Many businesses are looking for ways to increase their search engine rankings and website traffic. Most of them rely on blackhat search engine optimization (SEO) tactics, which don’t provide the best results. PureLinq says to avoid non contextual links that produce low-quality traffic. Link building is one great way to increase your reach, attract more website visitors, grow search engine rankings, and build credibility. There are four easy steps that can help you earn inbound links and earn respect from Google.
Develop a Plan
Develop a plan so you can determine where you want to receive a majority of your links. Remember, your business website should include a combination of internal and external links. Those external links should come from credible sources. Who do you consider in your industry a credible source?
Decide which components of your website you want to display these links. Categorize these pages so you can find the sources you’d like to generate the links from. Keep in mind the time you need to allocate these sources.
Set a realistic goal that allows you to complete your plan in a timely manner. Use your editorial calendar or work schedule to ensure that you have enough time to make this plan possible. It’s going to take a lot of time, hard work, patience, and effort on your part.
Update Your Website
With your plan in place, you can now update your website. It’s now time to focus on creating strong content that links back to industry news and resources, reputable research, and video blogs. When creating your content, include offers that involve every aspect of the buying process.
This is an important aspect of inbound marketing and lead generation. Each page of your website should also have a clear goal in mind. Do you want more subscribers? Do you want them to purchase your book? Do you want them to purchase your course? Make that clear throughout your website without coming off as pushy.
Use one topic or keyword per page while not confusing your visitors. Encourage your visitors the next steps by including a strong and clear call-to-action. You should also update your website so it provides a positive and user-friendly experience.
Build Strong Relationships
Social media is one way you can connect with potential customers and existing customers. Make yourself visible on social media by responding to their comments and sharing their information. Mention your followers directly every time you share their content so they can receive notifications. While there are plenty of social media sites, LinkedIn is one of the best for connecting with industry leaders.
When reading blog posts, don’t forget to leave thoughtful comments that are relevant to the topic. Including your real name and website link can help increase credibility and value to your comments. Only comment on blog posts that you enjoy reading, otherwise, it’ll come off as fake. Some of these comments can start a conversation.
You can also go directly to the business or the source if you want a link back from them. Most people connect a face to a name. If you go directly to the store and talk to the owners, they’re more than likely to connect with you and help you later. Meeting business owners in person allows you to learn more about the business and industry in general, which can help you establish a business relationship.
Implement Link-Earning Plan
Now it’s time to take everything you learned and put it into action. Combine your contacts, sources, and use them to implement your plan. This is a repetitive and ongoing process. With each of these steps, you’ll increase links as well as your search engine rankings.
Keep in mind that this won’t happen overnight. It takes time to establish and build relationships, earn their trust, and build yourself as a credible resource. By starting slow and making small goals, you’ll start seeing results. Then, you can implement and slowly increase over time.