Using Fan Sites for Link Building
Link building is a tiring, but highly rewarding exercise and you need to exploit each avenue possible to expose your website to the virtual world. One trick to spread your links is to explore fan sites that usually offer a bounty of information and can be persuaded to link up with you provided you accord them the necessary respect.
The first step to locating fan sites, both official and unofficial is to conduct a detailed search to locate such sites. For instance, if you are interested in bikes or motorcycles, then seeking out bike manufacturing websites, bike review sites, model-specific bike websites, etc., will reward you with a large readymade fan base.
In addition, you can also seek out bike websites that hold bike shows, bike races, and bike auctions, among others and also physically visit a few venues to actually get into the minds of fans. Using social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter too will enable you to latch on to a circle of fans. Once you have a decent-sized database ready, then it is time to reach out to them and convince them to link up with you in a way that mutually benefits both parties.
This can be done by organizing online contests, writing articles or blogs related to the industry and the actual fans, and giving away freebies related to the product or their idols. For instance, you can give custom-made bike parts or accessories to winners of online contests or if you have a large budget, can arrange for famous bikers to autograph caps, t-shirts, etc., that can be offered as prizes. You can also arrange to interview these idols and display the interview in your articles and blogs.
These moves will not only enable you to penetrate fan sites and impress them enough to incorporate links towards your websites, but in time will also reward you with your own circle of fans. Using fan sites is indeed a wonderful tactic of creating backlinks as well as expanding into your target market.
