In fact, they had a December that was more than twice as good as last December. Reddit’s Erik Martin just told the Daily Dot that the social aggregation site topped two billion pageviews last month.

A 2010 post shows that number crushes the December 2010 number, a still sizable 829 million pageviews. That figure itself was up over 200% from January 2010′s pageviews, which totaled 250 million.

Reddit not only saw a huge increase in pageviews, according to Martin, but also saw a giant uptick in unique visitors. The site saw 35 million in December 2011, more than tripling the figure from December 2010.

Not only that, but the average visitor spends 16 minutes on the site (why so little, guys) and visits almost 13 pages.

More fun stats: 68% of traffic comes from Windows users, 42% of traffic from the Chrome browser and 65% from the United States.

When we’re talking about an internet property that still loves Insanity Wolf, it’s pretty funny to say that we’ve watched it grow up before our eyes. But think about it: reddit has done some pretty remarkable things in 2011. Subreddits like /r/atheism raised thousands of dollars for a kid’s bone marrow transplant and even more for charities like Doctors without borders.

Recently, reddit was at the forefront of the charge to boycott GoDaddy for its support of the Stop Online Piracy Act. In fact, reddit has been the most constant and influential voice against SOPA anywhere – and that includes internet media as well as traditional outlets.

But above all that, reddit’s link aggregation is simply a lot of fun. And the community is incredibly active. And we’ve seen it getting bigger each month for a couple of years now – there’s no reason to think that it won’t grow even more in the next year.

But 2 billion pageviews in December. That’s a whole lot of Good Guy Gregs, Skyrim posts, Neil deGrasse Tyson AMAs and wonderfully interesting Today I Learneds.

View more daily infographic round-ups here.

Should you use Twitter? (Flowtown via AllTwitter):

An ode to the organic link:

Source:LiveScience

View more daily infographic round-ups here.
10 Commandments of Link Building: Link Building:

via

Prison vs. Princeton:

Created by: Public Administration

Facebook security:

Not only must we continue to create great content, we’ve got to find more quality sites from which to get links. And to find more quality sites, we’ve got to go beyond simple competitive link analysis.

For many marketers, the first thought in link building is to do a competitive link analysis and then target the sites that are linking to your competitors but not to you.

That’s a good start, but it will never bring you all you need: if ‘follow your competitors’ is all you do, you’ll only be chasing links from sites where your competitors have already succeeded and that means you’ll always be behind them.

To be really effective in link building we’ve got to be more creative and go way beyond competitive link analysis in looking for new link opportunities.

Step 1: Broaden your idea of relevance

You have got to have relevant links, right?

That’s true but it’s only part of the picture. Many people’s idea of relevance is limiting.

Take BobsRedMill.com who produce whole grain foods. As you’d expect they get links from food sites like Chow.com, Epicurious.com and VegWeb.com.

But they also get links from:

• [GetRichslowly.com], a personal finance website that recommends them as a source of inexpensive, quality cereals.
• [Children’s Hospital Boston] as part of their Patient Education Information on Gluten-free foods
• [CNN small business] because of their employee ownership scheme
• [New York University’s Student Health Center]
• [BikePortland.org] for providing breakfasts for participants in a cycling event.

All of these are relevant links in the context in which they appear.

If you take only a limited view of relevance, you won’t even think of opportunities like these.

Step 2: Maximize your relationship with sites that already link to you

Sites that have already taken the step of linking to you, have done so for a reason. Do you really understand what that reason is and what their motivation is for going to the trouble of writing the code that gives you the all important link?

Perhaps:

• they’ve used your products and found them particularly useful
• you solved a specific problem for them
• they’re compiling a resource list
• perhaps they’re posting on a specific topic and they found something you wrote relevant
• …etc.

Discovering the specific reasons why gives you the basis of strengthening your relationship with a site. That could lead to:

• further coverage and links in the future
• keyword-rich linking text
• links to deep content on your site
• interest in joint ventures or affiliate relationships
• and much more…

You get the idea – linking to you is a sign that they’re interested in what you’re doing and you should follow up with something that strengthens your relationship.

Step 3: Check out who links to the sites that link to you

So you’ve looked at sites that link to you, you’ve understood why they linked, and you’ve approached them to strengthen your relationship. Now it’s time to move on and win some new links.

The sites that already link to you can be seen as an informal ‘organic link network’ that has evolved due to their interest in what you do. Sites that link to them are also sites that are likely to be interested in what you do.

For example, Footlocker.com get a link from the fashion blog [Nitrolicious.com] which in turn gets a link from another fashion blog, [ElementsOfStyle.com] – that blog and many hundreds of others could be more targets for Footlocker.com.

So find out who links to the sites that link to you and you’ll find many more linking opportunities.

Step 4: Check out who links to the top magazines in your market

Top magazines in your market can be a great source of high quality link prospects.

Magazines, newspapers and online news sites often quote and link to each other, so compiling links to the top magazine will reveal many other media outlets. This helps you build lists of target publications and identifies journalists and editors who could be interested in your company. Furthermore, bloggers will comment upon, link to and share any interesting article or news piece they come across.

So if you’re interested in ‘gourmet food’ for example, sites that link to leading food magazines like bonappetit.com, saveur.com, cooksillustrated.com, foodandwine.com and epicurious.com
are likely to be of great interest.

Step 5: Collect lists of the top blogs in your market

Link building is a tough task and you need all the help you can get. So how about getting some help from all those wonderful people out there who compile lists on the ‘top blogs’ in any given industry. Such people will probably have reviewed the sites, maybe even published some metrics that can help you identify blogs that you can target.

For example, SportsManagementColleges.net provide a list of the [top 50 skiing blogs]

And even better, you can use the top blogs that you find as I’ve used the top magazines in the example above. Blogs tend to link to and comment upon posts made by other blogs in their industry. So using them as a source for finding new links is very productive.

Finally

I’ve outlined 5 techniques for going beyond competitive link analysis and being creative in where you look for new link prospects. But of course, don’t just follow my ideas, develop your own unique methods and you’ll soon be discovering a ton of relevant link prospects that you competitors haven’t even thought of.

And, if you’ve got some good prospecting techniques I haven’t mentioned, please post them in the comments below.

Do you think a publication should charge others to link to their content? Let us know in the comments.

Central European News (CEN) is a media organization that provides various services like news, images, research, and more to various media outlets, for money.

PressGazette’s Andrew Pugh ran an interesting story about the Huffington Post linking to sources like The Daily Mail, which had paid for content from CEN. CEN decided to send payment invoices to The Huffington Post, and the Huffington Post paid them. So then, CEN encouraged other content providers to follow their lead, and send the Huffington Post invoices as well. The thinking here is that other publications would be compensated for The Huffington Post linking to them.

Interesting position, but as it turns out, the Huffington Post didn’t mean to pay, as was revealed in an update to Pugh’s original post. They use CEN as one of their photo providers, and do pay for those services, and mistook these invoices as being related to that. So anyone who wishes to bill the Huffington Post for linking to their content might think twice about the probability that they’ll actually receive payment.

The real question here is: should The Huffington Post (or any site/blog) have to pay an original content creator to link to their content? Now, keep in mind: The Huffington Post LINKED to that content. It did not publish that content. It’s a link, referencing the content, not a copy of the full article.

According to the logic expressed by CEN, as conveyed in Pugh’s piece, it’s a violation of copyright if a publication even uses the original content as a starting point. So, by this logic, for example, if Publication A was the first to report on the death of Gaddafi, it would be a violation for publications B, C, D, E, and F, to report that Publication A was in fact reporting this news. Publication B could not say, “Publication A is reporting that Gaddafi is dead, but we have yet to confirm this.”

So, if one publication was able to get a source of their own with that information, but nobody else was able to, publications B, C, D, E, F, etc. would not even be able to mention that one publication was reporting on the death. The world would have to already be reading publication A to even know about the death, or at least reading publication G, H, I, J or K, which are paying Publication A for the rights to reprint.

Nevermind that it’s entirely possible that Publication A is not even a service that charges publications for reprints, because it’s entirely possible that publication A could be just a blog, or even somebody’s Google+ account. News is not only reported by traditional means anymore. That’s just the way it is.

Let’s look at one of the Huffington Post examples referenced in Pugh’s piece:

You can see that while the piece is not an incredibly lengthy, in depth piece, it does link to five different pages to pull together its story. This is in and of itself an indication that the piece is not a total rewrite of one article, but is drawing on references from various sources (including the Huffington Post’s own content). If you actually click through to those other articles, you can also see that this is not a straight re-write of any one piece.

As often as the law (as least in this country) has ruled on the side of fair use, I have a hard time believing Huffington Post would be legally in the wrong here, though I am not a lawyer by any means, and CEN is obviously not based in the U.S.

It seems like CEN wants people to pay to link to their content, but if you’re paying, why wouldn’t you just post the whole article. Impeding linking would be a dangerous precedent to set on the web. If sites are required to pay every time they want to reference a piece of information, it’s bound to not only create more situations where content providers just go uncredited, but it’s also likely to stifle a lot of valuable content from being created in the first place.

If one publication has information that is indeed new, or shares some insight that has not been expressed previously, but only makes sense in the context of another piece of information that has already been published by a different publication, they need to reference that piece. It simply doesn’t make sense to have to pay to point to freely available information, in my opinion. Feel free to disagree. That’s the way the web works. The web is based on links. Without links, it’s not a web.

While the HuffPost piece in question may not be some hugely important piece of content, who decides where the line is?

Where do you think the line is? Tell us what you think.

“Tens of millions of links are tweeted on Twitter each day,” the company says. “Wrapping these shared links helps Twitter protect users from malicious content while offering useful insights on engagement. All links submitted within tweets and direct messages, regardless of length, will eventually be wrapped with t.co.”

A few months ago, Twitter started shortening all URLs automatically, leaving the domain names in tact. Personally, I thought this was a good strategy. “Since we show a shortened version of the original link, people will know which site the link points to,” Twitter’s Carolyn Penner said at the time. “This service also increases security. If users click links that are reported as malicious, we direct them to a page that warns them.”

These links were still assigned to a t.co link, but you could see the source of the link. Now, you’ll just have to trust Twitter I guess.

Interestingly enough, I just had a questionable direct message over the weekend, with a suspect URL that was wrapped in a t.co URL.

“As you know, Webmaster Tools lists links pointing to your site in two separate categories: links coming from other sites, and links from within your site,” says Google Webmaster Trends analyst Susan Moskwa. “Today’s update won’t change your total number of links, but will hopefully present your backlinks in a way that more closely aligns with your idea of which links are actually from your site vs. from other sites.”

For one, subdomains are now counted as internal links, which makes a great deal of sense. Here’s a chart showing how links have changed:

“If you own a site that’s on a subdomain (such as googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com) or in a subfolder (www.google.com/support/webmasters/) and don’t own the root domain, you’ll still only see links from URLs starting with that subdomain or subfolder in your internal links, and all others will be categorized as external links,” says Moskwa. “We’ve made a few backend changes so that these numbers should be even more accurate for you.”

She does note that if you own a root domain, your number of external links may appear to go down.

1 – because they alert us to your website when its new, or to new content
2 – because they are a vote of confidence in your site – quality websites tend to link to other quality websites
3 – because those links can send you direct traffic
4 – because over time, they can help establish a footprint that points to your authority on a topic (think guest blogging)

The main point from the post is pretty much: links are not everything when it comes to ranking in search engines. Nothing new there. Still, it never hurts to listen to the policies as they’re explained by the search engines themselves.

On how many links you need, Forrester says, “Not as many as you may think.  Again, as with so many other areas of search optimization, there’s no exact number here.  On popular phrases with lots of query volume, to rank well will require more links from trusted, quality websites to boost your rankings.  Less popular phrases can often require many less links pointed at your site to see the same lift in rankings.  This is where a targeted link building approach can pay off for you.”

The take-aways of the post, Forrester says, are: don’t buy links, great content builds links, prove to users you’re a trusted authority (and links will follow), and social media can help grow links.

Here’s where Bing gives its advice for link building.

“The shorter a URL, the easier it is to share and remember,” said Google VP Consumer Marketing Gary Briggs. “The downside is, you often can’t tell what website you’re going to be redirected to. We’ll only use g.co to send you to webpages that are owned by Google, and only we can create g.co shortcuts. That means you can visit a g.co shortcut confident you will always end up at a page for a Google product or service.”

“There’s no need to fret about the fate of goo.gl; we like it as much as you do, and nothing is changing on that front. It will continue to be our public URL shortener that anybody can use to shorten URLs across the web.”

In April, Google launched some upgrades to goo.gl like an improved “copy to clipboard” option, a remove from dashboard option, and spam reporting. There were also improvements to speed and stability.

Given that Google just launched its new social network Google+ a couple weeks ago, I’d have to assume we’ll still be seeing plenty of goo.gl URLs. It will be interesting to see where all Google uses the new ones.

Earlier this year we looked at URL shorteners and how they affect SEO, with commentary from Google’s Matt Cutts:

More on that here.

There are many ways to get other sites to link to yours, which helps in boosting your ranking on search engines.

Here are 25 link-building methods you can use for your website.

1. Pay for a Listing

There are sites that will pay to host a link to your website, so if you’ve got the budget, this is your easiest method. This can be a great way of attracting traffic, but be careful that the site you’re advertising with follows Google’s webmaster guidelines.

Paid links fall within Google’s guidelines as long as they are designated as advertising. You should do this by:

• Adding a rel=”nofollow” attribute to the <a> tag
• Redirecting the links to a page that is blocked from search engines with a robots.txt file

Fail to follow Google’s advice and you may adversely affect your site’s position in their search results.

2. Join a Trade Association

Oftentimes, trade organizations link to their members’ websites, so this is a great way to get more exposure for your site. A quick search will help you find many organizations that relate to the industry you’re in. Check to see that they have a member directory with links before joining.

3. Get People Talking About Your Products

People might be talking about your products right now. Would you know if they were? It’s easy to set up a free Google Alert to find out any time someone mentions your company or links to your site. This might come in the form of a product review, blog post, social media update or question in a forum about your products.

It’s important to know who’s talking about you and respond to any questions or feedback (especially negative) immediately.

4. Join a Local Group

Just like with trade associations, local groups like Chambers of Commerce or business networking organizations will often link to their members’ sites. Find groups you want to be associated with and join.

5. Be a Great Case Study

By giving your opinion, taking surveys and connecting with the media, you can get a link to your site included in a case study or article. Let your opinions be heard, as it’s a great way to get some exposure online.

You likely fit into some category, whether it be as a young entrepreneur, senior entrepreneur, work-at-home parent or ecommerce specialist. Connect with others like you, and brand yourself as a representative of that group. Look for opportunities, such as the one that YoungEntrepreneur.com offers, to submit your story for more coverage of you and your company.

7. Submit a Tip

By providing useful information on your blog or website, visitors to your site will link to these tips and share with others. Also look for media leads like Help a Reporter Out, where journalists put out requests for tips or advice from certain types of people. You might get quoted in a
newspaper, magazine or website.

8. Piggyback Breaking News

Pay attention to the news, and find ways to write blog posts or comment on relevant news. For example, after the news broke that the Clintons’ cat, Socks, had passed away, PetsPlace.com wrote an article on “10 Oddest Presidential Pets,” which was linked to by many other sites.

9. Become a Valuable Resource

Often, writers will compile a list of resources for an article. If you have a relationship with the writer or reporter, you might be included in that list. For instance, if you run a diner in Arizona, your restaurant might be included in a list of places to visit in an article about Arizona. At Wordtracker we set up an online marketing Academy that is packed with valuable advice – it attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors a month.

10. Offer a Discount

People love saving money, and they love sharing deals with others. Many bloggers specialize in finding coupons and sales and telling their readers about them, so make sure they know about your discount. During holidays, offer special themed discounts to improve visibility and links.

11. Make a Donation

While contributing to charity is good in and of itself, it can also provide good PR opportunity, as many organizations will link to contributors’ sites, or include them in a press release. You can issue a press release yourself about your involvement with a charity.

12. Support Your Industry

Whether you donate to industry organizations, attend meetings or just host a badge on your site, you may find that they respond in kind by hosting a link to yours.

13. Be Unusual

The more unique your business, the more attention it will get. Sites like CoolBusinessIdeas.com look for innovative companies to profile, and you can search for sites where you can submit your out-of-the-ordinary company.

14. Give an Interview

People make better stories than companies, so position yourself as an expert in your industry with journalists so that they will want to interview the person behind your company. Ask them to link to your website.

15. Start Hiring

Even posting jobs or internships that you have available can get you links. Human resources and hiring sites often link to other sites, so you might get linked to by dozens of sites from a single job description.

16. Attend an Exhibition

If you set up as an exhibitor at a conference or trade show, you may have the opportunity to get your link and company listed on the event’s website. Also offer to give quotes about your experience at the show to reporters.

17. Buck a Trend

If everyone else is suffering in a down economy but your company is thriving, ride this wave to get some publicity. Reporters look for anything that’s going against the grain, and that just might be your big break.

18. Publish Videos to Your Site

Video production is cheap these days, so create how-to videos, video blogs and interviews and host them on your site. Promote them through social media and email to get others to link to them.

19. Publish Videos on YouTube

YouTube is the second largest search engine next to Google, so it makes sense that posting your videos on here would drive traffic to your site. Not every video is viral-worthy, so focus on creating videos with useful content your customers will enjoy.

20. Position Your Products as Gifts

Bloggers and writers often compile gift lists for holidays, and your products and links could make these lists. Plan three months out to contact journalists about lists they’re working on in the future. So you should be pitching your best Valentine’s gifts in November.

21. Help People Make Money

Affiliate programs serve multiple purposes: first, they get other people to sell your products for you. Second, those people get to make money. And third, you get more links to your site. Set up an affiliate program that compensates people for writing about or linking to your site and making sales.

22. Offer Healthy Products

Health is still all the rage in the media, so if you sell products that are good for people, you increase your chances of getting media coverage.

23. Partner with a Local College

Your company might be a good partner for a local university. For example, you could offer special workshops or extend your company’s services or resources to the school. In return, you might be listed on the company’s website as a supporter.

24. Ask for Help

There are sites like MarketingProfs.com or Answers.com that allow you to ask for advice or feedback. It could be as simple as asking what web designers think of your website or whether your logo expresses what you want it to. You’ll get a link that anyone visiting that page will see.

25. Get Blog Reviews

There are thousands of blogs who review products. Identify the bloggers whose audience includes your target market and ask them to review your products. Be aware that some bloggers charge for their services, and you may also be required to give away a second product to one of their readers.

Use any or all of these tips to start getting more links to your website today!