Internet Marketing Strategies Before (Link Building) and After (Traffic Building)
This post was inspired by Jerry West.
I used to love those cheesy before and after pictures you would find in advertisements for fitness or weight-loss products.
Here's a recent one of Arnold.
I don't mean to be cruel, but it looks like age is catching up to The Terminator.
Or is it politics?
I thought it would be fun to take a look at the before and after of internet marketing strategies.
- the before: marketers would focus on writing content for the search engines and building page rank
- the after: writing content for real live humans, focusing on building authority and traffic
Before
Promoting reciprocal links by using an automated program to send out hundreds of emails every day to webmasters, explaining to them the principles of SEO and how linking to your site will help them in the search engines.
After
Research your niche, discover a burning question that you can answer, or a problem that you can solve, and write an in-depth post about it on your blog.
Contact sites in your niche and inform them that you have some relevant information that would be of interest to their readers. Ask them to consider adding your content on their site, or at least a reference link to your post.
Before
Buying links on any site with page rank.
After
Buying links on sites where visitors will actually see the link and want to click through.
Before
Write 300 word articles of mediocre quality and submit them to as many article directories as possible, using the same resource box.
After
Write 750 word articles and submit them to article directories with strict editorial guidelines.
Make sure that these articles address current conversations in your niche. Include a resource box where you offer readers additional, valuable information on the topic.
Before
Research the top 50 keywords in your market and write an article using each one. Don't worry about quality or originality, just throw the articles out there with the keywords embedded.
After
Find the top 50 keywords and write an interesting and unique article on each one. Try to be different, entertaining, controversial: whatever it takes to stand out in the crowd.
Before
Submitting press releases for the sole purpose of getting an inbound link.
After
Only submitting newsworthy topics and creating carefully prepared press releases focused on getting media attention.
Before
Making "hit and run" posts on 50 forums.
After
Becoming an active participant in a few online communities.
Before
Blogging on a shared service and posting nothing more than product and/or affiliate links.
After
Creating an authority site on your own domain, branding yourself, and developing a loyal readership.
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March 23rd, 2008 at 12:16 pm
Internet Marketing Strategies Before (Link Building) and After (Traffic Building)…
I thought it would be fun to take a look at the before and after of internet marketing strategies. The before: marketers would focus on writing content for the search engines and building page rank. The after: writing content for real live humans, focu…
March 23rd, 2008 at 9:18 pm
I just might have nightmares after viewing these shots of Arnold. Firm to flab after fifty . . . not a very compelling ad.
But your other before and after comparisons are great, true, and lack the gimmicky quality you'll find in most before-and-after commercials.
Uh, except the Arnold one.
April 3rd, 2008 at 6:34 pm
Mark,
can't believe how 'old' he's looking. A lot like the old ways of Internet Marketing. Great article.
April 3rd, 2008 at 7:18 pm
@ Terry – I thought they were pretty practical before and afters that represent how the web is slowly changing with web 2.0 etc.
@ Susan – I think politics and too much of the "good" life is catching up with Arnold.
April 4th, 2008 at 3:08 pm
Mark,
You always have a way of writing that causes a light to go on in my thought process.
This is a great post, and one all of us should take to heart.
It still amazes me how many folks are still doing the "BEFORE" picture because they don;t want to change, or because they bought some self-proclaimed gurus antiquated ebook.
Great post Brother!!!!
Never Give Up,
Troy
April 9th, 2008 at 9:56 am
@ Troy – thanks, you're too kind! I love seeing "Never Give Up" in your comments and posts. It always reminds me to be patient and persevere.
April 12th, 2008 at 12:27 pm
[...] Internet Marketing Strategies Before (Link Building) and After (Traffic Building) [...]
April 12th, 2008 at 3:05 pm
[...] Internet Marketing Strategies Before (Link Building) and After (Traffic Building) [...]
April 12th, 2008 at 4:00 pm
Very well said, Nice article!
April 15th, 2008 at 1:34 am
I always found it odd that you used to find (and still do) the same article over and over, but I think that is changing with people realizing that quality beats quantity in the end.
July 28th, 2008 at 1:56 pm
I found your site via Google while searching for affiliate internet marketing mlm network and your post regarding t Marketing Strategies Before (Link Building) and After (Traffic Building) | Network Marketing Online looks very interesting to me.
October 2nd, 2009 at 3:23 pm
Well as the web is changing to 2.0, we must change our marketing strategies too & it's the most practical before's & after's i have read till now. By the way you forgot to mention few important things, which is Believe in yourself & keep trying there is no failure
By the way pictures of Arnold gave me a nightmare lol 
January 11th, 2010 at 10:20 am
I like your article because it humorously hits the nail on the head about before and after link building. I suspect that most of us started out using the cheap and cheesy methods when we began but eventually learned that it takes good old fashioned work to get links built. Keep up the good blog.