1) If you have content knowledge…. Write an article about a Chapter or Topic in a popular college course, then notify professors about it. Such links deliver short bursts of traffic each semester that the course is taught – normally less than one visit for each student enrolled in the course – unless that profs page is ranking in the SERPs – then you will get lots of traffic. Don’t do this unless you have fantastic knowledge and writing ability on the topic – or hire a second prof to write the article for you. Profs are extra picky about what they link to. Don’t bug them for a link unless you have best on the web calibre content. Note that most of these links are now inside of course management systems such as BlackBoard and WebCT. These do not get spidered and pass no juice.
2) Edu links on the admissions page of the school site – such as “local lodging” or “local restaurants” can be golden. They can deliver a nice amount of traffic if they are optimized as they will frequently get top SERPs in local markets. These are very worth playing for if you have a site related to local lodging or restaurant themes.
3) If a profs page is not well optimized and you have a link on it, chat it up a bit with her or her webmaster because a few friendly pointers might bump that page up the SERPs and triple your traffic and they might enjoy seeing their page in a more promient position. Be careful though as this page might be in competition with you, now or in the future – and their page will probably whip yours.
4) Here’s a fun way to get .edu links… Early each year, go to all of the cool beaches before the college students get there for spring break and take lots of pics, visit all of the beer joints and post reviews and details and photos for the whole tour. I think that you could then get .edu links from student webpages to your site. Register a memorable domain for it like springbreakbeaches.com
5) Offer to help…. find an .edu site with a department page or sports team page that looks like crap. Offer to redesign, adhering to University guidelines. Lots of prof hate to build websites but somebody has to do it for the department. You can ask for a designer link for your efforts. Offer to help with RSS feed, forms, whatever you know how to do. Lots of small schools need help. This is win-win.
6) Make a big donation in the name of your biz to their scholarship fund. Lots of schools list their big donors on a special page of their site. If you give a really big gift they might be willing to include your URL.
7) If you have a yoga biz offer to give a talk and free yoga session on the campus. The announcement of your event could include a link to your website. Schedule several sessions in advance and that will keep your page on their website and linked to. You not only get a link but you get free advertising for your yoga biz.
8) Become an adjunct faculty member or teach a non-credit in your area of specialty. Adjunct faculty usually can get a folder on the .edu domain. Don’t dare post your viagra site links on it… but if you are teaching a course in nutrition you could put a few links on it to your nutrition info site. If you are teaching noncredit course in building websites then linking to a few examples of your own work is acceptable.
9) Universities often sponsor community events such as Special Olympics, summer kids programs, visiting orchestras, and more. Offer financial support to these in the name of your biz. They are often listed in the printed program and on the web announcement.
10) Maybe you don’t have time to teach a full course on a subject but you are up to giving a few guest lectures. Offer your services to one of the professors and if you are scheduled the syllabus or lecture schedule might include a link to your site if it is relevant to the topic that you are lecturing on.
OK… there are your ten linkbuilding ideas… now it’s your turn. Please share a tip on how you have earned an .edu link or what you think might work.
