Tips for building links
Finding link round-ups
It can be tricky to find out who’s publishing link round-ups because not everyone uses that term. That said, here are some searches you can try that turn up results for most niches:
link roundup [your topic]
daily link roundup [your topic]
weekly link roundup [your topic]
daily links [your topic]
weekly link [your topic]
If that doesn’t reveal anything worthwhile, take a look at other blogs and sites in your niche. There’s usually someone, somewhere publishing this kind of post.
A close relation of the link roundup are link parties (also called blog hops). These are non-curated links lists, where the host blog lets other bloggers post links on a particular theme. The key to getting traffic from blog hops is to post early, so you’re near the top of the list, and to use an attention-grabbing headline.
Link parties are more popular in some niches than others, notably subjects like crafts, recipes, fitness, organizing, weddings, and parenting.
Writing your own weekly link roundup post
Because Google likes sites that link out to good quality content, publishing your own curated content can be a very smart move.
The trick is only to include the most valuable and useful links on a specific theme. Make sure you tell readers why you recommend a link and provide a mix of links from both big and not so big blogs so that even the biggest media junkies will find something new.
Send the link to everyone featured in your post. The chances are high that they will link back to you or share the link with their followers.
Regular curated content can be quite time-consuming to put together (though less so than writing a new blog post from scratch) but there are some good tools out there that really speed up the process.
ContentGems
This a content marketing service that aims to uncover important stories on subjects you define. Free and paid plans are available.
Feedly.com
Feedly is web-based app that lets you save content feeds into categories, allowing you to easily dip in and find interesting stories on key topics. There are also Android and iOS apps for mobile and tablet reading and saving.
Triberr
Another excellent reason to be active on this blogging syndication platform is an endless supply of stories posted by other bloggers in the same niche.
Blog Carnivals
Blog carnivals are an ongoing series of posts that link to articles on a theme. They’re a sort of cross between curated content and a mini-magazine. Depending on the carnival organizer, posts are either published on the same blog each week or on different blogs in turn. Submissions are usually coordinated through a central point.
Taking part in a popular blog carnival will bring a steady stream of visitors from blogs on a similar theme to yours, which means you’re likely to pick up new regular readers.
Like guest posting, being part of a carnival brings your site to the attention of a lot of readers quickly, but unlike guest posting you’re writing for your own site, not someone else.
All those new inbound links to your site are good for SEO too.
Submitting to blog carnivals is as easy as finding one that fits the theme of your site and suggesting material to the organizer. To find blog carnivals, try searching for [your subject] blog carnival.
Good resources for blog carnivals include:
http://bloggercarnivals.com
http://blogcarnivalhq.com