there. (that’s how I found most of these)
3 Step Ads (this one has an author’s RSS feed you can submit to RSS directories)
Another Free Advertising Blog (this one does not require registration)
If you have other free ad blogs you’re using, let us know in the comments, I’ll add them to the list. If you have any questions about the process, of creating these links, just ask in the comment as well. I’ll do my best to answer any questions.
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Thanks for this list – this is what I’ve been looking for, and was going about it the wrong way. This should definitely help me out.
Kelly
Follow me @fnnkybutt on Twitter!
Hi there!
.
50niches.com is a WordPress based article directory. New users wll become contributors, e.g. have write access but no publishing rights, which means I’ll moderate posts. Automatic publishing is also enabled, but please, don’t abuse
If you want to suggest creating a new category or are interested in becoming author or editor, please contact me (sergey [at} sergeyvlasov { dot) com) or write in comments here, I will track them.
Hey Sergey,
Thanks for the addition. I’ll add it to the list!
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I’d very much appreciate it if you could add to the list one of my article directories: Article Radar.
Follow me @marksierra on Twitter!
Will do ~ thanks for the heads up!!
Follow me @momtohanna on Twitter!
Thanks Jackie!
I have used PotPieGirl’s free ad blogs before, but didn’t know any others.
As always, thanks for all you do!
Frank
Follow me @frankdickinson on Twitter!
Jackie, I just finished my 1st lens.it took quite a while to do after reading some/doing some. But my question is, how much time, (or how “many” backlinks) should we spend on doing backlinks before we move on to the next lens? Or should we be making several lens first and then do the backlinks?
Hey Ken,
Congrats on taking action!! It really depends on the keyword you chose and how competitive it is. I would suggest doing this:
1. eza article
2. post to the free ads
3. make sure you’ve submitted your lensmaster rss feed to as many RSS directories as you can
4. make blog posts to your own blog
Let it sit for a week or so and see how it does. If you’re not where you want to be, then do steps 1 and 2 again. It’s really just a matter of trial and error because it really depends on the keywords you’ve chosen.
If you have UAW ~ I’d send one article out to as many places as you can.
If you have 1 way links I’d send out 20 or 30 and then check back in a week or so.
Hope that helps.
Follow me @momtohanna on Twitter!
Thanks for the list. I only knew about PPG’s free ad blog sites only I didn’t know what they were called and that there were so many of them. Your posts are very informative and detail oriented. That’s why I picked OWM and Bum Marketing as my business model.
Jackie – when I register for these free ad blogs, they are asking for a website. I use my blog and not my lens, correct?
Just use your blog.
Follow me @momtohanna on Twitter!
Hey Jackie!
I came across a neat new (for me) way to build some backlinks – YouTube videos. As you may know, YouTube is the world’s 2nd largest search engine behind the Big G – and now owned by Google I believe. This is a great opportunity to get some strong keyword based backlinks to our sites and lenses.
If you haven’t done video yet and think you can’t – hang on. This is EASY!
Have a look at this video – Leapster LeapFrog Learning Game. It was created using Animoto.com. It’s a very easy process to create a video at Animoto and they look great, as you can see.
Just remember to add your keyword(s) in the title of the video and add the URL to your site or lens somewhere in your video and in the description.
Hi Wendy,
Yes youtube is a great way to get backlinks, but I would remind people to keep it simple, and if you are struggling with the basics wait until after the Christmas rush to start playing with video as it can be addictive and if you’re tech challenged it can end up being a huge time suck for one link.
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Jackie
So, am I correct in thinking that with FreeAds we are trying to sell our product and we talk specifically about our product? and direct them to our lens?
BUT, with EZA we are not allowed to do a “sell” article so we are talking about a general benefit that relates to our product and then at the end we direct them to our lens for more information about getting that particular benefit from our product?
So, FreeAd blogs are more “sell” and EZA articles are more subtle…. do I get it??
It doesn’t really matter what kind of content you put on the free ad blogs (well within reason lol ~ but as far as you asked about being “selling vs. non selling”) because they will probably NEVER see any traffic. NO ONE is going to see these posts to click anything.
The whole point is to get the link. So write something that is related to your product, whether you’re talking about features, benefits, uses, whatever ~ doesn’t matter. Just make sure you use your keywords in the anchor text of the link pointing back to your lens.
But yes, you can not sell at EZA.
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Hiya Jackie!
You said the following:
Do NOT put your keywords in the title of these posts ~ you do NOT want them to rank higher than your lens.
So, is it okay for me to put the kw in the title of my own blog post?
Thanks!
Cindy
Follow me @casurette on Twitter!
as long as you are linking directly to the product from that page (as well as to your lens) yeah.
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Hi Jackie,
Couple of questions for you. I use Wordpress Direct. How often should I post? You know how you have a theme keyword and then some keyword tags, when posting what keyword’s do you need to use? This is a little confusing…. Do you need to use keywords in your title as well?
I’m doing your Squidoo Christmas lenses and I’ve just done a Christmas blog and I have been posting all my lenses there on the one blog, will that work ok?
I really appreciate all the info you put out there. That’s helped me so much…
Thanks for everything you do,
Jamie
@Jamie,
do you mean you have your Christmas blog on wordpress direct? It really depends on what the PURPOSE of this blog is to you. If it’s just for linking purposes then it doesn’t matter how often you post, what kw you use or what tags you use.
The only thing important is that you get your links pointing back to your lens with the appropriate keyword anchor text.
I’m going to do a whole post on the blog aspect of this on Wed. ok? If you have more questions about blogging please add them here so I can address them in that post. thanks.
Follow me @momtohanna on Twitter!
No, I don’t use Wordpress Direct for my Christmas blog, I use blogger.com for that one.
I have not made any lenses for the blogs at WPD. You know that WPD add posts for you, right? Do I still need to add my own posts as well? I guess if you added more posts with more affilite links you might have more sells, correct?
I look forward to your blog on blog aspect on Weds.
Thanks again,
Jamie
Are you adding posts at all to your WPD site? I know they add content for you, but if you aren’t posting to the blog then what are you using it for? Unless you’re just putting links in the sidebar ~ which is what I use mine for.
If you are using WPD to make sales you’re going to have to build links to that blog for specific keywords or it won’t rank and you won’t get traffic. Personally I would not use it for that. I only use WPD for a place to link back to my “real” sites.
Follow me @momtohanna on Twitter!
Depending on what the overall topic of your WPD blog is you may be able to add links in the sidebar for any/all of the lenses you’re doing. Just one more place in your network to link from.
Follow me @momtohanna on Twitter!
I have added one post to each blog with my affiliate links. I thought it would be easier to make blogs to market my ClickBank products than to make a regular website. Should I be using a website and not WPD? What software do you use for your websites? I guess I’m going about this all wrong. Why does this have to be so complicated…. I guess I’m just dead in the water with this mess. Looks like I need a little training….
Thanks for your help,
Jamie
It’s not about the platform you use ~ website or blog. I use wordpress for everything. I don’t even KNOW HOW to make an html website.
But it’s ALL the same as what we’re doing right now. You have to target specific keywords that are completely relevant to the product (whether it’s from clickbank or amazon or anywhere else for that matter). Once you’ve done a post ~ using the 6 ways to get google love ~ you have to promote that post ~ to get traffic. Promotion entails building links so you can get the post to the first page of Google for your keywords.
It’s all the same ~ you’re just doing it for blog posts instead of squidoo lenses. All the extra content you get from WPD doesn’t really help that process any ~ it actually kind of clutters it all up. You want to write your content (posts) and then promote (build backlinks) ~ when you start getting traction (placement in the search results) then start a new post focused on new keywords, and do it all over again.
You can do this process anywhere ~ a blogger blog, a WPD blog, a self hosted wordpress blog, an html website ~ the process is still the same. Identify keywords. write content. Link to relevant product in content. build links pointing back to content (using keywords as anchor text).
It can be confusing, but don’t get discouraged. The problem is often having too much information coming at you. Just keep it simple, the basics are all you need to make it work ~ just takes time and consistent persistent effort.
After Christmas I’m going to start doing tutorials on using a blog as your main affiliate site ~ so stay tuned.
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Well put together blog, Jackie. I’ve been trying to find good information on backlinking, and how to do it properly.
I especially like the mind map you put together!
-Matt San Clemente Mortgage
Hi Jackie,
I’d been trying to figure out backlinks for a long time. I didn’t realize there was so much to them and you’ve really broken them down to easily digest. You have created a huge and informative resource to help us beginners. Thanks.
Hiya Jackie!
In using free ad blogs to create backlinks, would it be okay to use the different articles that get generated through UAW instead 0f writing a post??
Thanks!
Cindy
Follow me @casurette on Twitter!
yep
Follow me @momtohanna on Twitter!
For one product I am submitting the same post to the different directories. Is that Ok?
The answer is under the subtitle
“Do I need to write a new post for each of these sites?” in the post.
Follow me @momtohanna on Twitter!
It just seems that if I am just linking to one product, why would I have to write a different post for each directory for that same product. When I can give them all the same article for that one product. They are different sites. That means just for one product I have to write a different article. That can get very time consuming.
it’s not about the product ~ it’s about your content. If you write the same thing it’s likely google will not pick it up and count it.
But hey ~ you can test it and see what happens.
Follow me @momtohanna on Twitter!
If It is because it’s duplicate content, I am the author. But I am submitting to different directories. How can that be duplicate content.
duplicate content is not about who the author is ~ it’s about having the same exact content in more than one place. Like I said ~ do some tests for yourself and then decide.
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Jackie,
Aren’t the blogs mentioned above the same and ran by the same people? It seems that the registration formats for all of them are the same, the only difference being the name/title of the blogs. If this is so, do I have to post (for the same product promotion) in all of them?
people have used the same platform and the same plugins to make the sites ~ these are all counted as backlinks to your site and banklinks are what will help move your site up the search rankings. You want to get as many links as you can ~ these are all free so use, I would do them all.
Follow me @momtohanna on Twitter!
Jackie,
I have a lens that I’m having a booger of a time getting Google to index it. I’ve built over 30 plus back links over the course of two weeks in the process of trying to get it to rank much less indexed. Is there ever a time when you have to say it’s time to move on?
I’ll keep backlinking if that’s what needs to be done. But this lens has been the most difficult by far to get indexed and I can’t help but wonder it I might have made Google mad. LOL! Little ol’ me, what could I have done to upset Google?
Any ideas? Thanks.
Jolene
Follow me @jochris26 on Twitter!
to tell you the truth that is pretty unusual. You’ve done the RSS submission? What sites are you putting your links on? If you’re putting them on new sites you’ve made it’s important to make sure those sites are indexed ~ if they aren’t indexed google can’t see your links.
Follow me @momtohanna on Twitter!
Jackie,
Thank you for so much great information.
When submitting the same article to different directories do they have to be rewritten or can they be identical?
Thanks,
Richard
There is a subtitle in this post “Do I need to write a new post for each of these sites?” that might answer your question.
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Never mind I see the answer two posts later!
Thanks, Richard