The Missing Link?
Want more people to visit your website? A link-building campaign could be just the thing to help you draw in shoppers.
It's easy to get links to your site from other websites.
You, your webmaster or an intern can do the job. And this
overlooked marketing strategy offers two big payoffs: more visitors
and higher search engine rankings.
Not all links are created equal--get links from websites with
content similar to yours. Trading links with colleagues is
generally a bad idea, because if your site sells car parts, then a
link from their wedding site or shoe site won't help--these
shoppers aren't your target market. And these links aren't
relevant to Google, MSN, Yahoo! and other algorithm-based search
engines that display natural search results (the sites not listed
as "Sponsored Links").
Although a link-building campaign is simple, there are many
guidelines for earning link popularity points from search engines
while attracting potential customers. A few key tips:
- Follow up on your PR efforts. Run a search for your
company's name in various search engines to find press
releases, articles and other mentions. These pages have already
been indexed by the search engines and might contain keywords
relevant to your business. Ask for a link if there isn't
one.
- Ask for what you've paid for. A trade association
membership or offline advertising campaign often includes a link
from the publisher's site to yours. Sometimes this doesn't
make it to the webmaster's to-do list, so follow up if
you're not getting the full benefit of the investment
you've made.
- Find sites with top search engine rankings. Check out
who currently has high natural rankings for your keywords. If
they're not direct competitors, ask them for a link. They might
want a reciprocal link or a fee, but it's probably worth
it.
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Send your link request by e-mail. It will be routed to the
decision-maker, who'll more likely respond to an e-mail than a
phone call; plus, you'll have a communication trail. Create a
spreadsheet to document the sites you've contacted and your
results.
Improve your link popularity, and you'll improve your search
engine rankings, site traffic and brand awareness all at once.
Speaker and freelance writer Catherine
Seda owns an internet marketing agency and is author of
Search Engine Advertising.