Marketing in the modern age can be quite tricky if you’re not familiar with the way search engines work. As a small business owner, you may not have the resources (human and financial) to do what other more established businesses are doing to drive traffic to their businesses.
All is not lost for you.
One of the major ways you can improve your visibility on the internet is by building backlinks to your website.
What are Backlinks (And 3 Reasons You Need Them)
Backlinks are simply links from other websites pointing to your website. In order for your website to rank well on search engines like Google, you’ll need to collect as many backlinks as you can. But more than that, you need to collect quality backlinks.
analogicus / Pixabay
So why are backlinks so important?
1. Drive Traffic to Your Website
Every business needs traffic in order to sell its goods or services. And backlinks are a great way to direct traffic to your website from the website linking to yours. This is where the quality of the backlink really comes to play. In order to drive more traffic to your website, you need to get backlinks from websites frequented by your ideal customers.
2. Increase Your Own Domain Authority
Another great reason to build backlinks is that they contribute to increasing your domain authority. Domain authority (DA) is a measure of how well your website ranks on search engine results pages. The higher your DA, the more likely your site will rank high on search results, leading to more traffic to your website.
3. Increase Your Page Ranking
While DA is a measure of the entire website’s authority, page ranking refers to the positioning of a particular page on your website. This metric is especially important if that particular page helps you market and sell your goods/products.
Now that we’ve established why you should be serious with your link building efforts, let’s take a look at 6 simple ways you can build those backlinks.
6 Simple Ways to Build Quality Backlinks for Your Business
One reason many people shy away from building backlinks is that it’s quite a time-consuming (and oftentimes laborious) process. However, the results are well worth it. If you’re just starting out (or running on a shoestring budget) here are a few easy ways you can build quality backlinks.
1. Create Amazing Link-worthy Content
Content is the currency of the internet. For this reason, your first step in creating quality backlinks is to create amazing link-worthy content.
So how do you create such unicorn content?
Write in a conversational tone. Many businesses make the mistake of writing content for their customers. Don’t fall for that trap. Instead, write as if you’re talking to a friend. In other words, create content that has a conversational and friendly tone.
Provide real value. People are busy. The only way you can get them to regularly read your content is by consistently providing valuable content. Of course, when other publishers discover that you are a resource, they will start linking to your content.
Use the “Skyscraper Technique”. The Skyscraper technique is a content creation strategy invented by the renowned SEO expert, Brian Dean of Backlinko. Simply put, the Skyscraper technique entails creating quality content that “towers” above all the other content published on your particular topic. While it may take time and effort, it’s a great way to ensure that your content is link-worthy.
2. Have a Guest Posting Strategy
Guest posting is an amazing way to build links (and relationships).
So what is guest posting?
Guest posting simply means writing content that you publish on other sites that are not your own. The 2 main benefits of guest posting are traffic and that much-coveted backlink.
In order to pull off an effective guest posting strategy, make sure to:
Guest post on relevant sites
Create your best content
Add value to your hosts’ website
If you haven’t started publishing content on other blogs, now is the best time to do so.
3. Comment on Other Blogs
Blog commenting was once a rave link-building technique until people started abusing the technique. Today, commenting with a link back to your website won’t get you any “link juice”. However, it still has a relevant role to play in your SEO strategy. Here are 3 reasons why:
Helps build relationships with webmasters and readers
Show your authority
Drive traffic and generate leads
While blog commenting won’t get you a direct backlink, it does serve as a platform to help you do so.
4. Leverage Social Media
Many marketers and SEO “gurus” dismiss social media backlinks as pointless for the reason that they are “no-follow” links. However, social signals do play an important role when it comes to ranking well on search engines.
TeroVesalainen / Pixabay
Here’s how you can optimize for social sharing:
Connect your website to your social media accounts. Social media profiles have a provision for you to add your website to your profile. Doing so allows your followers to easily visit your website.
Include your website (or article) link in comments. Whenever it’s relevant, link to your website/articles when commenting on social media.
Include share buttons on your website. Make it easy for readers to share your articles by including easy to find share buttons on your website.
Social media is a great way to get your content going viral. Not only will this help with brand exposure, but it will also increase the chances of it attracting backlinks. Every method that can earn you a single backlink is important and definitely worth the little extra effort.
5. Linkless Backlinks
There’s a new type of “backlink” that search engines are using to determine the value of a website – linkless backlinks. These are also called linkless mentions or brand mentions.
A linkless backlink is a mention of your brand or website anywhere on the internet. Anytime your brand is mentioned, link or no link, Google notices and uses that as a trust signal.
So how do you get those linkless backlinks?
Simple!
Create a buzz by writing (or doing) something worth talking about.
To do this, you have to know your audience and create content that touches their pain points or inspires them. You can even get a solid backlink by emailing the author and asking them for a link.
6. List Your Business in Business Directories
Listing your business in a business directory is a simple yet powerful way of building backlinks. Just imagine the number of business directories online that can point back to your website. Business directories are untapped backlink mines you should immediately start tapping.
Some business directories you can immediately start with include:
Google Places for Business
Bing Business Portal
Yahoo!
Hotfrog
Business.com
e-business Pages
You should also look for niche-specific directories as these not only provide relevant backlinks, but they help you generate more business as well.
Backlinks – Go Get ’Em
There you have it. A beginner’s guide to link building. These methods are easy, but they require a bit of time to execute. But that will be time well spent.
So go ahead and get yourself some quality backlinks.
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