Link building strategies for the mere mortal.
From the standpoint of a marketing agency, the greatest advice I can give to you about link building is that it all starts with your content.
You can attract a million people to your website. But, if they don’t like what you have to offer, then it’s a wasted opportunity. Therefore, fill your website or blog with content that provides value to your users and the back links will come naturally.
Writing great content takes time and effort, though. Whether your website is full of valuable content or you’re still building it up, it’s a good idea to have a link building strategy in place.
In this blog, I’ll provide you with easy steps to developing back links for when you are are still building up your valuable content.
Time to drive traffic.
I’m going to assume that you already have a website with on-page optimization. If that’s the case, and your marketing automation funnels are in place, it’s time to start directing people to your site.
Don’t worry too much about SEO here. Instead, concentrate on attracting relevant traffic to your site.
NOTE: Some of the strategies below could result in nofollow links. Don’t consider this a failure. Remember, the goal here is to drive traffic.
Disclosure: Asking for a link or review will violate Google’s Webmaster Guidelines.
A Note From The Author: As soon you decide to make 2017 your best year yet, the sooner you will begin a journey of success. Let 2017 be your year! Often we have the best intentions. We read things that could better our existence, yet we never implement them! Let today change that for you. Read this article on link building, and take the actions suggested. I want you to be successful even if we never work together. Take the opportunity given below and grow your business beyond your wildest expectations.
I would love to talk to you about making 2017 your best year yet. I am a marketing expert and Google Partner who started his web development journey in 1992 and marketing journey in 2001.
01: Share Your Networking Events
I recently read an article on Search Engine Land about local link building. It discussed some ideas to increase your local visibility and local link structure. I’d like to add to it by offering a solution that’s easy and won’t cost you any money: sharing your networking events.
When you attend networking events, write a followup that explains what you gained from the meeting.
For example, when I attend networking events with the Manatee Chamber of Commerce, I’ll write a post about the event. In the post, I’ll link to a couple of people whom I connected with during the meeting. Then I’ll share a link to the post with those connections and ask them to share it with their followers.
Personally, I love this option for link building the best for four simple reasons:
- It is an easy and underrated link building strategy
- This gives you a chance to practice and perfect your elevator pitch
- You can generate new business without even trying
- It helps to rank and develop your local business
02: Share Your Knowledge and Support
Link building doesn’t have to be technical. It can be as simple as asking your client to put your logo and link on their site. If you’ve done a good job providing the knowledge and support they need this should be an easy win.
Consequently, when looking for linking opportunities, it helps to provide a win-win scenario.
For example, sometimes I offer my clients some free site work. In return, I ask that (if they’re satisfied with my work) they share my services on their blog or social media.
What if your contacts don’t need any work done at the moment? Simply ask them to reach out to their network and share your services on social media.
For example, I recommend the same approach to my clients’ sales staff. Often times, they say they aren’t comfortable asking their contacts to share their services. In that case, we work on developing an elevator pitch that shows they can be proud of.
After all, the goal of a business is to provide an excellent service or product. Yet, if nobody knows what you do, how they will hire you?
03: Testimonials & Reviews
Everyone knows how important testimonials are. People often rely on feedback (social proof) from others about products and services when making purchases. That is why I love this back link development process.
Not only does it help build your link profile, but it also helps build authority and trust and introduces your product or service to other people.
You can use the testimonial strategy in two ways:
-
Write an in-depth testimonial about a product or services you currently use (related to your industry).
-
Offer your product or service for free to power bloggers with the intent of an in-depth review.
Testimonial About A Product or Service
Everyone likes it when people say good things about their product or service. I mean who wouldn’t want to share kind words about what an exceptional product or service they have?
If you write a good enough review, it’s likely it will be shared, which is why this strategy works. However, you must spend the time to thoroughlyreview the product or service.
With that said, f you have an active following, this is an excellent way to not only build your followers but also receive back links when people share your articles.
Review of Your Product or Service
According to wrigley.com, William Wrigley Jr., the founder of Wrigley’s Spearmint® and Juicy Fruit®, “organized the first-ever nationwide direct marketing campaign, shipping sticks of gum to every address listed in U.S. phone books.”
Now can you imagine how many people those people told about this new gum they had?
The same process works here, just on a smaller scale, and online.
Reach out to bloggers and writers who write about your business niche. Ask them if they would consider reviewing your product or service.
Subject: Loved your write up on payroll services
Email: Hello [First Name],
I was online looking for competitors in my market space when I came across your article about the different types of payroll services you come to expect for your small business. We offer a product that checks all the boxes and falls in line with the cost you expect to pay. In fact, I would be happy set you up with free 6 month trial of our services. If it’s something that you like, just consider talking about it on your blog or to write a review, or share with your social connections.
Kind Regards,
—
04: Offer a College Scholarship
Developing and promoting a scholarship for college students is a brilliant way to attract .edu links.
A scholarship can be as small as $500. Although I have found that $2,000+ scholarships receive more attention from students.
There are a couple of ways to set up a scholarship. You can set up a trust, create a non-profit, or, do as we do, and set up an account with your funding specific for the scholarship.
Additionally, you would want to speak with your tax expert about what is best for your company. Once you figure this out, you are ready to begin.
Step 01: Create a Scholarship Page on your website
Scholarship pages are essential to creating an entirely online application process. You don’t want to spend time, money and resources with a manual (paper) process.
If your scholarship requires an essay submission, you can even post the finalists’ content on the web page. (Free content! Well almost lol.)
Step 02: Find College and Universities that will link to your scholarship
I always recommend developing relationships within your local community as much as you can. With that said, you should start with your local colleges first.
Then, once you have a relationship locally you can search Google using the following:
Take note of all the websites and look for email contacts or phone numbers for people who oversee scholarship opportunities.
Step 03: Contact the colleges and universities about your scholarship.
When I call the university or college, I say that we are offering a scholarship opportunity for the students. Then, I go over the details and ask if they would be interested in learning more. This is also a great opportunity to ask what you can do to help make it a successful program.
You can also reach out via email. For example:
Subject: New Scholarship Opportunity for [school] Students
Email: Hello [First Name],
We are currently offering a scholarship and would like to make it available to [school] students. Our scholarship is called [insert name] and [insert details about scholarship].
If you are interested, we would appreciate your support by adding our scholarship to your page (insert URL you found). Additionally, if there is anything else we can do to help make this a success, please let me know.
Kind Regards,
—
inurl:.edu “scholarships” Search on Google
05: HARO (Help a Reporter Out)
In other blog posts, we discuss becoming an industry expert. Help A Report Out (HARO) can help you do just that.
HARO provides you with an incredible opportunity to be featured in some of the highly shared media outlets like Reuters, FoxNews.com, Chicago Tribune, Time, Mashable, The New York Times, and the Wall Street Journal just to name a few.
First, you’ll have to register for the site and pick your plan (there are four plans available from free to $149 a month). Then, you’ll begin to receive three emails a day that contain queries. These queries are from journalists who are looking for sources to include in their articles.
Closely monitor these queries so that you can respond to applicable ones right away. Because HARO is a popular tool, journalists often receive a ton of responses. Being the first to respond will improve your chances of being picked.
So, if a journalist uses you as a source, it’s very likely you’ll get a link in their article.
I have used this same process as a journalist to get information from other industry experts and post it on my blog. I contacted my sources with my blog post, and they ended up sharing the articles on their social networks. So, it works both ways.
06: Sharing Your Content On Google+ (Google My Business)
Okay, I know I said earlier that we are going to talk about link building strategies that don’t require content creation. However, if you have a website then you should have some content or an offer on it right?
So, what does a Google My Business page do?
First, that’s where the business directory in the Google results comes from. Take a look at the image above. I went to Google.com and searched for “Google”. The area on the right is Google’s “My Business” directory.
Second, and more importantly, it also helps build back links.
After you create your business listing, set up your Google+ profile. Here you can produce a contextual, dofollow link.
Once that’s done, then it’s time to start posting! Share links to your content on your Google+ profile and you’ll receive great back links.
On the other hand, I’ve also gotten many back links from websites who picked up my articles from Google+.
In conclusion, while I don’t believe Google+ is the best place for social interactions, I do believe its a great place for SEO.
07: Interacting on Forums
There is a ton of blogs, forums, and question and answer websites around. One of my favorite places to attract referral traffic is from Quora.
Neil Patel wrote an incredible blog post about how to drive referral traffic from Quora. I recommend you check it out for more detailed information.
Other sources of free traffic would include Yahoo Answers, Reddit, and the CNET Forum just to name a few. Neil does an exceptional job explaining the process. Therefore I would just use the same principles found in that article and apply it to others.
Furthermore, to find forums related to your company just do this simple search in Google.
BONUS: Blog Aggregators For DoFollow Links
After I wrote this piece I came across a blog aggregator called Alltop. Alltop allows for dofollow links and is just a blog of blog posts. Getting setup is pretty easy too.
Step 01: Go to https://alltop.com/submission/ and create an account
Step 02: Fill out your information
Step 03: Submit your website
Step 04: Add some tracking code to your website
Step 05: Wait for it to review and share your content
I hope you found the information here helpful to put you on your way to a successful, well-linked website. If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to contact us or connect on social media.
1 comment
Awesome article Jason. One thing I am learning is that when it comes to SEO stuff it’s just content and backlinks. Other than that it’s the paid stuff. I like the part about blogging about networking events and sharing the post with others.