Richard Smith — November 5, 2016 Follow @MeRichardsmith
Link building is one of the more important considerations when an SEO campaign is considered. While many consider this as a simple tool to promote relevant URLs, the actual concept goes way further— mostly into unchartered territories. Conventional marketers or rather link builders concentrate way too much on tactics leading to the job instead of crafting a well-researched strategy. The idea with link building is to maximize results with minimal financial and time-based investments.
In this article, we will be talking about a few ideas— 5 in general, which can help you revamp the link building game. These strategies need to be followed sequentially in order to leverage each in the best of ways. Moreover, having these tricks up your sleeve can readily help you build a brand name for the concerned organization.
Before moving on with the ideas, it is important to know that link building is still an organic approach. While it is very easy to inculcate black-hat techniques into the scheme of things for getting hold of a diverse profile, staying in accordance with Google’s algorithm is actually the longer way to glory. Frankly speaking, it is also the most reliable approach towards natural link building.
So let’s get started with the ideas:
Value Online Relationships
Relationships are the key to efficient link building. If your online popularity is right on the money and you have pretty good connections with the influential few, getting through a relevant link isn’t all that difficult. The best way to move ahead with the situation is by socializing. There might already be a few valuable contacts, sitting right into your list and you must look to keep these people happy.
You can always start by sharing their websites, content pieces and even links to your social media accounts. Once you keep up with their expectations for a while, it won’t be weird to ask for a favor or two— in this case, links. However, it doesn’t get you the liberty to offer poor or even average content. When it comes to pitching a link to someone close, the quality of content should be high— probably better than what you usually create. The link, on the other hand, should be relevant and the topic must be written around the same.
Adding value never fails in the long run— more so when you are looking to build relationships. If you are expecting the contacts to listen up after years of lull, you are mistaken. For a professional relationship to succeed and tread on the lines of personal association, you need to engage often— sometimes in person.
LinkedIn is actually a great place for professionals to engage, interact and even share. Lastly, even if this approach works, never let the content standards lower— at least for the specific person.
Entice Others
While sending out at least 100 emails a day is common for a few link builders, the best way out is to concentrate on the website and optimize it for other marketers to identify. Cold Link building via emails isn’t the right way to go if you are looking to make it big and that too without having to face a lot of rejection. Instead, you can just optimize selective pages for niches like ‘tools’, ‘guest post’, ‘resources’ and a few more— by specifically including these terms, organically into the webpage content.
Once an authoritative website finds you and asks for a link, you can always make use of the opportunity with a similar request. However, the usual guidelines are still the same and you still need to offer great content in order to get favors. That said, the link needs to fit in naturally for long terms benefits as many over abuse the exchange principle to get in some irrelevant and low-quality links.
The best part about this strategy is that once it’s underway— the link building chores basically take care of themselves— much like an auto pilot. Therefore, enticing authoritative websites is more of an antithesis of ‘cold link building’. The only loophole you need to be wary off is the negative impact coming from low-quality websites. These links need not be included at any cost.
Return the Favor
Unlike many, I actually don’t believe that business is a ‘zero-sum’ game. Instead, it is all about sharing someone’s vision and even returning the favor in some cases. This concept actually goes all the way into the realms of link building. You can always link back certain relevant sites and professionally created content— as a token of gesture for those who helped you out.
When it comes to establishing a brand name, mutual trust and likeability are important. You can still make it big if you turn some individuals off but you need to make up for the same by getting some rabid followers. Please them with natural links whenever you find them relevant. Lastly, look to take a stand on social media that actually resonates with the audience, followers and influencers.
Be the Influencer
This is actually the toughest idea to execute as it requires a lot of effort on your part. To leverage this point, you need to create some great content and post the same to some of the well-known websites within the specific industry. In this way, you can allow people to judge the potential and whether they can actually count on you.
Once you are an authority of sorts, after days of posting and interacting, you can pair up with third-party sources for getting some recognition. The trick here is to zero in on the perfect platform and keep up with the SERPs, company name and every single detail that builds your brand.
For being an influencer, you need to produce a wide-array of stirring content synonymous to the given industry. You can also opt for public speaking, podcasts, radio broadcasts and everything that makes you reach the audience. Being an influencer is not easy and the graph is only incremental in nature. However, once people start recognizing you, they will treat you with regard. Then again, the path to being an influencer requires you to innovative continually.
Encourage Conversations
Link building isn’t a one-off strategy and those who consider it to be like that are hugely mistaken. The best approach would be to get your article published and then engage with the readers, in an interactive manner. If you have published something important or controversial on a big website, loyal readers will surely comment and look for answers to some of their queries. As a blogger, it is your responsibility to clear out the doubts and respond to them over social media.
The best perk of adopting this strategy is that you can clearly understand the customer preferences and work towards fulfilling the same.
Bottom Line
A successful SEO campaign rests of the shoulders of natural link building. While many organizations get it wrong, the aforementioned strategies will surely come in handy if you are looking to enhance your strategy and move beyond the typical mistakes every link builder ends up making.
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