This Link Building Was Pure Genius

First an annoucement and then a link tip so please don't quit reading because you've already heard about the SEMMYS...

Thankfully those of us working in the SEO/SEM industry aren't on strike or we'd have far fewer articles to fill nomination spots for the new SEMMYS.

The SEMMYS are a collection of search marketing blog posts our friend Matt McGee showcased on his blog, Small Business SEM during 2007. There are 15 categories including, SEO, Local Search, Analytics, Rants and of course the most prestigious one (cough) - Link Building.

Yours truly is a judge in the SEO category along with Eric Enge and Andy Beal. We have a ton of articles to read through and adjudicate so I'm going to be busy for a bit.

It's important to keep in mind the articles selected are from Matt's weekly round-up lists, he had quite the collection in 2007. There wasn't a nomination or selection process so in the future it might be a good idea to suck up to Matt when you see him around the conferences.

Which is the other point I want to make about the SEMMYS in addition to announcing them.

This was a stroke of genius on Matt's part IMO, think about it... If you're an up-and-comer in SEO you'll work hard to get on Matt's radar by linking to and writing about him.

In turn (and here is where the genius comes in) Matt is going to get:

• A ton of on topic relevant editoral links which will probably
• Sit in content areas within a blog or site and
• Come from thematically related sites/blogs

Now if you're an old-and-been-arounder like me, and were either nominated, asked to judge or just annouce SEO news, you're going to link to Matt's site which means he's going to get:

• A ton of on topic relevant editoral links which will probably
• Sit in content areas within a blog or site and
• Get a bunch of less effective but still good links embedded in his badges as well as
• Long term branding since we're lazy bloggers and don't take badges down and all this will
• Come from thematically related sites/blogs that have been (mostly)online for more than two years.

Hmmm. Do you think that's the end of it and there's no more links to squeeze of out this? Think again.

There are two hits on Google News for the search term "semmys" and I'm sure more will come when Matt issues a press release. The annoucement for the program has been Sphunn, was added to the SEL daily Search Cap, made Gooruze, SE Roundtable, Cre8asite Forums, SEOBook, Bruce Clay's Blog, Cartoon Barry, and Search Engine Guide, not to mention a ton of other sites.

Pretty impressive list of sites from the SEO community isn't it? And you know what's even more impressive? The contest was officially annouced earlier today (1/14/08), all this attention and all these links --in ONE DAY!

Like I said - smart move. If you're a little-fish-in-a-big-pond, or even an old-fish-in-an-established-watering-hole and want editoral links from authority sites in your niche, this might be a good way to go about attracting them.

Do you have an opportunity like this in your industry?

Sphinn this here if you liked this post. Thanks!