Beware. This article is not a get rich quick scheme or a way to cut corners, rather a process of building links which is inspired by my roots in graphic design and a desire to give back to the SEOmoz community.

Arguable the hardest task any SEO encounters is link building, suggested by several SEOmoz.org polls and surveys. For me, link building can be a hit or miss endeavor, often ending in wasted time, chasing possibilities down rabbit holes. I needed a process to follow and the solution came from Todd Malicoat’s article, “Training Link Developers on the Link Building Cycle.”

Manual Link Building Cycle Visualized

The flowchart below is a slightly altered version of these steps in Todd’s link building cycle:

1. Create a list of juicy link website opportunities
2. Target a new website
3. Is the website a scraper?
4. Analyze backlinks
5. Analyze outbound links
6. Determine link value

Great Visualization—Now What?

Cut the fat—skip to step 6 of Todd’s cycle. Why? Identifying those rare strong sites whose links will increase your rankings will eliminate wasted time analyzing other “meh” sites. You can then focus on emailing, calling, donating, bribing or doing whatever it takes to get those strong links.

Don’t forget that once the highest value sites are targeted going after the weaker sites can help your link graph and rankings.

Feedback

I would love to hear your thoughts on how this graphic can be improved.