You’ve set up a business, you’ve got a smart website and now you want to get visitors. One of the most important website promotion strategies, both from a search engine optimisation and a direct traffic point of view, is link building.
Since pretty much the most important aspect of SEO is the number of high quality incoming links a website has, it’s important to develop a good link building strategy.
Before I go into some of the link building techniques, a quick word about what I would not recommend…
Many SEO companies will offer things such submissions to thousands of directories, article spinning, thousands of backlinks and even Twitter retweets. Google is becoming wiser to this sort of tactic and I certainly wouldn’t recommend going down this route to clients.
In my opinion, good link building involves a natural strategy which will include some or all of the following:
Add a Blog to Your Website
As I have written previously, a blog can bring a wide range of benefits to a business website. One such benefit is the potential for incoming links.
If the content of your blog is original, interesting and informative, you stand a high chance of your readers liking it so much that they link to it.
If you’re going to have a blog on your website, it is important to invest the time to keep your visitor’s attention. Providing high quality, regular content is essential.
Build a Social Media Presence
A social media presence is something that pretty much every business should have nowadays. Interacting with potential customers, sharing information and providing offers through social networks are all great ways to drive traffic to your website.
From a WordPress website it’s possible to automatically post updates, such as a blog post or a new product/offer to your Facebook and Twitter accounts, meaning that your friends/followers can be kept up to date without needing to visit your website.
There’s also the possibility for your update to be ‘liked’ on Facebook or your tweet to be ‘retweeted’ on Twitter, which can get your message across to an even wider audience.
It’s worth noting that an effective social media strategy will require a fair amount of effort. You’re far more likely, however, to see real benefits if you take the time interact with your customers rather than just bombarding them with spam.
Social Bookmarking
Social bookmaring websites such as Digg, Reddit and Delicious are useful places to add your links to. To really see benefit, though, you’re going to need your visitors to share your links to their own social bookmarking accounts.
You’ve probably noticed links on blogs like this one to share an article. Providing these makes it easy for your visitors to share your content on the social bookmarking site (or social network) of their choice.
Submit Your Website to Local Business and Industry-Specific Directories
There are an unlimited number of directories on the web. Most of which are set up solely for the purposes of link building.
The most useful directories to add your link to, however, are generally those that actually have a significant number of ‘real’ (as in people, not search engine spiders) visitors. Targeting a set of high quality, popular directories can help increase the visibility of your business.
Some directories may only allow ‘nofollow’ links. This won’t help much with SEO, but with the big business directories, like Yell, getting thousands of searches every day, a listing on one of these directories can drive a lot of direct traffic to your website.
Submit Your Blog Posts to Article Directories
There is also the option to submit individual blog posts to article directories. Do some research, find the most suitable article directories for your content and submit them.
If your articles are interesting enough and of suitable quality, directories such as Squidoo and Ezine Articles can be extremely powerful sources of both traffic and links.
Become a Guest Writer on Another Website
If your visitors enjoy the quality of articles on your website, you may find that you get invited to be a guest writer on another website.
As well as exposing your business to a wider audience there is also the chance to build links back to your website that readers of your guest article may follow.
Get Involved in Discussions on Other Blogs
You’ll want people to comment on your blog, so why not get involved in discussions on other websites that relate to your business?
Many blogs have “nofollow” links, so they might not help much with SEO. Despite this, commenting on other blogs is a great way to establish yourself as an specialist in your business area and, if other readers value your opinion, may lead to people following the link to your website.
One important point to stress is to avoid commenting on blogs just to get a link back to your website. This will often be seen as spam. Take the time to leave meaningful comments and get involved in discussions.
Share Your Subject Area Knowledge on Forums
Establishing yourself as an expert on high quality forums within your business area is not only an effective way to build links to your website but also an excellent way to build your reputation as an expert in your business area.
Many forums allow you, after a certain amount of time or posts, to have a signature in which you can include a link back to your website.
Again, as with blogs, I’d stress that posting on forums with the sole purpose of getting links back to your website isn’t a good strategy. Taking the time to establish a profile for yourself and your business will give far greater benefits.
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