3. Products

3.1 manually

For manual submitting trackbacks you can find blogs in several different search sites.

I prefer to search for keyword related blogs in Technorati.com.

Append your search with "trackback" to find the posts that make it easier to submit to them by posting the uri.

Be sure to use the search in entire post settings in the "Blog Search settings."

If you are getting lots of results, you can narrow it down by choosing sites with a lot of authority.

This is a quick way to find some blogs suitable for trackbacks that are relevant to your niche and recent (less chance of trackbacks being turned off due to post age).

I haven't found the limit in WordPress yet of how many trackbacks can be entered.

If you have a favorite post, just open it in the WordPress Dashboard edit tab, add your list of trackback urls and save. Keep repeating.

Remember, your trackbacks will not show up on most blogs immediately or ever on some. When in doubt, set up a free WordPress blog and send a test trackback to it. Check the comments tab in the Dashboard for it's status.

3.1.1 YouTube - Blog Marketing With Trackbacks

Good video overview

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCCq3K7XpEI

3.2 web based

There are a variety of web-based trackback forms.

I have tested a couple of them. Their usefulness is in sending a trackback from a blog you don't have admin access to.

Why would you want to do that? Several reasons:

1. You forgot your blog login details

2. There is a link on the post that you want to promote on someone else's blog

3. Your blogging tool doesn't support trackbacks

4. Because you can.

Kurt always wonders why it takes me so long to write a "short" description of something. It's because I don't write anything I haven't tested or researched for a few hours. Often times it involves a credit card. Luckily this time it didn't.

Let's test reason #2. As I am doing this think about ways it can be semi-automated or further exploited (in a nice way, not abused) with parasite hosting.

I go to Technorati and search for "seo trackback"

I find an interesting article that I would like a link on:

http://blog.yourwebsiteprofit.info/2007/11/5- reasons-to- share-the-link-love.html

so I grab the trackback uri

http://blog.yourwebsiteprofit.info/2007/11/5- reasons-to- share-the-link-love.html/trackback

Now lets say you have a favorite blog post that has some links to you or an article you wrote posted on someone elses blog that makes you an authority or perhaps a blog post that picked up one of your black hole rss feeds that had your affiliate links or . . . (use your imagination).

Here is a good example (I just picked a random one from the Technorati search results):

http://junkspotnews.blogspot.com/2007/11/how- to-build- traffic-to-your-blog.html

So now you want some traffic and link love for this post.

1. Open up a web trackback submitter in the list. I haven't tested all of them but I prefer Wizbang.

2. The trackback uri from the page that I want a link on goes in the first box.

3. The URL of the post you are promoting goes in the next box

4. Your blog name and title next.

5. You can use an excerpt from the post with a link in like: "You'll find an extensive list of article directories here http://ebizwhiz- publishing.com/write-articles/submit- articles.htm"

That's not my link or blog. It some random blogger's lucky day. They can delete it if it's a problem. (And it was deleted when I went back to check my links - the drawback of links on other's sites)

This was what the result looked like:

Trackback by Junk Spot News
2007-11-06 19:18:11
How To Build Traffic To Your Blog
You’ll find an extensive list of article directories here http://ebizwhiz- publishing.com/write- articles/submit- articles.htm
Reply to this comment

You see the possibilities. I also managed to get 2 links on this blog to 2 different sites but targeted to the niche I am in. You can have a lot of fun with this. I am not sure if the web service checks if you used an exact excerpt or url so there are some things to test further.

This is a good way to distance yourself from some of the problems that can arise from trackback linking.

3.2.1 Simpletracks Adam Kalsey

http://kalsey.com/tools/trackback/

3.2.2 Wizbang Standalone Trackback Pinger

http://www.aylwardfamily.com/content/tbping.asp

3.2.3 reedmaniac.com - Trackback Form

http://www.reedmaniac.com/scripts/trackback_form.php

3.2.4 Trackback wizard - web.forret.com

http://web.forret.com/tools/trackback.asp

3.2.5 TrackBack Display

http://www.oreillynet.com/cgi-bin/tb/tb.cgi?__mode=send_form

3.3 server based products

3.3.1 Submit Trackback URL - Post Trackback Entry with Blog Trackback Submitter

http://www.submit-trackback.com/

$150 one time cost

Recent October update might be worth trying again

Tried an earlier version and didn't like it.
- difficult to install
- proxy problems
- adding my own trackback urls didn't work properly
- very spammy results

3.4 desktop products

3.4.1 Trackback Spider

Trackback Spider - Home

Waiting list sign up page
http://www.trackbackspider.com/

$97 monthly

Sold out and not available
Many affiliates have "special links" to get you in

Worst trackback tool I tried.
- difficult to set up
- monthly fees
- need to edit page codes

Disappointing since the creator is also the developer of Domain Dashboard which is one of my favorite tools.

TrackBack Spider
vendors own video
http://www.tbspider.com/

Underground Link Building Volume 1
Good report to read
http://www.trackbackspider.com/ulbv1.pdf

trackbackspider.com
Vendor's blog answering questions
http://www.trackbackspider.com/blog/

Trackback Spider Review Andy Beard - Niche Marketing
Interesting review of this tool
http://andybeard.eu/2007/05/trackback-spider-review.html

3.4.2 Link Whore Software News

http://www.link-whore.com/news.html

manual.pdf (applicationpdf Object)
Software manual for tools
http://www.link-whore.com/manual.pdf

$269 one time cost

The version I tried couldn't find more than one trackback a minute and would freeze after 10 minutes

It's a suite of tools that aren't well connected

Not one of them worked as advertised.

Interface can be offensive to some.

I wouldn't use it even for free.

3.4.3 TrackbackGenerator

http://www.trackbackgenerator.com/blog/

Sold out and no longer available at author's website. Sold for $147 to $97 one time cost (previous customers)

Trackback Generator from Joseph Tierney works the best for a commercial tool.

Only had one operating system error and that was due to using my own spider tool and not checking the urls that I saved. It does take a bit of practice to find the right timeout settings.

Works with text files and stores a list of urls that it considered successfully posted. In reality, only a small portion of those make it on the blog due to spam filters, vigilant webmasters, etc.

You are limited to promoting a single url at a time nor can you randomize the anchor text unless you start a new project.

It is very easy to over do it with this tool because it actually works.

It takes some practice to know how many trackback links are needed to get your site indexed versus how many before you piss off the wrong webmaster and get complaints and hate comments in return.

Best to practice on throwaway subdomains from wordpress.com for the first couple days.

The tool can gather about 1,000 backtrack target urls per hour and post about 400 per hour. About 5% of them will stick at least long enough for one pass of the spiders. Your mileage may vary.

WTFIsATrackback
A good report by the vendor
http://www.josephtierney.com/WTFIsATrackback.pdf

BankWithTrackbackGenerator
How to make money with trackback links
Just a personal observation - Squidoo will close your lens if they get complaints.
http://www.josephtierney.com/BankWithTrackbackGenerator.pdf

3.5 private services

3.5.1 Squirt members trackbackpro tool

$100 month

Included as part of the SQUIRT membership benefits

Unable to get the install working

Looks like it has potential but gave up on it

3.5.2 PG Insider Magic Builder

Included as part of the Magic Promoter suite

Worked good for a few domains then server IP seemed to be banned.

Not easy to install and requires tech support to help setup

Poorly documented

Overall effectiveness of the Magic Builder suite is questionable

$97 month

3.5.3 Roll Your Own Scripts

You can find snippets of code on most black hat forums to create your own or hire an outsourcer

Apparently it's not a difficult process if you are a programmer. It's adding all the "must have" extra features that cause problems.

***********

And that wraps up Kurt's request for "a paragraph about trackbacks for linking; Legit/manual, Automated."

Hope I have it covered. Questions are welcome.