You are now aware of a strategy called Link Building – what it is, that it can increase the authority of your page (when done correctly), and what defines a quality link. However, how you build the actual links is still a mystery. Not anymore. I am going to go over the process of choosing your link building strategy.

 

There are numerous ways to build links, however, in my short time as an SEO Intern I have seen and been a part of employing many different techniques that have been successful. I have created an infographic with my top 5 link building opportunities and the “personality” I think they relate to. It also includes the basic information for each technique. After the infographic I elaborate on a these methods and introduce a few more. Enjoy!

 

 

Below I have offerred two types of information for each link building strategy: for which situations each strategy is most useful and an example in layman’s terms. (For these examples imagine you are opening up a restaurant in Center City.):

• Guest Posts: 
  • Most Useful: As long as the blog or site you reach out to has some relevance to your topic, this is always an option.
  • Example: If you were opening up a restaurant or business, you would outreach to the local companies to network and bring you business, right? Link building is like online networking for your site.
• Contests, Promotions & Scholarships: 
  • Most Useful: This strategy best works when trying to spike traffic results or gain awareness. New companies can do this to increase brand awareness when established companies tend practice this in order to get through a known traffic lull on their page as well as a variety of other reasons.
  • Example: When you visited these local businesses, you may bring coupons or vouchers to entice the locals to visit your restaurant, right? These promotions (contest and scholarships too) are ways of enticing other bloggers to link to your site. If the opportunity you are offering is of interest to their readership, they cannot resist!
• Resource Creation: 
  • Most Useful: If your company sees an area of your industry or market with untapped potential and you think you could offer value to that area with an infographic or resource, this is a great option.
  • Example: If your recipe creates a signature dish or recipe that no one in the area can replicate, then people will come. If you create a resource or infographic that has an original spin or is the only one of it’s kind, other sites will want to share it and link to your page.
• Broken Links: 
  • Most Useful: If you have an older site, most likely old link opportunities have broken links. It is useful to reach back out and see if they would mind updating it. This strategy is also an option if the site address changes or branches out to another site.
  • Example: This is similar to someone writing a review about your restaurant and using outdated information to form their opinion. If this occurred, you would need to give them updated information in order for their review to be accurate. Therefore, when a website has an outdated or broken link, you reach out to the owner to rectify the error.
• Unlinked Mentions:
  • Most Useful: If you discover that your site is being mentioned, but it is not receiving a link, reaching out would be beneficial to your site. (Figuring out if your infographics and posts are receiving links will be featured in a future post).
  • Example: If your restaurant was discussed online but no one knew the location, you would lose business. When your site is mentioned but not linked, your page gets no traffic. The situation must be rectified by discussing a change with that page’s webmaster.
• Interviews (not in infographic): This method involves reaching out to blogs that have previously interviewed other experts in your industry of interest. Contacting these blogs and asking if they would be interested in an expert from your company is a great link building technique.
  • Most Useful: These opportunities usually only work if a blog has done an interview before. If they haven’t, it isn’t worth asking. Use another method that they are familiar and comfortable with.
  • Example: This would be like a blog interviewing your chef and him or her getting notoriety. If the chef gets attention, so does the restaurant. Same for a site. If an expert from your company is interviewed, it leads right back to the company’s site.
• Badges (not in infographic): This link building method places a graphic icon on the page of a partner or sponsor. The badge is used to make sponsors feel good about themselves, and give a link back to your site. Google gives out AdWords certifications.
  • Most Useful: These badges usually only work if you are outreaching to sponsors and partners. Even then, if your badge does not hold any significance to the company, they will not be interested. For example, Google offers an AdWords certification badge that tells other sites that they have a valuable skill.
  • Example: Badges in regards to link building is the same thing as your restaurant getting customers to buy their T-Shirts or other paraphernalia. It’s a way of spreading name recognition. The restaurant gain recognition through word-of-mouth, websites do through click-of-mouse.

Hopefully after reading this post you know a few key ways to link build for your site! My next two posts will focus on how to reach out to the bloggers or site in order to receive a link and  how to find these opportunities.