Assignment 8, Bootcamp #5 - Backlinks Report

[iCraft Admin]

Hi Red Rock Designs,

Just wanted to mention that I've noticed a post on the Russian Beading Forum about one of your listings that got 676 views and 14 comments - http://biser.info/node/389528
The site is in Russian, but if you use Google Chrome or any other online translator, it should do an average job of translating the content, so you can make out what they're talking about.
Most of the comments seem to focus on people remaking the listing, so it's probably not your potential buyers. I just wanted to point out that sometimes one single comment or post somewhere can drive quite a bit of traffic. So I hope you guys are still practicing commenting and everything else we've discussed in the last Bootcamp.

[Red Rock Designs]

Huh.  I don't know whether to be flattered or bothered by it!  
Thanks for posting it Admin.

[Fairy Cardmaker]

Uhm well... this was my submitted guest post on the Made by Hand blog:
http://www.madebyhandshow.ca/diy-cake-decorating/

It is only 1/4 of the full post and the link text is not on my keywords.  But - it's a start!!

[Fairy Cardmaker]

Fairy Cardmaker said:

I have an idea for us to help each other, but I don't have time to flesh it out right now.  I'll let it percolate.

Admin said:

I think working as a group to promote each others store is a smart idea, especially when it comes to social media promos. So I hope you all will keep in touch and brainstorm ideas together in the future.

So... here's the idea:
Article Swap

We could each compose a guest blog post.  All the articles will be related to "Hand Made Holidays".  We will develop a list of ideas as a group (to ensure variety) and then assign the ideas out.  Then we will swap articles and ensure we give credit to the author and we can also mention all the other participating blogs so our readers can see all the ideas.  (It's a combination of a guest post and blog hop in one.)

What do you think?  (Admin, please advise if this is not a good backlink building idea.)

[iCraft Admin]

Hi Fairy Cardmaker,

I think it's a good idea, as long as you all focus on producing original content that is of values to blog readers. Also, maybe don't link to the exactly same 5 links in each article. Let's say in one article someone will mention your store (with URL) and in another one they should mention your individual product listings (with URL) or a category, like your Hand Stamped Cards (with URL). Quality of content and variety of anchor texts and URLs is the key.

Working as a group is also good because you all could use your social media accounts to spread the news about those new blog posts, creating more links posting to them and increasing your individual visibility by the number of people participating in this. Feel free to ask any questions if you have more!

[iCraft Admin]

As for the article, it looks fine. Try to have next one with a different anchor text, as I remember you already had a few posts with your store name as anchor text in the past. Its a bit short too. Longer articles are better for seo. But it's better than nothing.