Linking is a two way street. Give and you shall receive. This is the unwritten rule that most successful bloggers follow.One of the things that makes a blog a blog is that it links to other blogs and websites, and comments on them. That’s pretty basic.But what many bloggers don’t realize is how to leverage the power of the outbound link to create even more inbound links. “Link Karma” is a real phenomenon, and while you shouldn’t overdo it, don’t underestimate it either.Why does it work? Well, first of all, because bloggers love it when you link to them … and out of gratitude, they will likely link back to you. That’s basic human nature.But second, a list of links to a whole bunch of blogs, when done properly, can create a buzz of talk about your link post that will multiply that first effect.Let’s take an example: One of the most popular posts on NorthxEast.com I’ve ever written is the Top 50 Most Influential Bloggers. It took a look at the 50 bloggers that have the most influence on the rest of the blogging world, and linked to each of them.Well, it worked brilliantly. A number of those top bloggers linked back to the original post … including the amazing Darren Rowse (I’m a big fan of his), who called the post the best example of linkbait (that week).In addition, because of the nature of the post, a bunch of other blogs talked about the list, and it hit the front page of Digg and other social bookmarking services. Each success built upon the previous one, with big blogs linking to it, small blogs linking to it, and people bookmarking it, until soon it was seen by a large portion of the blogging world.So how can you use that on your blog? It’s not difficult, and if done right, the payoff can be huge. Here’s how to do it:1. Find a hot topic. You can’t just start linking to other blogs randomly — you have to organize the links around a topic that people will want to read about. What’s hot in your niche? Don’t do something that’s been done too many times before — look for topics that are ripe for the plucking.Example: Makeuseof.com is a great example of a site that finds hot topics and creates link posts. See 13 Bargain Websites That are Cheaper than eBay for one example.2. Create a resource. Another key point in creating a link post is to create a list of some of the most useful sites (organized around the hot topic mentioned above). If it’s useful to people, they’ll bookmark it to read or refer to later. So your resource should have more than 10 sites to be a reference source that others will refer to when they need it.Example: Probably the best website for resource posts is Smashing Magazine, which regularly churns out great resources. See 80+ AJAX Solutions for Professional Coders for just one example.3. Link to big blogs. So you’ve created a resource, which is only useful if you link to useful sites and blogs. But it’s most useful to you, as a blogger, if you link to bigger blogs than your own. Because those blogs might link back to you, and they have audiences that you’d like to reach.Example: In the blogging for bloggers world, some of my favorites in this field include ProBlogger, Copyblogger and Dosh Dosh. If you’re in this niche, link to them and other big blogs.4. Bloggers and coders. Your ideal target audience in Link Karma is people who can link back to you — namely, other bloggers, and people who code websites. Regular people with no blog or website can’t link back to you. You want to reach those who can link back. So if you create resources that bloggers and coders can use, you have a better chance for success. Now, you don’t have to appeal to all bloggers — you can just aim at those in your niche. (See my Top 50 Productivity Blogs for an example).Example: Another great website for creating resources for bloggers and website coders is Mashable. See their recent 30+ Joomla Tools and Resources for one example.5. The Delicious Factor. One of the best things about creating a resource post, besides the Link Karma factor, is that people bookmark it. And of course, the most popular bookmarking service is del.icio.us … which can send major traffic to your blog. A good resource page, with some incoming traffic from Link Karma, can get bookmarked on delicious a bunch of times … and if you get bookmarked enough times, you can get on the del.icio.us popular page, which can send good traffic.The popular page can also be a springboard to other social bookmarking services. For example, if you make the popular page, the extra traffic can help your page get to the front page of Digg, which sends even more traffic.Example: Just recently, the Graphic Design Blog had a post called 99 Useful Resources for Graphic Designers that hit the popular page of del.icio.us and then hit the front page of Digg. Of course, it then ran into the Digg Effect and was crashed. 
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Excellent post Leo. It is indeed true. Blogs that know how to leverage the power of outbound links are much more successful than those who just waits to be linked to. Mashable is not just a good example, it is an excellent example.
Practice what you preach and all that… this post is jammed full of links
Good ideas there though, it’s something I feel I should do more of as well.
Another rock-solid post Leo. I find that having a “linking out” post once in a while to all those great posts I read in my Feedreader helps a lot with networking and meeting new faces – so that’s something I would wholeheartedly recommend.And if you can write a list with 100 links in it every other day like the guys do at SmashingMagazine – then the more the better. For me, once every 3 months is enough per linkbait!
Ooo this is exciting, this is the first post that I didn’t put up! Good job Cameron & Leo!!
This is my first visit here courtesy of Mashable Buzztracker.This is a very informative post. I have learnt a lot from it. Keep it up:)
I am already giving out links without asking anything for return. I find that karma really happens, maybe not from the blogger himself but sometimes from his readers.I have link out to famous blogs a few times but the only time I met success is when I found out a great news but then, all other attempts failed.It is not to say that I am asking for a linkback but for those who really want some links, you can try to give link loves to some smaller blogs, they will feel happier about it.
@Wayne: I think it has to do with exposure as well. Linking to other sites sometimes bring the attention of those bloggers to you. But the problem with linking to big blogs is that they are already getting a lot of link love, so sometimes you might feel slightly ‘neglected’? But I believe just having that track back is worth it.
Cheers for the mention, Leo!I would argue that Mashable is a bad example to follow when you are creating resource lists for links. They used to push it far too frequently, sometimes churning out 4 huge resource lists in one week.This not only weakens/splits the amount of links you receive but may irritate the audience. Many times I’ve seen Diggers complain in the comments of these submitted lists.Any good linkbaiter knows that one huge linkbait a week is ideal. Nobody wants to link to the same domain 4 times a week, day after day.
This is a great post. Thanks for sharing, very informative. good job Leo
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“Link to big blogs” may not be a useful in return. the big blogs’ authors don’t have enough time to read the small new blogs and link them. I think good commenting with intelligent items in comments may be more useful to be linked in return.
Hi Maki … you’re absolutely right, of course. Resource lists and link karma can be way overdone. I was pointing to Mashable as an example because if you look at their individual posts, they’re well done (as are yours of course). I wouldn’t recommend doing this more than once per week (I use it far less frequently … maybe once every month or two).Great comment!
Really very helpful post Leo. Linking out does help and I’m in the process of learning it. What I tried to do was put my own views on my blog which wasn’t helping much, but as I grew as a blogger I could understand the power of linking out. This has helped me to acquire few very good links including a link from Rusty Brick’s blog.
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Well written. This is being done by a few others now – example http://www.45n5.com/top100it worked very well for him. Infact, your article has just given me a good idea too!! Thanks! I’ll get it up in the next few days on my site
Its an idea that any vertical content blog area can use.
Hi Leo, I just “stumbled” you and am thrilled I did. I enjoyed this post, and can personally vouch for the trueness of your statements. I recently posted a topic about how to be a problogger, and because of linking to Darren Rowse, Andy Beard and John Chow etc I got slammed with traffic. I wanted it to be an informative and helpful post, but it was also a test I was running. And it worked like a charm.
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I am going to give this a shot on my blog and see how it works, sounds like a great idea.
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Hi Leo, great post and thank you for sharing information. I have been looking at ways to increase traffic and you really put it together nicely. Will go ahead and try some of these!
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Hi there,Just like to say what a great blog this is, and the post was incredibly thought provoking.Keep up the good work.The Butt Ugly Marketing Man,BigPaulP.