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Stop Buying Link Building e-Books

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Stop Buying Link Building Books
I've got some link secrets for you

Seriously, just stop it. You are wasting your money and I don’t like when you do that! Pretty sure I just made some people mad, but that’s the way it goes. Can’t please everyone.

Why Link Building e-Books Suck

Yep there it is, i said it. Look, you need to realize that we are not out here to reinvent the wheel. The basics behind link building have not changed.

Link building books suck because it’s all regurgitated information. Why do you think I give you FREE link building tips over there —->

They are free because they are the basics of how to build links and I didn’t create some alternate fantasy link building world with a magic formula. There is no such thing.

Basic Link Building

It’s simple really. Basic link building involves the following;

  1. Write great content –people will naturally link to it.
  2. Blog commenting–ย  builds relationships and backlinks to your blog
  3. Submit to directories
  4. Social media involvement
  5. Forum commenting
  6. Article marketing
  7. Network profiles
  8. Guest Posts

I know there are a ton more,but this about covers the general ideas.ย  So what are the new books on link building going to tell me? Nothing. It’s another lame attempt at milking beginners for money. And at one time, I was one of those getting milked…(uhm, disregard that!)

Now there are subtle differences in how one goes about link building. Some people email blog owners directly and inform them of their content and hope to get linked back to. Some outsource their link building, some let it happen naturally. Whatever, the method, the principles remain the same.

Link Building Products

I don’t have some massive list of good or bad link building products to insert here. But what I do have are some damn good free resources for link building. The following articles are where you should be getting your link building tips and NOT paying somebody to send you a rehashed wishing well of crap.

  1. One Way Link Building by Ana Hoffman of TGC
  2. Shorten Link List by Dennis Edell ofย  dennisedell.com
  3. How To Craft Internal & External Links from searchenginejournal.com
  4. The Almost Complete Link Guide from SeoMoz via Adland.com

While there are a ton more reputable articles, these are the ones I highly recommend. And we all know my opinion is the one that counts. ๐Ÿ™‚

Now To Make Product Creators Mad

I am telling you flat out..do not buy link building books anymore! The ONLY time I think it’s okay to buy one is if it’s been around awhile and has an “updated” notation. So, a book from 2007 will show “recently updated 2010.”

That holds some water with me. See, I received an email this morning telling me,

” you have just got to see it to believe it! Master link building in 2 days and learn the secrets to profits.”

Oh yea? I already know the secret to profits- hard work. I already know the masters of link building–listed above. So, thanks but no thanks.

My first response was, are you serious? Who are you trying to scam here? You don’t have any damn secrets and if you did, your site that you sent me to would have more than 2 links. BOOYAH!

What really amazes me is that with all the tools out there to analyze links within websites, people are still claiming to be link building gurus. I mean really people, we can find all this out on our own. We’re intelligent people and that;s why we’re not buying your crappy book. ๐Ÿ™‚

Also I would like to add here, I am not against purchasing link building services. If you find a reputable company to do your link building for you, then so be it. I’m down with that.

The Bottom Line

Now, some of you may ask, “well Lisa, if you’re so smart..what book DO you recommend?” I’m saving that for another post…:) And the reason for that is that I think it deserves to be in it’s own post and not included in the “lousy internet marketing products” post.

And really because that’s how I want to do it. Remember, my blog, my rules. Now, your turn.

Have you purchased a link building book or many?

Did they all same the same thing?

Were any worth your money?

If you feel the power and a “share this post” dance comes over you, I’m totally okay with that. Leave your thoughts here as well and remember if you want some free link building tips, enter your email over in the sidebar!

Comments (50)

  • Hey Nice article, I did all that you’ve mentioned. But yet still I’ve very few backlinks.

    Could you suggest me on how to increase PageRank?

    Reply
  • I work hard to find content for my website (I setup a daily target of 7 news about gadgets and design) so my time for SEO is almost 0. But I receive a lot of links to my blog from big websites like Gizmodo. So, in the end is all about work and content.

    Reply
  • I have gained the PR2 of my site and also ranking 13 on google.com only by blog commenting technique.

    Reply
  • You are totally right! Why spending money on “link building books” when there is a huge amount of FREE information on the internet. You just have to know where to search for it ๐Ÿ™‚

    Reply
  • Hi Lisa,

    I’ve totally not focused on link building aside from commenting on blogs I read. I know I need to step up my game with that (in the world according to Ana Hoffman at least!)

    So far I’ve been focused only on creating the best possible content for my market. I appreciate the concise list of resources for link building plus your list of the basics! Thanks for creating it.

    Looking forward to your future post!

    Heather

    Reply
    • Author

      Hi Heather:

      I appreciate you visiting my blog. And yes, according to Ana, we can step up every aspect of our game. I hope the resources I listed help!

      All the best,
      Lisa

      Reply
  • This is spot on Lisa. What will bring success is taking consistent action tips we learn from blogs like yours.
    Thanks Lisa.

    Reply
    • Author

      Hi Ruth:

      I have made this the year of implementing for me so you are 100% correct!

      Thank you for visiting my blog,

      Lisa

      Reply
  • Great post, Lisa!

    The only way the bozo’s trying to sell the regurgitated info prosper is by selling to the new and unaware market. The SEO ‘secrets’ haven’t changed as your succinct list shows. If we can just get that list in front of all the new eyes out there . . .

    Just remember, just cause you got a marketing email doesn’t mean the person at the other end is getting a positive response. If his sales materials and ebook were in hard back form, they would probably be on the shelf at the Dollar Tree.

    Keep up the good work Lisa!

    Reply
  • I totally agree with your post. Many newbies believe they have to spend money on information. It just takes a little longer, but you can always find the information online for Free.

    Reply
    • Author

      Dan:

      thank you for coming by my blog. I agree that it takes a little longer but in the end it is so much more worth it. Not only that..more rewarding to know that you researched and found the information on your own.

      All the best,
      Lisa

      Reply
  • Lisa,

    No link building books…but I have been suckered in to a few others that were a bunch of fluff.

    Thanks for the links, I will be checking them out.

    Reply
    • Sheila:

      I have been suckered by a few different ones too. I guess I can look at it as a learning experience. I just wished I learned quicker.

      thanks for visiting me,
      Lisa

      Reply
  • Lisa,
    Thanks for the post. I especially appreciate the links to the 4 articles. Turns out when I went to bookmark them that I’d already read them at one point. The fact that only 1 of them looked vaguely familiar reminds me that I need to reread them. Link building is so important to driving traffic. I appreciate the reminder!

    Reply
  • Lisa – Bravo, you are a bold woman to be potentaily goring the ox of the bloggers that are selling link building ebooks. But you are dead on, there are so many easily accessible and free resources online about link building that it is hard to justify paying for an e-book.

    Reply
  • Well said! Next week I’ll be touching on this similar topic, but more focused in on why I extremely dislike internet marketers who boast ’20 million dollars in just 2 hours!’ ๐Ÿ˜‰

    Great post!!

    Reply
    • Also, half of my post disappeared…

      I also said, “Link building should be natural. There’s really no secret to it and the fact that you offer FREE information is proof of that.”

      Reply
    • Author

      Morgan:

      I appreciate your support! And I cant wait to see your post because I agree 100%!!

      All the best
      Lisa

      Reply
  • That’s so dead on Lisa

    Sooooo much information about link building that’s just said over and over again – there really hasn’t been a new way to do so in quite a bit of time. Sure, platforms may change but it’s still fundamentally you placing links on other domains either through content creation or submission. Nothing new to see there; time to move along and focus on things you can really benefit from learning (that isn’t already common knowledge) ya know?

    Reply
    • Author

      Hi Murray:

      Thanks for visiting my blog. And you hit the nail on the head with the fundamentals staying the same. I enjoy finding new resources through other people;s blogs and writings. I just wish there was a better way to get that notion out to the beginners!

      Thanks for your input
      Lisa

      Reply
  • Lisa,
    The only “web book” I’ve ever bought was Glen Allsopp’s “Cloud Living”, which was just chock full of online goodness. Your link building list is right on, great stuff, right to the point.

    enjoyed the post!

    Reply
  • Hey Lisa,
    rocking again, ha girl ๐Ÿ™‚

    Well, the first and only book about link building I have ever read was a really comprehensive guide I got for free from Site Build It, the host I keep my static website on.

    Basics but wonderful book for a beginner. I would actually recommend reading it. I won’t post links here but if anyone wants it, you can contact me.

    Of course no some magic secrets there, just tested and all white hat stuff.

    Like you say, everyone keeps promising and trying to be a magician but I can’t see anyone inventing hot water these days…

    Friday coming, Lisa ๐Ÿ˜‰

    Reply
    • Author

      URG you HAD to remind me about Friday!! I agree that there can be one or two valuable books, but like I said..the ones that stand the test of time. I m not going to buy a book that was created yesterday promising me the secrets, ya know?!

      Talk to you soon Brankica.

      Lisa

      Reply
  • Hey Lisa, I did buy a link-building package once – not an ebook, but a ginormous list of do-follow blogs and forums – and I found that to be a total waste. Should have asked for a refund, but, eh, live and learn.

    But I also bought a membership to a site that teaches traffic generation, and that was a valuable purchase. I learned a ton of techniques that would have taken me years to learn on my own. One of these days I’ll get around to doing a review…but I digress.

    In general, I agree with you. There’s nothing new under the sun, and the only thing that will get you lots of backlinks is lots of work. No two ways about it.

    Reply
    • Author

      Cindy:

      I agree with you in regards to traffic generation. Now that is an avenue that we can always learn new and advanced techniques. But with link building…it doesnt change. I would love to see a review on that course!

      Lisa

      Reply
  • Hi Lisa

    Glad you shared this post. There are a lot of newbies out there who will think unless they buy the book they won’t get on with whatever venture they are just getting started.

    For me it took awhile to understand about links and whenever I saw them mentioned in a post I would ask more questions. Knew they were important….why would they keep getting mentioned if they weren’t??!! J didn’t know how to get them!

    Didn’t realise that by blog commenting and having my blog linked to in other peoples posts was some of the puzzle lol And I was doing that already. Didn’t do it for links; just love networking and was learning heaps along the way ๐Ÿ™‚

    Then a couple of blogging buddies explained it to me. Phew, now I was getting it. In fact I went back and read a couple of the posts recently and smiled. It was now all crystal clear ๐Ÿ™‚

    Imagine if I had wasted my money and probably wouldn’t have understood most of it anyway! My blogging buddies have taught me heaps and here’s the thing. There is so much free information out there. It has to be something unique and really worth it for me to buy information now.

    Thanks for a great post Lisa. Really enjoyed it.

    Patricia Perth Australia

    Patricia Perth Australia

    Reply
    • Author

      Patricia:

      I have learned more form the community than any book I ever bought. Believe me, I have been victim to the hype buy! what I found was with a little research and networking, I can learn anything I need to. Our community is such a valuable tool.

      Thank you for your great input.

      Lisa

      Reply
  • Wow, we are on a roll today…:)
    If anything, just looking at your post will tell all there is to know about link building, you have done quite a bit in here alone, great job.
    Besides, all I ever needed to know about it is the FREE Link Building Secrets you GAVE me…thank you very much!!!!…lol!

    Reply
  • Well, this is one thing that needed attention and you have done a great job with this post.
    To be honest, there’s only one link building method I have seriously tried in my entire 3 years of blogging:

    Guest Posting

    And it has worked great. I have guest posted on John Chow, Daily Blog Tips and many others and am working on writing more guest posts!

    Reply
    • Author

      Ishan:

      Thats a great guest posting resume you have there! Kudos to you.

      Thank you for visiting my blog,
      Lisa

      Reply
  • So…heres the thang…

    There are 6.8 billion peoples in the world.

    There are approx 2.5 bill people online right now.

    Given the growth patterns over the last 10 years, that number (2.5 bill) is expected to double over the next 1-3 years.

    The growth is coming from Africa, Middle east and south america.

    My point?

    Theres a ton of nubes out there that these douchebags can take advantage of. Hence a gazillion of products teaching you how to place an ad on facebook, or how to build links the secret, easy way…

    nonsense

    I for one am glad youre bringing attention to it. Thnx

    Reply
    • Author

      Dino:

      You are so right about the sheer number of new people being taken advantage of! Why cant they find us first??!!!

      Oh, and I saw your “milking” comment…I knew it would be you!! ๐Ÿ™‚

      Lisa

      Reply
  • All those ebooks are overhyped. They all are rehashed info you can find for free online

    Reply
  • All I have to say is hellz ya! I was also one of those getting milked back in the day, and felt a bit used after as well.

    While I haven’t purchased any link building books, I have been learning more about affiliate marketing, and they all cover link building to some level, usually a very shallow one. I think you listed more resources that the others did…

    Before I go into a rant in your comment section I’ll leave with this – there are no secrets, people take advantage of the ignorance of the new people (who must use different keywords than us as they end up with the scammers), and given a bit more time you find awesome blogs like this with the info for free.

    Thanks Lisa!

    Reply
  • Lisa,
    Paying for e-books is always a gamble as to their value for money, but when you can get all the info for free, it does seem a big waste of money.
    It’s like the ones on ebay see how to make money fast on ebay – you buy it and it basically tells you to write your own e-book and sell it on ebay LOL.

    I agree totally with my blog my rule ๐Ÿ™‚
    Thanks for making me smile with such a great post.

    Reply
    • Author

      Pippa:

      You nailed it on that one with ebay! Want to know the secret? Buy my e-book. Ok, the secret is….write your own ebook! LOL
      Glad you liked the my blog my rule post as well!

      happy yo see you back here,
      Lisa

      Reply
  • I haven’t purchased any link building book, I rather prefer to read informative blogs like yours to get more information about SEO.

    Reply

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