Best Free Project Management Software

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Being on top of work feels so much better than the reverse.

A stakeholder asks you a third-decimal-place question about a future project. You nail it. The answer is ready and the evidence is two clicks away.

With the right project management software, it’s easier to operate at a high level.

It’s like wearing the right pair of shoes.

If you’ve never tried project management software, these free options are a great place to start.

And if you are using a frustrating tool, struggle no more.

These are the best free project management software options available right now.

Seriously, all of these products are free to use forever.

The Top 4 Free Options for Project Management Software

1. Trello – Best for Lightweight Project Management
2. Wrike – Best for Marketing Teams
3. Jira – Best for Agile Teams
4. ClickUp – Best for Large Organizations

How to Choose the Best Free Project Management Software for You

This stuff isn’t magic. You get out what you put in.

I like to think of project management software as a blank workspace waiting for a business to move in.

It gives every task a home so projects aren’t just roaming free-range across email chains, chat threads, post-it notes, and casual conversation.

One of the best parts about a free forever platform is that you actually have the chance to see what happens once you plug your business in.

Work with it for months and try a few different types of projects out. 

I know freelancers and even small companies that have been able to get along just fine for years on a freemium plan.

So which one is for you?

Let’s walk through the core aspects of project management software and how they can have an impact.

Basic Structure

Every good project management tool is stupid simple. This is especially true for freemium plans.

But they’re not all organized in the same way. Some use traditional folders and lists, whereas others track tasks entirely on boards.

How will your team’s work fit into each space?

The better the fit between a platform’s basic structure and your team’s projects , the better they can use the software to get to where they want to go.

After all, with free project management software, you want it to fit your organizational processes, not change those to fit the freemium platform you choose.

Ideally, project management software will help evolve your business processes in a positive direction. But not overnight.

Collaboration

These platforms enable people to work together better by making business workflows transparent. Everyone can see the status of projects and tasks.

This puts people on the same page, all the time. And when changes need to be made, users can alert one another with comments or by tagging teammates. This draws the right attention to the exact point of the issue.

With less uncertainty, people are free to act instead of waiting on a long email chain to finally arrive at an answer. 

Some platforms will keep a comment history associated with each individual task. Others will have an activity feed that logs updates made to the task.

These capabilities make it much easier for teams to know when a task is 100% done.

Scheduling

The tools I like let you assign users and due dates to tasks. Very simple, very helpful.

Whether you are building out on a board or a list, you can toggle views to see tasks displayed on a calendar. 

Updating the task due date will update the calendar as well, keeping everyone on the same page.

With some of the more robust free options, like ClickUp, you can set dependencies to govern the schedule. 

Reporting

Because it’s loaded with information about what teams are doing, reports generated by project management software provide a lot of insight.

I’m talking about measuring productivity, identifying trends, and staying under budget. This information can really help managers steer their teams productively.

Some of the options on this list, like Jira, have pre-built reports that are ready to go for any project.

Not all free project management software comes with reporting features. 

Trello, for example, doesn’t provide anything out of the box. That said, you can tie in a third-party analytics platform to do the heavy lifting.

Automation

Automation in free project management software is limited, no doubt. But anyone can use it.

It’s just a taste of what these platforms can do, but the early exposure can pay dividends in the long run.

When it comes time to bump up into a higher tier, users are ready to take advantage of automation instead of being intimidated by these power features.

This isn’t a make-or-break it criteria, but if users find they can eliminate some busywork from their day, it might increase buy-in to the platform.

The Different Types of Free Project Management Software

There’s a stunning array of diversity to think about when you are looking at the straight-up best project management software out there.

When it comes to free forever plans, the field narrows.

There are really two types of free project management software out there:

• Board-based
• List-based

You’ll find some overlap, but understanding the differences between these types will help you find a solution built to fit your needs.

Free Board-Based Project Management Software

These products have an organizational hierarchy that goes something like this:

Team→Board→List→Card

Here’s a screenshot from Trello, one of the most popular board-based options in the world:

This is the board, which all members of the team can see. Each card is a task, and it is under the appropriate list. 

With Trello and other board-based software, teams spend most of their time on the board. This involves going into tasks to add detail and check off complete tasks and potentially switching to calendar view to check bandwidth.

Does your current workflow map well to this cards-and-boards layout? 

Free List-based Project Management Software

These products have an organizational hierarchy that goes something like this:

Team→Folder→List→Task

ClickUp is a great example of how a list-based product helps teams stay on track:

The team has their folders listed on the left. Very traditional. Each folder contains lists, which are broken down into tasks.

List-based software can make it easier for teams to stay organized than a board that gets cluttered. In ClickUp and other good options, the list is drag and drop, so it’s not any harder to use.

In Wrike, another list-based project management solution, you can even view your projects as a spreadsheet.

Looking at both types, there’s a lot of flexibility to view projects in different forms, like list, board, calendar, or table.

Because of this, it might seem like the boundary between these two is a little fuzzy.

From my perspective, though, flexible viewing does not always equal flexible managing. 

Trello works great when you are building on a board. ClickUp works great when you are building on a list.

Sure, they can also do what the other does to some extent. I just think they work best when you are using them as designed.

And, since all of these products are free forever, it’s not going to break the bank to pilot one of each type and see what you and your team think.

#1 – Trello — Best For Lightweight Project Management

Trello is one of the most user-friendly project management options on the market. Maybe that’s why more than 1 million teams are using Trello around the world.

When I say user-friendly, I mean there is virtually zero learning curve to engaging with the product.

Drag. Drop. Click. Done.

Boards are made up of cards and lists. Clicking on any card brings up all of the relevant details, such as who’s responsible, what needs to get done, and when it must be done by.

Obviously agile teams will dig the Kanban-style setup, but Trello is so basic (in a good way) that people can build out boards within whatever framework suits them best.

Staying on track in Trello is so easy, it’s almost fun.

Assign people to tasks and they’re notified instantly when changes are made. There’s a comment feed built into every task and team members can use @mentions to call out specific issues.

Users can switch from board to calendar view to see their tasks spread out week to week. They can also “watch” cards to which they are not assigned, something that is great for managers.

The Trello platform has two main power features. 

There are Power-Ups, which let you tie in a third-party service. It could be a time tracker, a Gantt chart creator, or a collaboration tool like Slack.

And then there is Butler, an AI-service that finds repetitive tasks and helps you automate them. You can create buttons that kick off simple workflows, or schedule tasks to be created.

With Trello’s free version, you get:

• 10 boards per team
• Unlimited cards and lists
• The ability to add attachments to cards, up to 10 MB each
• Two-factor authentication
• One Power-Up per board
• 50 Butler commands per month

It’s incredibly easy to build what you need in Trello. There is still a lot of freedom to create the structure you need, but they also offer a range of templates for project management:

There’s also templates ready to go for HR, sales, support, and other departments.

Trello’s got you covered for lightweight project management. There’s definitely a ceiling when it comes down to what you can track on each board, even compared to other free project management software.

For a single team, though, managing a sales pipeline, content calendar, or something of similar scope is going to be a breeze.

#2 – Wrike– Best For Marketing Teams

Wrike is a really versatile project management platform with a free forever version for teams of up to five. 

There are a few reasons why it works so well for marketing teams compared to some of the other best free project management software.

First off, the collaborative features are really well-developed. 

You can store tasks within projects or folders. Teammates can add comments, tag colleagues with @mentions, and attach files directly to any task, folder, or project. 

Okay, I hear you saying, “It sounds like some of the other free project management software.” 

But, what makes Wrike so effective out-of-the-box for marketing teams is that email integration is included. Users can update, create, and prioritize tasks directly from their email.

It’s great for your team, but you can also invite clients and contractors. These users are designated as Collaborators. Basically, you can share projects and plans without having to worry that external users will make serious changes.

Another useful feature for keeping track of marketing campaigns at scale is the Table View, which breaks out all tasks into a spreadsheet view:

These and other time-saving features help marketing teams stay on track and save time. 

The Real-time Activity Stream, for instance, provides users with a feed of all the updates and comments on projects they’re assigned. Users can quickly filter the activity stream to see the updates that matter most.

Some of the other nifty features included with the free version of Wrike include:

• Board view
• Drag-and-drop task management
• Mass edits
• Cloud storage integrations
• Microsoft 365 integration
• 2GB storage
• Mobile App

If Wrike ends up being a good solution, they’ve got paid plans that are tailor-made for marketing and creative teams. 

Wrike for Marketers is a business-level project management software dedicated to helping teams across the company create on-brand experiences at scale. They offer a 14-day free trial so teams can get a sense of everything that comes with the premium platform.

Wrike for Marketers Performance takes the analytics and workflow automation to another level. 

There are pre-built dashboards, advanced reporting features, data visualization tools, and integrations with an additional 400 apps.

For marketing teams, Wrike is an excellent choice. Their free project management software is enough for a team to get started, and their paid plans will take a company to the next level.

#3 – Jira — Best for Agile Teams

Jira is built from the ground up to serve teams that work within an agile framework. 

The customizable task boards are ideal for Scrum and Kanban, but so is Trello. 

What separates Jira in terms of working well for agile teams are the baked-in reporting and roadmap features. 

For managing a single team, both these features are huge time-savers. They work behind the scenes to turn all the information on your boards into visual intelligence.

Roadmaps help you track the bigger picture by placing work on a timeline that clearly maps project dependencies. 

Rather than a Gantt chart, which tracks outputs, a roadmap tracks outcomes, like solving customer problems. Work feedback, product vision, and goals into your roadmap, not just the deliverables, to get a better picture of long-term strategy.

Whether it’s a new product or sprint increment, roadmaps help teams connect their daily work to the team’s progress toward the overall goal.

There are also 12 standard agile reports available for any Jira project. 

There’s nothing users have to do to configure these. Jira automatically takes your boards and cranks out really helpful reports for agile project management, like burndown charts, velocity charts, and sprint reports.

The free version of Jira comes with other helpful features for agile teams like:

• 10 users for one site
• Customizable workflows
• Automation
• Backlogs
• Apps and integrations
• 2GB file storage
• File sharing
• Business continuity and disaster recovery

A word about a few of these features. Since Jira is an Atlassian product (like Trello), there’s a really long list of apps and integrations that are going to work.

The customizable workflows and automation are definitely limited with the free version of Jira, but you can work many third-party tools into your processes. 

With Jira, the deliberately agile design means that teams and leaders have to do less finagling to get the tools they need. 

Backlogs, for instance, can be set up with other free project management software. In Jira, however, they are a dedicated feature that has been designed for backlog grooming and sprint planning.

Instead of spending time to configure the system, teams can start using Jira on day one. 

Another helpful feature is that each task is assigned a unique key and ID. This is great for ticketing and bug-tracking.

Give their free forever version a shot and find out why so many agile teams depend on Jira.

#4 – ClickUp — Best For Large Organizations

ClickUp offers the most control and functionality in the free project management software category. It’s my pick for larger organizations for two reasons. 

One, the free platform is generous enough to accommodate multiple teams. More than that, the simple structure is built to scale. 

The number two reason is customizability. Each team can configure their workspace to suit their specific needs. 

Let’s dig a little deeper into both these reasons.

The free version allows for five Spaces, each of which is enough to support an individual team. Spaces can hold up to 400 folders, which can in turn hold up to 100 lists.

Lists are where tasks live and ClickUp allows for unlimited tasks in every list. You can also create up to 100 custom fields for lists to track whatever is most important about each task.

And it’s still super intuitive. 

Everything is drag and drop and you can toggle between list, board, and calendar views. There’s even a “me” view that shows only tasks assigned to the user.

When it comes to tasks, this is where ClickUp’s customizability really shines. 

Here’s a list of some of the things you can do within tasks

• Assign members to task
• Comment thread with @mentions
• Assign comments to members
• View activity feed
• Track time
• Add due dates
• Create checklists for sub-tasks
• Change status
• Set dependencies
• Move tasks to different folders
• Draft rich text task description
• Add attachments: docs, images, videos

Yes. I’m still talking about the free forever ClickUp plan. It’s almost like they are too generous.

To set dependencies, for example, users simply indicate that a task should wait on another task to start or block another task in the workflow from starting.

And because you can track dependencies and due dates, ClickUp’s free version provides 100 uses of their Gantt chart feature.

Honestly, I’ve barely covered half of what ClickUp can do.

It’s my top pick for larger organizations that want free project management software they can actually use. 

Little things—like how every task in ClickUp has a unique ID—make staying organized at scale possible.

Plus, the hierarchy of spaces, folders, lists, and tasks is simple and flexible enough to work for just about any use case. 

In the end, ClickUp really forces teams to stay organized as they build out. You can’t put a price on that.

Summary

If we take all the frosting off the cake, what we really have left is a simple real-time system that captures a team’s workflow.

Finding the right free project management software is about understanding how each platform accommodates the local needs of each team.

If you are just starting to explore project management software, the free version of Trello is a great place to begin. It takes no time to master and has enough functionality for teams to tackle lightweight projects.

For companies that need a little more power out of their project management solution, ClickUp is the best bet. The feature set is robust compared to other tools and it will work well across multiple teams.

On the marketing side, Wrike provides email integration, which I think is essential. That’s something that only comes with paid versions from other vendors. 

In addition to that, both the internal and external collaborative features are rich. This makes it easier to interface with customers and coordinate behind the scenes.

Workplaces that subscribe to an agile methodology will find that Jira has been hand-crafted to suit their needs. The out-of-the-box reporting and deliberate design make it very attractive.

The post Best Free Project Management Software appeared first on Neil Patel.

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10 Alternative RSS Readers if You Still Miss Google Reader

The mid-aughts to early 2010s were the heyday for RSS feeds like Google Reader. It felt like everyone was using them.

Then, in 2013, Google Reader was switched off, and their popularity has dwindled.

Dwindled, but not vanished entirely. Google Trends data shows a massive dropoff since RSS hit its peak back around 2005. But interest has been pretty stable since about 2015:

What does this tell us?

While RSS feeds aren’t the must-use resource they once were, there’s still a dedicated base of users who aren’t prepared to say goodbye.

If you’re one of them, you might still be searching for the perfect alternative to your beloved Google Reader. Here are a few options, as well as some practical tips on using them to improve your content marketing strategy.

What Was Google Reader?

Google Reader was an RSS reader. RSS, which stands for “really simple syndication,” is an XML-based format used to distribute and share online content. It allows users to subscribe to news feeds from their favorite website and receive updates every time they post new content.

Google launched Google Reader in 2005 and quickly built up a loyal following because it was simple, efficient, and free. But as online habits changed, usage declined, prompting the search giant to permanently retire Google Reader back in July 2013.

10 Alternative RSS Readers to Google Reader

While Google no longer saw the value in RSS readers, lots of people still find them useful. Presumably, if you’re reading this article, you’re one of them, so here are ten Google Reader alternatives to try out.

Feedly 

• Priced from: Free
• Best for: Cutting through the noise

RSS readers can become victims of their own effectiveness. Say you want to curate all the latest news on a topic like blockchain, or a keyword like Microsoft. Pretty soon, you’ll have more relevant content than you could ever read.

Feedly is all about providing a decluttered RSS experience. Its free tier allows you to follow up to 100 sources, from news sites to YouTube channels. But the real value comes from its AI assistant, Leo.

Leo allows users to define what content is most relevant to them. You can prioritize by keywords, trends, topics, similar articles, and even critical software vulnerabilities. Then teach Leo what’s useful to you by upvoting or downvoting its recommendations.

Inoreader

• Priced from: Free
• Best for: Saving the content you love long-term

Inoreader has one feature that sets it apart from all the other Google Reader alternatives: the ability to build long-term archives of content.

Most RSS readers only store content for a short period. But with Inoreader, limited-time archives aren’t a thing. The content you’ve already read is stored permanently, so you can access it at any time.

To stop things from getting unmanageable, Inoreader allows you to categorize your feeds into folders and add tags to individual articles.

Bloglovin’

• Priced from: Free
• Best for: Lifestyle content curation

Unlike most Google Reader alternatives, Bloglovin’ focuses on a single niche: lifestyle content. That means everything from fashion and beauty, to travel and interior design. Its colorful, image-heavy interface feels more like a social media site than an RSS reader.

Similar to Pinterest, Bloglovin’ lets you curate content around the lifestyle topics and themes most helpful to you. So if you’re planning a wedding or a big DIY project, you can start a new collection and expand it with relevant content.

Flowreader

• Priced from: Free
• Best for: Combining RSS and social feeds

Flowreader is an easy-to-use tool that acts as a one-stop-shop for content from all your favorite websites, plus your most-loved accounts on Twitter, YouTube, Reddit, and Pinterest. It saves you a lot of time navigating between multiple sites to access the content you most want to see.

Because it posts content in chronological order, Flowreader effectively lets you bypass Twitter’s recommendations algorithm, which means you can read tweets in the order they were posted.

Feedreader

• Priced from: Free
• Best for: Doing the basics

There’s nothing too complex about Feedreader; it just works. Basic and ad-free, this web-based RSS reader lets you subscribe to your favorite feeds and star items to view later. Your subscriptions can be categorized for easier navigation, while a bunch of keyboard shortcuts makes it simple to expand articles, mark items as starred, or refresh the results.

NewsBlur 

• Priced from: Free
• Best for: Filtering what you don’t like

It may not have the slickest interface, but NewsBlur is deceptively sophisticated. For one thing, it allows you to access the full text from each source right there in the RSS reader, which keeps your browser clean and uncluttered, while the free product tier lets you subscribe to up to 64 feeds.

NewsBlur’s most interesting feature is its filtering. Select a piece of content, then tell the app what you like or dislike about it, including:

• Key phrases in the headline or body copy
• The author
• The publication
• The categories that are relevant to that piece of content

Spend some time selecting your preferences and NewsBlur becomes a super helpful tool for accessing only the types of content you find most valuable.

Feedspot 

• Priced from: Free
• Best for: Advanced filtering

While it does all the things you’d expect a Google Reader alternative to do, Feedspot goes a step further with its advanced filtering functionality. This allows you to:

• Make searches within all the feeds you follow, including blogs, news sites, RSS feeds, YouTube channels and social sites
• Filter results from one or more specific feeds
• Search phrases within the title only
• Browse by exact phrase matches

All of which makes it easier to track down the content you most want to see, right now, from the sites and platforms that are most relevant to you.

The Old Reader 

• Priced from: Free
• Best for: Finding recommendations from people you trust

The Old Reader works best when used in groups. Connect with your Facebook or Google account to follow people in your network who also use The Old Reader, then you’ll be able to see the content they recommend. That way, you’ll never miss a piece of content they find useful or interesting.

Feeder 

• Priced from: Free
• Best for: RSS on the go

Feeder offers Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Yandex extensions, making it easy to view your RSS feeds on desktop. But perhaps its most useful feature is the dedicated Android and iOS apps, which allow you to see all the headlines from your favorite sites, plus a simple view of the full content, on mobile. Great for when you absolutely need to keep up with the news but aren’t at your computer.

Netvibes

• Priced from: Free
• Best for: Social media monitoring

While Netvibes works great as a traditional RSS reader, its real strength lies in its ability to automate interactions between multiple platforms, apps, and devices. Think of it as like the Zapier of RSS readers.

So how does that work in practice?

Well, Netvibes currently integrates with 43 apps, including Gmail, Google Drive, LinkedIn, and Twitter. It also does a ton of stuff, from monitoring stocks to tracking your health. From a marketing perspective, the biggest “win” is as a social media monitoring tool.

Rather than presenting you with a feed of new social posts from people you follow, Netvibes allows you to dig deeper. For example, you can create a feed for @mentions of your brand on Twitter, or one dedicated to a certain hashtag.

That makes it easy for you to keep updated on what people are saying about you or follow topics relevant to your business.

How to Use RSS Readers to Benefit Your Content Marketing

Google Reader alternatives aren’t purely for finding content. They can be a vital part of your content marketing efforts, too.

Create Your Own RSS Feed

You’ve got a blog or resource hub, and you’re producing fantastic content. But you’re struggling to bring people back to your site.

Setting up your own RSS feed can be a big help. That way, subscribers will see all your latest content every time they access their favored RSS reader. It’s a great way to amplify your content, and best of all it’s completely passive. Once you’ve implemented your RSS feed, it’ll do all the hard work.

Be sure to compel readers to subscribe to your feed by incorporating clear calls-to-action (CTAs) throughout your content. Consider adding an RSS button to your content hub landing page, too:

Keep on Top of Industry News & Thought Leadership

Does your audience come to you for your take on the latest news impacting your industry? Then an RSS reader can ensure you’ll always be one of the first to know about any new developments and key announcements.

Let’s say you’re in the marketing niche. You want to keep up to date with what’s going on, so you can react to it fast by creating your own content. Consider adding the following types of accounts to your favorite Google Reader alternative:

• The Twitter accounts of thought leaders like Rand Fishkin, Jeff Bullas, and Mari Smith (and me!)
• Marketing blogs and social feeds from big industry players like Google and Facebook
• Industry news sites like NeilPatel.com, Search Engine Journal, and Digiday
• Your biggest competitors’ blogs (it pays to be aware of the content they’re creating, too)

Segment all of those feeds into categories so they’re easy to browse. Then get into the habit of spending five minutes at the start of every day, or on your lunch or coffee break, reading through all the latest news.

Curate Your Own Newsletter

Why do people subscribe to newsletters? Well, according to one study, about three-quarters of people subscribe to learn more about topics they find interesting, or to keep abreast of content from their favorite websites.

With that in mind, you can quickly and easily create your own newsletter featuring all the biggest developments in your industry, simply by curating all the top content pulled in by your RSS reader.

Include a couple of CTAs to sign up in prominent spots on your website, and you’ve got yourself a low-effort way to build up a mailing list and generate a bunch of leads.

Inspire Your Content Creation

Sure, I create a lot of content, but even I get writer’s block sometimes! If you’re struggling to come up with new topics for your blog, or podcast, or YouTube channel, your RSS reader can help.

Check out what other people in your niche are discussing. Look out for trends, breaking news, or subjects you feel passionately about and have an opinion on. And presto, there’s all the content inspiration you need.

Conclusion

RSS feeds may have gone out of fashion in the last few years, but that doesn’t mean they’re not worth your time. While everyone else gets their news from the cluttered, algorithm-influenced world of social media, you can use a Google Reader alternative to cut through all the noise and find the most relevant content.

That means you’ll never miss an important piece of news ever again. Use my tips to drive your content marketing plans, or even help you with lead generation. What’s not to like?

What’s your favorite Google Reader alternative and why?

The post 10 Alternative RSS Readers if You Still Miss Google Reader appeared first on Neil Patel.

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How to Choose The Right Link Building Agency

Even if you publish the best content on any given content, Google might not rank it.

In fact, they usually don’t.

It takes a lot more than just content to get Google traffic these days.

So what’s required to win?

Sooner or later, you’re going to need high quality links to your content.

There’s lots of grey-area folks in this space. What’s the right way to do it? Are there any good link building companies out there?

They do exist. They’re just hard to find.

And be extra careful with all this. Not only does Google forbid paying for links, the only legitimate long-term strategy is to build links authentically. The right link building companies will help you do this.

Before going any further, always start with your goals. 

Know Your Goals and Desired Outcomes

Take a step back and ask yourself: Why do I need to build links to my website?

If you’re like most business people, you’re looking to hire a link-building agency because you heard links drive higher rankings and traffic to your site. 

Well, there are even more benefits if you build quality links to your site. 

Emphasis on ‘quality.’

And it’s because the way links work is pretty straightforward: Other sites trust your site for something, and they link to it. Google uses those signals, or ‘vote of confidence,’ to consider your website an authoritative resource. 

Your rewards? 

• Authority
• Higher ranking over your competitors for similar keywords or search phrases 
• More qualified traffic
• Leads and sales
• Brand mentions across the internet

These rewards explain why some businesses spend between $10,000 – $50,000 per month on link-building alone. 

Yet, the competition for quality links has gotten tough.

Google cracked down on most of the link strategies. And even if you find something that works today, Google gets better at finding inauthentic links every year.

The last thing you want to build a bunch of links that Google starts ignoring in 12 months.

So, before you spray money on a link-building agency, be sure to choose one with experience building quality backlinks. 

To get quality backlinks, there are only a few strategies I know you can get them: 

• Linkable content marketing
• Blogger outreach
• Guest posting
• Curated, in-content backlinks 
• Strategic link placements

Your SEO strategy and business goals determine what link-building strategies and agency you’ll need. 

Let me explain with a few examples. 

Example #1: Blogger Outreach for Outdated Content

Imagine for a second your main competitor’s site ranks No.1 organically for the keyword, “best female fitness apps,” while yours languishes on Google’s 19th page.  

And you realize this competitor ranks high because authoritative domains are linking to an old piece of content by them, which cited an outdated study related to women’s fitness. 

Authority, as they say, breeds authority. 

So, to displace your competitor or, at least, improve your position on the SERPs, you’ll also need to get backlinks from authoritative domains. 

Two options I trust you can leverage for this are:  

• Create a refreshed version of the content sending links to your competitor. Then, reach out to the domains linking to them to replace links to your competitor with yours. 

• Conduct a newer version of the fitness study making authoritative sites link to your competitor. Then, create a content piece discussing your findings and promote it to get links. 

Either way, the link-building strategy you’ll need in this scenario is called linkable content marketing. 

And that’s because content marketing and backlinks go together perfectly. You can’t really do one without the other. 

To get links using this strategy, you’ll need an agency with vast and proven experience in content marketing. 

Example #2: Outreach to Add Links to Brand Mentions

Let’s stay with the “best female fitness app” example. 

Imagine that you went ahead to conduct a new study on women’s fitness. 

After this, you produced an excellent content piece that breaks down your findings. 

Some months later, your study and content go viral, and many bloggers start mentioning it in their articles. 

Those mentions usually include links straight to your research.

But not always.

To seize this opportunity and build backlinks, you’ll need to reach out to those bloggers and ask for a link.  

In this case, you’ll use a link-building strategy called blogger outreach. 

Did you notice something in both examples I just shared? 

You need something worth linking to—something of high quality, to give other websites the confidence to send backlinks to your site. 

And these link-worthy assets are better if they’re in the form of content.

The better your content, the easier it is to get these authentic links that are perfectly legitimate.

Why does any of this matter?

Why not just hire some agency to build links for you?

There’s a lot of shady stuff in the link building space. If you don’t have a specific idea for the type of links you want, you’re going to get a link spammer to build a ton of bad links, charge you a ton, and then walk away. If you do enough of that, Google can penalize your site. It can take years to reverse that kind of thing.

Since link building has so much risk, you want to be in the weeds with any link building agency that you work with. It’s the only way to ensure that they don’t damage your domain.

Here’s some other things to look for in a great link building agency.

6 Characteristics that Make a Great Link Building Agency

Great companies have attributes that define them in general. Great link-building agencies are no exception. 

But what characteristics should one lookout for, which makes a link-building agency great?

There are six significant ones I can bet my money on. 

1. Content Services

I prefer to keep content and link building closely aligned.

Simply buying a ton of links to a landing page hasn’t worked in Google for ages.

To get good, authentic links, you need good, authentic content.

Many sites don’t have that content. Even if they’ve produced great content in the past, they might not have content that’s linkable enough. Research, stats, studies, and resources all do really well. 

If you don’t have that type of content, you’ll need an agency that can spot that gap and get the content produced for you.

2. Firm Link Building Restrictions

Any good link building agency will be deeply familiar with black hat SEO and the dodgy stuff some people do. And they never venture into these areas. It’s just too risky.

The good agencies know precisely where to draw the line.

They believe in building long-term links that Google values.

So they’ve set firm boundaries with their team and their clients on what they won’t do.

Ask them what links they won’t build. And which strategies they don’t use.

It should be a long list.

3. Monthly Link Reviews

Any legitimate link building agency will give you a list of every link that they’ve built.

This is your opportunity to review those links and make sure they’re 100% legitimate.

If an agency attempts to hide the links or drags their feet at all, work with someone else.

When you start working with a new agency, be sure to check all of the links in their first batch. You want to be completely sure that every link looks good. Anyone can check link quality, you don’t need to be an SEO expert.

Look for links on quality pages. Is it a good blog post? Is it a quality site? Does the link make sense?

If anything looks off to you, it’ll also look bad to Google.

4. Great Expectation Setting

The simple fact of link building is that results are never guaranteed. Google doesn’t give out rankings for participation. If you want that #1 slot, you need to outperform everyone else.

No one wins by doing a defined list of requirements, they win by doing more than their competitors.

If you have tough competition, you could be facing an uphill battle the whole way.

Great agencies know how hard some rankings can be. And they don’t overpromise.

Stay away from anyone that promises #1 rankings. And if an agency promises rankings within firm timelines or makes really specific forecasts, consider these redflags.

How to Work with a Link-Building Agency 

What’s it like working with a link-building agency?

It’s easiest to describe what a link building isn’t:

1. Go to the agency’s website.
2. Pick a link order like you’re on Amazon
3. Go to checkout and purchase your links
4. Wait for your links to arrive

Tons of companies offer that sort of thing.

And it’s almost always doomed to fail.

Working with agencies like that will only get your low-quality links. The agency is pursuing a volume game, they can’t give you the attention that you really need.

Look for a real agency that will help get you authentic links.

That process feels more link a real agency:

1. Get your team aligned

Like working with most agencies, you can set them up to succeed or fail.

No agency can perform miracles on their own.

Agencies get results by working closely with your team and using your internal resources when it makes sense. 

It’s usually a good idea to get your team aligned before reaching out to an agency in the first place. Then there won’t be any roadblocks once you get started.

• Does your content team have bandwidth to work on link-focused content?
• Will your tech team be able to make any site improvements if needed?
• Have you done a recent SEO audit to clean up any weak sections of your site?
• Does the agency “champion” on your team have enough authority to get changes live when needed?

Once your team is ready to go, reach out to an agency that seems promising. 

2. Discovery session

Authentic link building strategies are usually custom tailored to each site and business.

Most link building agencies will want to jump on a call with you, get a sense for your market and goals, and ask tons of questions to make sure they’re a good fit. 

Expect to get on a discovery call with them.

And if you have a massive website, there might be several discovery calls.

Once you fill out the agency’s contact form, you can expect to get these done within a week or so.

3. Research & strategic recommendations

The really amazing link building agencies will leverage their expertise to research your company, target audience, competitors, and industry.

They won’t blindly offer to start building links.

After all, winning Google is about outplaying your competitors.

If you don’t know the competition, you’ll have a really hard time beating them.

So great agencies figure out that competition. They get a sense for how much work it’s take to get good rankings in your space.

You should see a bunch of deep research on your site and competitors at this point.

That’s how they come up with a set of strategy recommendations for you.

4. A contract with project deliverables

Assuming their recommendations look good, you can move to the proposal stage.

Expect long-term proposals.

Link building takes forever to work, especially if you’re doing it the legit way.

First you need to get a campaign or content built, then you launch it, then you wait for organic links to come in, then you wait for those links to have an impact.

None of this happens quickly.

And link building agencies know this. They only want to work with folks that are truly onboard for the long-term.

5. Client onboarding

Yes, the top link-building agencies have an onboarding process unique to each client’s project, so expect one. 

Going through this process is crucial as it sets the stage for working together. 

It also clarifies what you’ll need to do to make the partnership successful. Follow up with your team and ensure the agency is getting what they need. 

That’s the only way to give the project any chance of success.

How to Find the Right Link Building Agency for You

A link-building agency that’s right for you is one that understands your needs and how getting backlinks would impact your business and SEO strategy in general. 

By now, I trust you already know this. 

First, avoid any agency promising you backlinks at the push of a button. Most times, such are black hat SEO ninjas with spammy PBN (private blog networks). 

And what can get from these kinds?

Spammy links!

Those ill-tactics may have quick wins—they had in the past, but give it some time and Google will penalize you and shrink your rankings. 

It’s best to choose reputable, trusted, and experienced quality link-building companies who won’t cut corners and daint their image and brands.  

Below are the best link building companies that come highly recommended.

The 5 Top Link Building Agencies

1. Neil Patel Digital – Best For Linkable Content Marketing

I’ve built millions of  backlinks to my personal blog using by using my linkable content strategy: 

Thats over 3 million backlinks which generate more than 3.4 million monthly organic visits.

By working with Neil Patel Digital, you get access to that same playbook for your own site. Contact us and my team will get in touch with you.

2. FATJOE – Best for Blogger Outreach

FATJOE is a trusted blogger outreach service even other agencies turn to for backlinks: 

Founded by experienced SEO practitioner, Joe Taylor, FATJOE’s blogger outreach service has generated backlinks for over 5,000 customers globally.

This is a great option if you already have amazing content and only need some extra muscle from an outreach strategy.

3. Page One Power – Best for Strategic Link Placements

Page One Power has built a reputation as the trusted link-building agency for getting strategic link placements on higher domain (DA60+) websites.

They do this through a combination of linkable assets and high-level outreach strategy. 

This agency’s ten years of experience speaks for itself. They build about 15,000 strategic backlinks each year and and have 982 active partners: 

4. The HOTH – Best for Guest Posting 

If you need to generate some backlinks on your own, guest posting on other people’s sites is the way to go.

But what if you didn’t have the time to do this?

The HOTH can help:

The HOTH’s guest posting is a productized service you can turn to and get links from sites with domain authority between DA10 and DA50. 

5. RhinoRank – Best for Curated Link-building

RhinoRank is excellent for getting links from websites that have mentioned your company or product in content pieces published on their sites without linking to you.  

The name of this link acquisition strategy is curated link-building. 

RhinoRank will do all the hard work, reach out to several webmasters with relevant brand mentions, and secure backlinks for your site.

Conclusion: Look Beyond Backlinks

Yes, sites need links to rank in Google. Especially for competitive terms.

You could try to brute force your way through this and work with a link building agency.

Or you could roll out a whole marketing strategy that builds your domain authority, your brand, gets you a ton of leads, and builds links naturally over time.

That’s how I prefer to do it.

Instead of just looking for a link building agency, consider a top-tier online marketing agency that can implement the entire program for you.

That’s what we do at Neil Patel Digital.

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The Top Affiliate Marketing Networks

Are you looking to monetize your blog or earn a passive income? If so, you might be considering joining an affiliate network.

This is a complete guide to choosing the right affiliate network for your platform, including what an affiliate network is, why you should consider joining one, and a rundown of the top networks on the market.

What is an Affiliate Network?

An affiliate network connects publishers, like blog owners or influencers, with companies looking to promote their products or services.

These networks often offer reporting tools, training, and other resources to help you become a successful affiliate marketer.

The most popular example of an affiliate network is Amazon, which allows publishers and influencers to promote thousands of products and earn a commission for each purchase their readers or followers make.  

How Do Affiliate Networks Work?

Affiliate networks work as a marketplace for affiliate programs. Publishers or site owners sign up, choose the products or services they want to promote and receive custom links that track how many people purchase from their sites. Then, they are paid a small commission (usually around 5%) for each sale.

Why Should You Join an Affiliate Network?

Affiliate networks can connect you to hundreds—even thousands—of brands. This makes them one of the most straightforward ways to monetize a blog or earn passive income.

Here are a few more benefits of joining an affiliate network:

• No need to chase payments; the platform handles it for you
• Choose products or services that make sense for your audience
• Some affiliate networks offer rewards and incentives—so the more you sell, the better your commission rates may be
• Access to analytics and reporting tools so you can track your progress

There are some cons to affiliate networks. For example, some offer very low commission rates or require sites to have a specific amount of traffic before they can apply. Overall, however, they can be a powerful way to monetize website traffic.

Top Affiliate Networks To Consider

Type in “affiliate networks” into Google, and you’ll see hundreds of platforms to choose from — some legit and others that look a little bit shady.

So how do you choose the right one?

Start by considering your audience. What types of products and services are your readers likely to be interested in?

For example, digital marketers are more likely to be interested in SEO tools than women’s fashion, so I might choose an affiliate platform that can connect me with online tools and marketing analytic platforms.

Here are a few other considerations when comparing the top affiliate networks:

• Commission rates: How much will you earn per sale? Networks can vary widely.
• Product/service selection: Will the network connect you with brands your audience will be interested in?
• Approval requirements: Some networks require your site to be well-established or have a certain amount of traffic.
• Other fees: Some affiliate networks charge fees for training or setup.
• Cookie duration: Cookie duration refers to how long a program tracks and gives you credit for a prospective buyer. Durations can vary drastically from platform to platform. For example, Amazon’s cookie duration is 24 hours, while Avangate is 120 days.

Now that you know what to look for — and what to avoid — let’s explore some of the top affiliate marketing networks.

ShareASale

This Chicago-based affiliate network has been around since 2000. As a ShareASale affiliate, you can connect with more than 4,000 programs and earn commissions on a wide range of products, including Reebok, Cricut, and Etsy.

This is one of the largest players in the affiliate marketing field, and they offer highly competitive commission rates. However, the interface can be a bit tough to use, so I suggest taking advantage of the training they offer.

• Commission Rate: Varies by merchant; averages between 5% and 20%
• Product Types: Wide range, including accessories, clothing, art, computers, automotive, and even online dating services
• Best For: New or established affiliate publishers looking to promote physical products

Awin

Awin is a global affiliate network platform with access to more than 15,000 advertisers, and they helped generate more than 150 million in sales in 2019 alone. It’s also worth noting they own several other affiliate networks, including ShareASale, though those networks have their own sites.

As Awin is one of the largest affiliate networks, it’s worth considering. They offer access to a wide range of merchants, including StubHub, Hyatt, AliExpress, and UnderArmour.

Though trustworthy, they do charge a $5 application fee. It is more of a deposit, as it gets credited to your account if you are approved. Still, it can be a little off-putting. You also have to apply to each program separately, which can be a bit of a hassle.

• Commission Rate: Varies by merchant, but averages around 5%
• Product Types: Huge variety, including travel, fashion, technology, finance, insurance, and e-commerce
• Best For: Newbies or established affiliate marketers

Amazon Associates

Probably the best-known affiliate network is Amazon Associates. As the largest e-commerce store globally, Amazon provides access to millions of products from baby gear to home goods, makeup, and much more.

The platform is pretty easy to navigate, and getting started only requires a few minutes. Plus, you can earn a commission for any product your readers buy in the next 24 hours—not just the specific products you share.

However, they can be pretty strict about their terms and conditions, and commission rates tend to be lower than most other platforms.

• Commission Rate: Around 5%; varies by product type
• Product Types: Nearly any physical product you can think of: gardening, school, books, cooking, home goods, fashion, accessories, makeup, etc
• Best For: Any type of affiliate marketer

CJ Affiliate

Formerly known as Commission Junction, CJ Affiliate is one of the world’s largest and oldest affiliate marketing networks. They connect merchants with more than 14 billion readers annually and help affiliate marketers earn more than $1.8 billion every year.

They’re kind of a big deal in the affiliate marketing field, and it’s pretty easy to see why. CJ Affiliate works with thousands of brands, including big names like Lowe’s, Barnes and Noble, Priceline, and Overstock.

Overall, their approval process is pretty fast, and you won’t need to pay any fees to apply. Each product is ranked based on earnings per click (EPC).

There are a few cons—you’ll need approval from each merchant before you can start promoting, and there’s a chance you might get rejected. Also, your account can be deactivated if you don’t make a sale in six months.  

• Commission Rate: Varies by merchant
• Product Types: Retail, software, travel, and finance
• Best For: Mid-level to experienced level affiliates

Rakuten Advertising

Founded as a Japanese e-commerce brand, Rakuten Advertising is home to one of the top affiliate marketing networks. They provide affiliates access to hundreds of top brands, including Wells Fargo, Lilly Pulitzer, Virgin Holidays, and Ecco.

But, they don’t make signing up easy. First, you’ll need to join their affiliate network, then sign up and be approved by each merchant program you want to join. You must also have a well-established site.

• Commission Rate: Varies by merchant
• Product Types: Retail, D2C, finance, travel, and more
• Best For: Well-established affiliate marketers with stable traffic

Avangate Affiliate Network

Avangate Affiliate Network connects publishers with digital goods merchants—think software companies and digital security companies like Malwarebytes. They’ve been ranked #1 WorldWide Affiliate Network by Blue Book Global for the past six years.

They have one of the longest cookie durations on the market at 120 days and allow affiliates to create coupons, helping drive sales. However, the reporting tools are a bit limited.

• Commission Rate: Starts around 25%; it can reach over 50% for some merchants
• Product Types: Digital products like security and SaaS products
• Best For: Publishers in the tech, business, SaaS, or related industries

ClickBank

ClickBank is a global affiliate marketing platform providing access to a wide range of products you can promote, including physical and digital ones.

Overall, ClickBank is easy to join and provides access to a wide range of products. However, be sure to check out products before you promote them—not all available products are of high quality. Their free training resources are also a bit limited, though they offer a paid training platform called ClickBank University.

• Commission Rate: Up to 90%, though most are much lower
• Product Types: Wide variety, including arts and entertainment, business, marketing, games, parenting, health, fitness, languages, and self-help
• Best For: All levels of affiliate marketers who want to promote mostly physical products

Peerfly

Promoted as the “fastest-growing affiliate network,” Peerfly is a new breed. They haven’t been around as long as some of the other players in the field, but they have won several awards and work hard to make sure their platform is as useful as it is easy to use.

They offer access to a wide range of products and services from brands like Target, Fiverr, UGG, and CBS. However, each merchant has its own requirements, which can be time-consuming to deal with, so it’s not necessarily the best fit for those just getting started.

• Commission Rate: Varies by merchant
• Product Types: Mostly physical products, but some digital
• Best For: Established affiliate marketers

FlexOffers

FlexOffers connects publishers with more than 12,000 advertising programs and 500 premium advertisers.

Like many of the larger affiliate networks, they offer access to a massive range of products, including automotive, clothing, accessories, electronics, education, health, and home and garden.

Every publisher is also assigned a dedicated account manager, and they offer a quick approval process.

• Commission Rate: Varies by merchant
• Product Types: Mostly physical, some digital
• Best For: All affiliate levels, from beginner to advanced

Sovrn//Commerce (VigLink)

Formerly called VigLink, Sovrn//Commerce is a top-tier publishing network that connects publishers with hundreds of merchants. They do this automatically using natural language processing to connect you to the merchant with the highest commission.  

They also provide access to detailed performance metrics to help you increase conversions. The platform also connects publishers with sponsored content opportunities.  

• Commission Rate: Varies by merchant
• Product Types: Some digital, mostly physical products like skincare, home goods, sports equipment, clothing, and accessories
• Best For: All affiliate marketers with a blog

JVZoo

JVZoo is a massive affiliate network with more than 800,000 active affiliates. Unlike other networks, which allow you to promote a wide range of products, most JVZoo merchants are in the marketing, tech, and artificial intelligence field.

JVZoo offers automatic payments and provides an easy-to-use dashboard so you can keep track of your performance.

• Commission Rate: Varies by the merchant
• Product Types: Digital products in online marketing, AI, training, and financial fields
• Best For: Affiliates in IT, AI, and digital marketing fields

SKIMLINKS

SKIMLINKS works with publishers to automatically add affiliate links for merchants. This means you can focus on writing great content, and SKIMLINKS takes care of the rest. They work with more than 60,000 publishers, including big names like HuffPost, CondeNast, and Yahoo!

Simply sign up, add their Javascript to your site, and start earning commissions. While this does mean you’ll have less control over what you promote, it’s an easy way to earn affiliate income.

• Commission Rate: Varies by merchant
• Product Types: Mostly physical products in areas like fashion and electronics, but also some digital products like dating apps
• Best For: Ideal for big publishers, but works well for those just getting started as well

Conclusion

Affiliate marketing may be one of the best ways to monetize your blog. An affiliate network makes it far easier to connect with merchants so you can focus on what you’re best at: publishing great content. 

But, juggling dozens of merchants and programs can be a hassle. Also, you need to be sure to read the fine print. Not all affiliate networks are legit, and even well-known names might not offer the type of products your audience is interested in.

Have you tried any of the networks above? Which is your favorite and why?

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