Those of us in the Search Marketing industry are well aware of the power of links. Links are like currency in the SEO world. High quality and authoritative links are worth more than gold to most SEO's. Disclaimer to Googlebot and Matt Cutt: I am not advocating moving to the gold standard for link acquisition nor am implying that anyone should buy links. My whole point here is that search marketing professionals understand how important links are to the success of any SEO work. We want links, we need links, and we go to great lengths to get high quality links. We are link junkies and if it came down to it some of us would stand on the street corner begging for links.

But to most of the people who own and run websites links do not have the same stature. Most people look at links as a way to show their visitors additional information about a topic on their site or to send users to a site they find interesting. You know, exactly what links are supposed to be for. Most of these people do not understand the worth of a link in SEO terms. To them it is simply a way to provide more information and be a part of the World Wide Web.

So what do we as SEO's have to do when we are working in an industry where nobody understands the value and power of a link. My main job is working for a real estate title company. Most of our competition have basic sites with a few pages that are not optimized. Our biggest competition online are the big underwriters (as well as Wikipedia and About.com). The smaller agencies have very basic sites and the owners have never heard of SEO. Our best link resources would related industries like mortgage lenders, real estate agents and brokers, and other real estate related sites. Some of these sites know that links can help but many are still stuck in the mindset that getting a bunch of reciprocal links from any site that will trade with them is going to shoot them to the top. They don't just hand out links to any site unless they get a link in return.

How do you combat this mindset and get those one way links? I am still struggling with this but I have come up with a few ways to get quality one way links.

• Ask for them: If we do some business with a lender or an agent and they liked the service we provided I will ask them if they would be willing to link to our site. In some cases they won't do it without reciprocation. Other times they are more than happy to send us a link. I have even had some success contacting journalists in the real estate industry about certain initiatives we are pushing and they have written about us and included a link or two to our site.
• Create Tools: We have had limited success with this but there has been some good feedback. We created a tool that can be placed on any site that allows users to get a free quote. It is easy to install, only requiring one line of code. I have promoted it on our blog and at industry related social networking sites.
• Participate in the Community: Almost every niche has some social networking sites. For real estate the biggest are Active Rain and Real Estate Webmasters. I have developed a presence in each of these communities. Many of the members there are relatively advanced and will link to you if they like what you are doing. Like any other social sites you have to participate and not just look like you are there for self promotion.
  
• Visit and Participate in Industry Blogs: Blogging is becoming fairly popular for some real estate professionals. I try to visit as many blogs as possible and make comments when I can. Again, not self promoting but actually participating in the conversation. Most blogs allow you to add your link and although in most cases it is nofollowed the blogger and visitors will visit and they may decide to link to your site.
• Link To Other Sites: Become an authority and a resource for the community by linking to useful information. If you link out generously you will be providing more information to your users and it will generate links back to you. This is another area where blogging helps. If you find a story on another blog or another site that your readers may find interesting, link to it. It will make your site more useful to users and it will attract links from that site and other people who visit it.
• Create Useful Content: IMO this is the most important. Content is King and will help your SEO efforts by itself but really good content also generates links. Even in industries where links are not considered so important good content can generate links. If you write content that is compelling to your target audience other sites and blogs can't help but link to it. Just because it is so useful.

Of course these techniques are the same even in SEO circles but it takes a bit more time and effort in less linky industries. You have to coax the others into understanding why they should link to you. Many SEO and tech sites will hand out links more readily while other industries need a bit of massaging and education to understand why they should link to you. Following these techniques along with a little education can go a long way in getting the links you want and need to survive.