What 24’s Jack Bauer Is Teaching Me About Linkbuilding

I am a huge fan of the TV series called 24. The main actor is Jack Bauer. And he is teaching me how to do better linkbuilding. You don’t believe me? Read this.

Never trust others. Do your own shit.

This is simple. And thanks Jack for suggesting me. It is simple indeed, but many people seem not able to understand. Like many of you , I read a lot of how to improve linkbuilding. But for once, you have to understand that not all you read is going to work FOR YOU. And, some techniques you find amazing are like that because someone smart has tried them FOR THE FIRST TIME. So why you don’t have to be confident and invent something cool yourself?

Face to face.

Simple to say, harder to do. I work in Germany, for example, and mostly I am in touch with Italians. How am I supposed to meet this people? Ok, face to face is quite impossible, but you can reach them and talk with them over skype, or gMail chat, or telephone. You can’t be pissed if someone is not answering your cold emails. Because, let’s say it: how do you even pretend to have a link from someone when you are sending out an email that is completely cold and distant? You have to curate the contact, like you curate your new vinyl. After that, everything is going to be a lot of easier. Thanks again, Jack, face to face is always the best thing to do in order to save US government from an attack, but even to have links in the sites, right?

Show your heart.

You don’t expect this from Jack Bauer, but sometimes he cries. And so what? He has an heart too, you know. So you too: don’t be afraid to show you are human. Don’t always think: “ah, people they don’t know what they’re doing, they don’t understand SEO”. Be gentle, be kind and not only you are going to have the link in the blog you want , but actually you are gonna have maybe a new friend, who is gonna help you out with something else in the future.

There is no limit.

And Jack Bauer knows this well. There is always a good idea to develop , a good blog to contact, a good site to get in touch with. I don’t get when people say: I’m not able to find new ideas to have some links. WHAT? I think we need to use “idea builder” rather than “link builder” and everything will be a lot easier. Build ideas, not links.

Raise your voice.

When you work together with a lot of people, with different ideas, you have to raise your voice. Jack Bauer sometimes screams so much in front of your face that he’s almost spitting at you. But for a reason: he knows the President is in danger, and people are handling this situation in a wrong way. Same when you talk about LB strategies: it’s cool to have different opinions, but if someone is saying that the only way to rank is to create spammy links, well…say something, raise your voice (possibly don’t spit).

Trust few people

Trust them. And they are gonna trust you. Relationships are all, especially now, especially with selected people. I have to say I had the most valuable links thanks to people I totally trust, because I know they are awesome, and they trust me because I’m not only there for the link, but I’m there FOR THEM. Jack Bauer trusts like 3 people in the whole world, but he always saved the world, right?

Keep having good relations even after the link

That’s an error I’m seeing often. You had the links, you’re happy, your boss is happy, so… screw the blogger or the webmaster. WRONG. Should I send Jack Bauer over to make you understand this is wrong? When there is gonna be another occasion and you need that site for a link , you screwed yourself, because if you treat people in a bad way, they’re gonna treat you bad as well. And they are damn right. The relationship has to be something that lasts. A link is forever? Well, I have my doubt.

Your enemies can determine your success.

Enemy is too strong word. Competitors? Other similar sites? Whatever, you know what I mean. I understand the obsession to know what competitors are doing, and copy their good moves and stuff. But you can’t be better than them? Take your competitors’ weak points in marketing strategy, and take advantage of them. But not merely to beat them, but even to show your brand is better. You have to do it for your users, not for the “enemy”….right Jack?

Don’t rely too much on the same techniques.

Things evolve. And thanks God. Yeah for sure there are some linkbuilding tricks that always work , but tomorrow things can change. So, find your own way, find what works for you, together even with your user. Really, best ideas about how to have links in good sites came from the ones who I was asking for them. Funny uh? Your users are an incredible source of ideas. The only thing Jack Bauer rely to is his mind. Same for you.

Never stop.

The brand belongs to the user. So never stop creating something awesome, because you’re never safe 100%. Jack Bauer knows the danger is always one step behind. Don’t focus ONLY on SEO parameters to value the power of a link (YO!), do something cool and creative.

This is a guest post by Alessio Madeyski whom you can and should follow on Twitter. Alessio is an Italian SEO who lives in Berlin and is almost always in an amazingly good mood. He also has spectacular taste in music and sunglasses.