Strategies for Link Building: Three Methods for Earning Backlinks

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1 Strategies for Link Building: Three Methods for Earning Backlinks

2 A Community-Based Approach Competition for links can be fierce in most industries. In the early phases of a link building campaign, it pays off to be insistent and driven as you build up your web presence and reputation. Often success with link building will pick up over time, but it takes a solid, focused strategy to get the ball rolling. Get involved in the web community and network as much as possible before implementing your carefully laid out plan. Here we'll highlight three key methods for link building that will apply to nearly all websites and businesses. Link Building with Content Backlinks are really an exchange with another website. They'll want something in return for that valuable link. Perhaps the simplest and most enticing asset you can create will be unique content with authoritative information. Some examples include: How-To Guides Data Visualization Infographics Industry News Videos and Image Galleries White Papers The creation of this content should be geared towards an appropriate audience with a specific angle. How-to guides need to be informative and helpful, but videos/images may try to be more entertaining or funny. News and infographic pages ought to be current and relevant to emerging industry trends to give your company and website a cutting-edge feel. It must be stressed that all new content has to ooze quality. Attractive content will make the link building step much quicker and simpler. Ultimately, you want your backlinks to start forming organically based on your reputation and past content. When you're planning out your next move in content, keep a few rules of thumb in mind: 1. Clean Design You want a modern design that fits the content, but you need to focus on a clear, easy-to-understand user experience. Every visitor should immediately recognize what the content is about and what it is meant to provide. Avoid confusing language and unnecessary jargon in page titles. Keep user information , country of origin, etc. to a minimum to avoid gating out users who are unfamiliar with your website.

3 2. Interactivity Give your visitors a few opportunities for getting in on the action. Entertaining content should utilize engaging menu or navigation designs. Industry news or information is much more dynamic when it includes a moderated comment section for other experts and amateurs to discuss the content and ask questions of the creators. Always include integrated social media buttons for users to quickly share your content with others in their network. If your visitors are only reading and watching, you'll miss out on a deeper connection with the user. 3. Broad Appeal Use your blog for incredibly specific or technical content. Link building is all about appealing to the widest audience possible. It's perfectly fine to provide comprehensive information that may be a little outside every visitor's interest, but confine it to sub-menus or interactive elements. The very first thing that pops up on a screen after a click-through should be eye-catching, attention-grabbing, and most importantly of interest to a large number of people. Once you've built up some top-notch content, it's time to start networking. Put the most effort into alerting key websites and influencers in the industry. Don't forget that link building relies on the authority of the other websites. Target the leaders, and the rest of the community will follow suit by rewarding you with more backlinks. Targeted Assets By creating a piece of content highlighting specific websites, blogs, or businesses, you'll be far more likely to earn a link through those sites. This is a great tactic for building up a smaller number of high quality links with a fair amount of traffic. You'll often see targeted assets in the form of top-ten lists or "best of" galleries. These can certainly work, but it's a fine line between quality content and useless time-wasters. It's a better idea to put more work and thought into your content to truly flatter your main targets. Generally, you'll follow these two steps: 1. Create a Concept and Research Targets It all starts with the concept, but be careful not to retread tired topics. Top-ten lists abound on the Internet, so try to avoid such an easy out. Come up with a unique approach that fits in with your website's overall aim. It's often a good idea to fix the content to current or future trends. Find a common thread among your targets to tie the concept together. Don't forget to do your research! Quality is in the details when your goal is to flatter.

4 2. Outreach With the content created and complete, it's time to make the first move. Publish your targeted asset as a blog or page and shoot off an to the bloggers or websites that have been featured. It's common practice to alert others if they are highlighted in one's content. You'll want to avoid direct mentions of backlinks. The last thing you want is to send your target a sales pitch. Just focus on trying to build up your network and developing a long-term relationship. Don't expect immediate links to your content or shares on social media! Let everything develop naturally. If responses from the website or blogger are positive, keep them in mind for another targeted attempt in the near-future. Popular bloggers and industry leaders may end up receiving multiple targeted attempts a week. Be sure to show them what sets your website apart from the rest. Quality design and content will be a big part of earning a link at this stage of the game. Broken Links A broken link is a hyperlink that points to a page which no longer exists. You'd be surprised at the number of broken links on even the most prestigious of websites. Large websites that focus on link building campaigns quickly accumulate an ever-increasing tangle of pages and links. Links rely on another website to function correctly, and it's quite difficult to keep every single one current. Filling a need is a basic principle of business. It's no different in the world of link building. Take a look at some of the targets you identified for your previous targeted efforts. Browse through a few high-traffic pages hunting for links that are out-of-date or no longer functioning. Pinpoint voids that you know your website's content can fill. It may take some effort to revise and update a few pages of content you have previously published, but often times you'll find it's simply as easy as alerting the webmaster of the broken link and suggesting your content as a handy alternative. You'll be doing the webmaster a great favor by pointing out inconsistent links, and you'll be making their job even easier by providing a substitute. It's absolutely worth your time to search out broken links due to the high success rate of link building with this procedure. Even just one broken link on the top five websites in your industry could lead to valuable backlinks and higher credibility with search engines.

5 Contact Us Looking for more ideas for and information about link building? We always welcome any of your questions about backlinks and more. Talk to SiteWired Web Solutions to find the right solution for you! Visit for further information on web design and development, online marketing, and website optimization.