If you have a website and want to have more traffic from search, you should consistently secure good links from relevant websites. That’s link building. It requires strong social skills, good communication, persistence, and creativity.
Actually, being a mechanical task, this part of SEO is not easy to do. This statement is true for each company. But when you’re a small business, it’s even harder. In that case, you have limited time and resources, and you need to make sure that any time you devote to link building is spent on tactics that will actually work.
Good news is that we have 5 link building ideas that really work. Before digging make sure that your website ranks high and most importantly it gets found by your target audience.
#1 Connect with Local and Niche Bloggers
Find out who are the popular bloggers who cover your city or work field? These type of content creators are driving constant content for their readers. So, sometimes when they run out of ideas, be the one that gives them a topic to tell about.
At first, comment or reshare their posts when you find them interesting, so you can build a genuine relationship. During that, pay attention to what they post about, and review where it might make sense for them to involve you.
If you’re a wine seller, you might ask to tell about wine history and share some wine drinking tips.
The key here is to share something relative for their readers.
As a small business, you’ll have better luck going after smaller bloggers. These micro-influencers may not have the domain authority of a celebrity blogger, but their niche focus makes their backlinks highly recommended for your website.
#2 Guest Post for Relevant Sites
You may have seen this tactic multiple times before, and that’s because it works. Guest blogging takes real effort and needs follow-ups, but it’s really effective.
Here is your to-do list for this task:
- Find sites who accept guest blog posts.
- Get the editor’s contact info.
- Brainstorm an interesting topic for them.
- Pitch it in a persuasive way.
- And finally, write the post.
It’s a lot of work, but it’s worth it. Guest posts provide much more than a backlink. When you land a guest post on a website your target audience frequents, they can drive qualified traffic your way.
Note for small businesses: instead of going after the biggest sites you’ve ever heard of, pitch articles to the sites that are smaller, but relevant, to your industry. If your small business regularly cooperates with other companies from complementary verticals, consider pitching them a guest post, too.
#3 Reclaim Unlinked Mentions
This is perhaps the easiest link building tactic of all. Both big and small brands are mentioned every day online․
You can set up free Google Alerts for “[your brand name goes here]” and “[yourdomain.com]”, as well as the names of any prominent members of your leadership team. Whenever a website mentions you without including a link, reach out.
In this case, we have a friendly audience who already thought you were worth mentioning to their readers. It’s normal for them to include a link to your site, so their visitors can learn more about you.
One more tip: Check every mention before you reach out. In case a site mentioned your business, not in a positive way, do not consider that you should ask them for a link.
#4 Offer Case Studies or Testimonials
This is one easy link building tactic, so start using it as often as it should. For instance, what software products does your business use? If you have good feedback about them, offer to take part in a case study or provide them with a testimonial.
It’s a customary experience for brands to link to the company featured in the case study or testimonial, in gratitude for their social proof.
You don’t want to go into this asking for the link sharing, and you should only do this for companies you’re sincerely happy with. Contact their sales manager and let them know how much their product or service has helped you, and that you’d be willing to provide a testimonial for them. You’re going to make their day.
#5 Promote Your Content Far and Wide
If you have already written blogs and shared advice on your small business website, then are you doing anything else to promote that content, besides the obligatory share on social media?
There are a lot of popular online blogs that allow you to syndicate your content (like Medium, Scoop.it, and others). Write a compelling summary for your blog, or rewrite in its entirety, and post a link back to your website.
Also, you can share links to your content in social sharing sites and online forum boards like Quora and Slideshare. Try to do this regularly and you’ll build a name for yourself as an authority in the space. Users on these sites may start to follow you specifically to see your answers. That drives traffic.
Links are just one tool to push your search rankings. Traffic is what you really want. Actually, link building can work for small business. In fact, it can work really well. You just have to be enthusiastic about where you put your efforts. Spend your time on tactics that work, and you’ll start to see results.
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