The content of your pages and the links pointing at that content, are the two most important
signals Google looks at when deciding on the positions pages occupy in the organic search
results. That’s why link building is an important aspect you can’t ignore. Here are TOP 10 types
of content you can create to get the exposure you need for your site:
1. Press releases aren’t dead
It’s rare that a site would write about your company and then not link to it. That’s just not
user-friendly, which is why reporters always link to you when they cover you or your company.
If you want to build links, why not get press for your business or your entrepreneurial success?
Contact your local PR agency and see what they can do for you.
Also, make sure that at the end of all of your news releases you have a text that talks about your
company. It’s almost always included when your release gets picked up by another source.
2. The power of a leader
Make your executives available for interviews or Q&As with industry publications. Interviews
are a great means of reaching out to websites and offering your expert viewpoint. They tend to be
easier to read and sites like the personal touch and one to one questions rather than a pre-written
article which is less unique to their site.
3. Sponsor nonprofits
There are tons of opportunities for your company to give back to the community with a
non-profit partnership. You can donate money or time to the cause. It’s a great way to give back
to the rest of the world. If you sponsor a non-profit, in many cases, you can get a link back.
The beautiful part about this strategy is that it doesn’t require an exchange of cash. You can
volunteer your time, your products or even services for a link. Non-profits are open to almost
anything as they don’t have a big spending budget.
4. Sponsor an event
You can apply the same tactics for events. Relevance is still critical here. Don’t just give them
money to sponsor, actually attend the event. Do a write-up of it afterward and ask the event to
share it.
One of the simplest ways to build links is to sponsor an event. Conference sites list each and
every sponsor. In addition, in most cases, they link back to their sponsors.
If you work in the corporate world, you may get a bit tired of working in the office, so it will be
nice for you to get a break by attending a conference. Plus, you’ll get a link out of it.
5. Give away to get links
People love free stuff. It doesn’t matter if it is expensive or cheap stuff; people love getting gifts.
Get creative and start giving bloggers stuff. From shirts to hats to anything else that is related to
your brand, just start giving things away. Not only will bloggers love you, but they will also start
blogging about your company and linking back to your website.
For example, an e-shop can offer a free product. If you sale, let’s say cosmetics, you could offer
a hand cream or face mask. This way, you give bloggers something for their posting, but also if
their write reviews you can sale more of that product, more popular now.
6. Webinars
Spending a couple hours every month by doing a webinar is a great idea for attracting links over
the long term. Set up a page on your website solely dedicated to webinars, and as you create new
ones, the links will roll in each time.
7. Data/Research
By collecting data on just about anything, you can attract links why? Because people absolutely
love data. One reason is because they like to make conclusions from it that support their
arguments.
Take it one step further. If your data supports a side of an argument, reach out to those that it
would support. People love telling the world how right they are.
8. Case studies
Everyone loves a good case study. Real results with real numbers can instantly catch people’s
attention. If you offer a product or service, this is a no-brainer. If you give out advice, find
someone who’s used it successfully.
9. Offer scholarships and internships
Scholarships can become an important link strategy if it’s in the budget. Give out a decent sized
scholarship and reach out to multiple colleges and high schools.
Furthermore, you could set it up as a contest; the finalists have to write blog posts on your blog
on why they deserve it.
Also, if you have any job or internship opportunities, you can get a few easy .edu links.
10. Testimonials
All companies with products or services to sell love showing off their customer testimonials. It’s
how they gain trust of their target audience and encourage them to use their brand: there’s no
advertisement more honest than feedback from your clients.
Some e-shops have a validation process before posting a testimonial. They make sure that user
actually bought the product he reviewed.
Testimonial links have a quality that make them absolute gems in the link acquisition world:
they’re 100% a true reflection of the relationship you’ve built. That’s precisely the kind of link
the search engines want to count. Also, they provide strong benefits to both parties in the deal;
everyone’s a winner.
Some link building metrics
1. Domain strength
Domain strength is the cumulative value of an entire domain. Instead of looking at the value of
individual pages, we look at the domain as a whole to understand how strong it is.
Domain Authority is calculated by Moz, a tool for measuring, monitoring and evaluating the
onsite and offsite aspects of a website’s level of search engine optimisation, and runs on a scale
of 0-100, with 100 being the highest. It tries to predict how well a domain will perform in search
results and is an indicator of how strong a domain is.
In terms of link building, site strength is a good metric to use because you want to get links from
websites that are very strong. If the links you get are from strong domains, they will pass more
strength to your own website, which is a clear signal to Google that you have a good site that
deserves to rank well.
2. Position of links on the page
Google is able to work out the position of a link on a page and choose to value it differently. For
example, they could see if 50% of all the links pointing to your website are in some kind of
footer. This could indicate low-quality link building.
Another example, if Google finds that 50% of the links pointing to your website are from
sidebars. Again, it could also be a signal that you’re buying links. Many link brokers will place
links in the sidebar of pages as opposed to within the content. Because of this, you should make
sure that you are getting links from websites which are happy to link from within content
wherever possible.
Conclusion: Think outside the box
The possibilities of link building are endless. You can build links in many different ways; you
just have to be creative. What I’ve learned over the years is the best link builders are the creative
ones. All you have to do is to think outside the box.
This is a guest post powered by Retargeting Biz, Marketing automation tool for e-shops www.retargeting.biz