Creative Ways To Acquire Backlinks
Link building is not rocket science. The best part about link building is that anyone can do and it is an easy process to follow. When you are starting out you need to create a link-building strategy just like you would for any other part of your business, this is part of the content marketing strategy.
You might be asking what are “backlinks,” why are they important to my site, and what is the best way to get backlinks? Well, when it comes to inbound vs outbound marketing, backlinks are a huge part of inbound marketing. A backlink is a term used to describe the websites that have been externally linked to your site, they are incoming links. Search engines see this as the supreme ranking factor. It is also a way of getting more organic traffic.
You first will need to create something or have something already that is quality content worthy of being linked to. Secondly, you will need to have an audience and people who are interested in linking with you, which is sometimes easier said than done. Finally, you need to persuade those people to do precisely that!
Traffic is directly related to the quality of backlinks to your site, it is imperative to get more authoritative websites to link to you. The better the rankings they have, the higher the traffic you will get.
Unfortunately, it can be hard to get backlinks, but it shouldn’t be. There are several different ways that you can get authoritative websites linking to your business.
The Broken-Link Building Method
The broken-link building method because it works to create one-way backlinks. This technique involves finding broken links on their website and contacting a webmaster to report them. At the same time, you can recommend other websites to replace that link. This is where you mention your own website. Since, you are doing the webmaster a favor by reporting broken links, the more likely they will give your website a backlink.
To use the broken-link method you will first need to find relevant websites in your niche that have resource pages. You are able to locate them by using these search queries in Google:
● your keyword + links
● your keywords + resources
● keywords in URL: links
To easily find broken links on those pages, download and install the Google Chrome plugin called Check my Links. Using this plugin, you are able to quickly discover all 404 links on a page.
Whenever reaching out to a webmaster make sure to be friendly and introduce yourself. Tell this individual that he or she is linking to some resources that are no longer available. Always provide the exact location of the broken links, so they can be easily found. Give some alternatives to replace those links, including links to your site. More often than not, this method will work, but there will be cases when the webmaster will refuse to link back to you and that is ok.
Backlinks Through Infographics
A popular method for bringing traffic to your site is through the use of infographics. Infographics are assisting in gaining valuable backlinks. They’re also easy to understand and share. The demand for infographics has increased considerably. For instance, the online publication Mashable publishes numerous infographics from all over the Internet, and they are not the only ones.
You need to design your infographic carefully. Each one needs to be a unique and interesting story for your intended audience. You should be following trending topics and seeing what people are looking for when you are creating your infographic. Then create your infographic using statistical data.
You will then want to share your infographic with sites that manage infographics as well as with anyone that likes or shared similar infographics.
Spy On Your Competitors
Staying up to date with your main competitors’ online marketing strategies is mandatory when you are trying to gain backlinks and organic traffic. You will need to spy on your competitors on social media and look for their link-building or earning techniques, as well as their content-marketing methods.
● Get alerts from your competitors when they are publishing new content on their web pages.
● Find out the backlinks your competitors are building/earning
A useful tool to spy on your competitors’ backlinks is called Monitor Backlinks. You are able to add 4 competitors that you find most important and you will then receive a weekly report. Your weekly report contains all the new links they have earned. Inside the tool, you get more insights about these links and can sort them by their value and other SEO metrics.
You can keep track of backlinks your website is getting, by utilizing tools like Monitor Backlinks, Ahrefs, or Majestic. Most of these sites offer a trial period so you can use the free tools to determine which one you prefer. In tools, you can also see what your competitors are doing with their backlinks and keywords.
Build Internal Links
Internal links are a key factor when running a successful blog and help with your ranking factor on Google. With a good internal linking structure, you are helping users to navigate through your website and increase the overall user experience.
You should be linking back to pages on your own blog that make sense to link to and using your anchor text to let the user know where they are going. For instance: When you write a blog that mentions an older post, you should create a link on a page to the older post, on the newer blog post. This will also help with the Google Bots crawling your page. Which as you know will increase your Google ranking.
Promote Your Content
When you have great content you will need to promote it to get your backlinks. You have to spread the word and might have to do email outreach to promote your best articles.
One of the best backlink strategies to do is to contact bloggers or websites running weekly or monthly roundups. In a nutshell, a roundup post is a compilation of expert answers to a single question. Roundup posts are very valuable to readers because they get many expert opinions in one place. Again, you can use Google and search for queries like “keyword + roundup.”
You will want to reach out to the webmasters and introduce your website. With your message, send a link to one of your best tutorials or guides. If they find your resource useful, they may link back to you in their next weekly roundup.
Another great way to promote your content is through guest blogging. You can find blogs or influencers in your same niche by reaching out to them to see if you can do a guest post. This will boost traffic to your site and traffic to their site. You can search for guest posting the same way you did for roundups “keyword + guest posting”.
As with the other techniques, make sure you do not abuse your relationship with any webmaster by asking for a link directly.
Write Testimonials
Writing testimonials for websites you are using is an easy way for you to get high-quality backlinks. You will spend a few minutes, and you might earn a link from the homepage of an authoritative website. You have the possibility of getting a link in exchange for a testimonial as long as you are a customer of that product.
You will want to list all the tools you are currently using and reach out to discuss the likelihood of featuring your testimonial on the desired website.
Contact Journalists and Bloggers
To get links to your website, you need to spread the word about your business. Reaching out to journalists and influencers in your niche is a great way to spread the word. Finding someone’s email address can be challenging, but there’s no reason to be discouraged. If you are unable to find their business email address you can always use social media.
Remember that every pitch should be short and to the point. No one has time for long and boring emails from strangers.
Get Interviewed
Online interviews are popular right now and are a great and easy way to earn backlinks to your website. Once you become an authority in your niche, you will get lots of interview invitations. Like all great things, you will have to get started somewhere. Start by looking for websites that are running interviews and tell them you would like to participate and what knowledge you can contribute. Show your knowledge by producing high-quality content that is worthy to be linked to.
Conclusion
Earning high-quality backlinks can be challenging, but you can easily find link-building opportunities by using the right resources and methods.
After reading this you feel overwhelmed, don’t be. Blue Water Marketing is here to assist in creating high-quality backlinks for your site, but also helping to remove low or spammy backlinks as well! Contact us today to see how we can meet your needs.
