Headsmacking Tip #9 - Vertical Content Can Earn You Links

For the next in our headsmacking series, I thought we'd look at the ever-challenging task of bringing links to your site. Though it may seem daunting, sprinkling some creativity on the link acquisition puzzle can definitely make the process easier (and sometimes, more fun, too). One of the strategies that seems to elude many site owners and marketers is that of leveraging their vertical content to help earn links. There are dozens of vertical directories and vertical UGC/Web 2.0 portals that cater specifically to providing references to those offering content in areas like whitepapers, web-based tools, downloadable software, geographic-specific content, audio, video, feeds and many more. Here's just a tiny sampling:

• A huge list of video listing sites - not all of them provide live links, but plenty do, and if you have video content, spreading it around never hurts.
• A list of podcasting focused sites - quite a few of these offer direct links, but as usual, the better ones have more stringent quality requirements.
• Free software listings - if you provide downloadable software, there's a great number of sites that would love to link to you.
• The Free software directory - one of the best software lists out there, and a great place to be referenced
• ZDNet's Whitepaper directory - one of the best sources, but there are hundreds of these on the web
• List of Map & Geographic Listing Sites - from Cyndi's list, a great resource for genealogy sites, that in this case provides dozens of links to sources for getting geo-content listed 
• The Internet Public Library's Associations Directory - virtually every topic and geography has associations on the web specific to them; join them not just for the links, but the great networking opportunities (there's also this great list of international associations on the web).
• The classic blog directory lists from TopRank & MasterNewMedia for those who have blogs or feeds to submit
• Pat Sexton's solid list of where to submit Google Gadgets you might build for your site

The beautiful part about these link sources is that anyone and everyone can benefit.  Even if you don't have the right kinds of content today, by spending some time and effort expanding into areas like downloadable content, whitepapers, videos, podcasts, software and feeds you can earn significant link juice from some worthwhile sources. Just don't stop at this brief list I've created - if there's a type of content, a way you present it or a vertical it can apply to, there's almost certainly an opportunity to get links to it - you just need to brainstorm and start searching.

p.s. Tomorrow I'm heading over to Microsoft for a full day of SEO training, and didn't have time to send Rebecca any suggestions for the weekly roundup, so if you have any, please shoot them her way!