Creative link-building techniques to improve your website SEO

 Creative link-building techniques to improve your website SEO

You can’t compare link building to that painting done by Michelangelo “The Creation of Adam” on the ceiling at Sistine chapel, but when you consider the makings of good linking, the end result can pass as an art. By this time you’ve probably gone through dozens of content talking about link building and most of them seem to offer the same suggestions, and while guest blogging and web directories serve a purpose, some of the concept can seem vague and at times, inapplicable.  

 

In this niche you will come across a lot of bystanders and some of them will be okay with the older strategies because they’ve seen them in use and are more comfortable with the result. If however, you are not the type of person who operates on the concept of “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it”, and prefer to stay on the lookout for smart creative solutions for getting links, then by all means, read on.

1. Ego baiting 

Obviously this is not an approach for everybody and it wouldn’t work on everybody so you need to tread lightly here. If you’re new to the industry and want to carve out your own strategy and you appreciate the power of influencers, well you can make them work for your benefit by baiting their  ego. You may choose to flatter or threaten; whatever you feel will work. There are some immediate benefits to using a power player. These include: 

 

- Visibility:   as you can probably testify, it’s very hard to get noticed in certain industries, especially when coming up as a newbie and its more challenging to create relationships. By adjoining yourself with an influencer you can connect with thousands of people all in one move, and before you know it, you’re the talk of the town. 

 

- You have a wider reach: once you publish the content involving the influencer, people will spread because of the influencer’s popularity, and if the content is really good, then you will have your break. If you stroke their ego, the influencers will do everything to spread the content because they were involved in it. But again, this is a delicate move so proceed with caution.  

 

 

How to ego bait influencers 

 

This is done by writing about top performers in an industry, posting the content on your domain and posting links leading to them. It’s fairly straightforward and it works, because most people pay attention to mentions and will feel compelled to comment on your articles.  

 

Another strategy is to locate well-known influencers in your industry and have them voice their opinions about a subject matter. Your only job would be to put everything together and when you’re done you will have a team of industry giants promoting your content. 

One other way to do this is to mention people directly when writing content.  Be specific. Instead of “I liked what that guy from X designed” you could go with “I liked what Charles from X designed.” 

2. Refurbish Infographics 

Just because you didn’t create something it doesn’t mean you can’t modify if and use it to create something better. If you can learn how to add value, then you should be using outdated infographics to your advantage. You can do this by making use of infographics that relate to your market and find a way to restructure them so they can be useful now. 

 

Start by contacting any website linked with the old infographic and let them know of the modification. There are several backlink checkers you can use for this, and at this step you could encourage them to update their link and have it point to the new one.  

 

Visual content tends to be more appealing to visitors so let your creativity lose and find other successful campaigns that you think could work for you, then leverage them with your new content. 

3. Old content 

 

You know that old expression, “another man’s junk..?” Well that’s true at least in this context. For smart webmasters, old links that point to deleted or long forgotten pages are a real treasure. Can you locate content that has  been outdated and build something out of it? If yes, then contact the owner and ask them how they feel about redirecting that old link to the new page.

 4. Answer questions 

 

Established brands have a system of creating customer persona. This means understanding your customer and tracing them online to see where they hang out. Track their hangouts and answer relevant questions where you find them clustered whether in groups on blogs or on popular forums. Make sure you answer questions clearly and honestly, and don’t come off as salesy. 

 

This will require solid work on your part but the advantage is that it will set you up as an authority on those subjects and lead to great traffic as well. 

  

5. Make use of evergreen content 

 

The word Evergreen is used by editors in reference to content that is always interesting to readers. You can find the evergreen concept in virtually every domain and if you know what to do with it, then that would be great. Look at that song by Queen “The show must go on”, that record is still relevant to audiences years after it was recorded.  

 

Whatever you industry, there’s always something audiences find timeless and every once in a while a clever marketer comes around and makes a bang out of it. You can do the same.

With these type of articles, try to build and sustain natural traction: although it would be okay to ask other people to link to you as your content is that much smarter and fresher. 

6. Get more press 

 

One great thing about getting press is that it will create more links to your site. If for instance you got featured on Forbes as an industry expert, they would most certainly include a link to your site. Failure to do so wouldn’t be user friendly. 

 

This is one of the reasons reporters will always link to you if they cover your company. If you’re having trouble building solid links, why not start by getting press coverage and see how that works out for you? Your local PR guy might have something in mind. 

 

In case you don’t have a lot of money to work with, you can still do a number of things to get your own press, or alternatively, contact the type of PR agency that chargers on a pay-per-performance model. It’s fair for both parties because if they fail to get you press, then you don’t have to pay anything.  

 

You may not have realized it but curiosity can fuel some of the most effective link building strategies so never stop using your natural creativity. It’s a bad idea to rely completely on old techniques because of the fast paced evolution that characterizes SEO.

Link building might be a straightforward process on some level but if you throw in a little creativity you can explore great innovation. Start by putting to use the information on this guide and see how far that gets you, and then try implementing your own strategies, that way you will remain one step ahead of the competition.