Linkbuilding is an off-site method of boosting your website's visibility. The idea is to link your site in a post or article of some kind, ideally discussing your website and why a person might want to visit it. This is used by a range of service providers from fashion retailers to component manufacturers. There are two ways to do this: organically and manually.
Organic link building - posting comments in related blogs to boost your site
I'm usually skeptical of SEO merchants because they promise much and deliver little. However, one of the methods they talk about is organic linking, the idea being that ideally other people link to your website and talk about it. Websites providing popular content, e.g. icanhascheezburger.com, invite people to create content and share it, thereby guaranteeing that their links will be shared by their users. Those of us who are struggling for visibility need to think about how we can do this, i.e. get other people to share our links. I've had the occasional success myself but most of the time I've had to find ways of posting links to relevant content from On t'Internet onto other people's blogs without getting banned for spamming. Usually, when I visit Techdirt, my favourite tech blog, somebody makes a stupid comment that just begs for me to post a link to one of my posts on freedom of speech, morality, or something like that, so I do. I've never been flagged for doing this because I'm linking to relevant content.
Dos and don'ts
Choose the blogs and websites you comment on carefully. They should at least be tangentially related to the website you're advertising. Since On t'Internet covers a wide range of internet-related subjects, I can use a wide range of blogs and websites to post my links on, but every one of them is relevant to the content I'm linking to.
Think carefully about what you're trying to achieve with your linking; do you want to raise general awareness of your website or gain a sale? This should influence your choice of blog or website to link from. Look for conversations related to your area of interest and see if there's an opportunity for you to add value to them.
Never go on someone else's website just to post a link to your own, it's the most effective way to get yourself banned for spamming. When you comment, do so in good faith, not as an excuse to post a link to your own stuff. Of course, you're not limited to blogs alone, you can also post links on social media — either your own or other people's. Again, be authentic and post in good faith; keep your comments (and your links) relevant to the conversation. You know you're doing it right when other people are merrily talking about your website and the content thereon.
When you're on someone else's blog or website and you're making a comment, engage with the other commenters. It's disrespectful to simply link to your own website to advertise it, take part in the conversation. You can link to your website in your profile if they make you sign in before you post, but when you comment, only link to your website if it's relevant to the conversation. For example, when somebody is going nuts about the Second Amendment and the right to bear arms against the government if they step out of line, I always post a comment along the lines of, "Oh really? Have you thought that through? I did. tl;dr: it wouldn't work out for you." If they click on the link, they end up on your website knowing that a) they're going to your website and b) what they're likely to find when they get there. I get away with doing this over and over again because the content I'm linking to is relevant to the conversation. If you're pushing knock-off sunglasses or something, link to your landing page if the conversation is about sunglasses and you're discussing them.
Manual link building - writing content for other websites to boost your own
The difference between manual and organic link building is that manual link building is deliberate, not incidental. Each and every word must be chosen with care to include keywords that will lead people to your website. This is particularly true of websites that promote a business.
Before you start thinking of how to provide an article to a more popular blog in order to promote your own, consider what the reader will find when they click the link. If you've done your web design homework, you've considered what your site is for and provided content that engages the viewer and leads them to the desired action, e.g. purchasing a product. In my case, it's reading my articles — I'm not selling anything, just posting opinions. For the sake of the article, let's assume you're selling widgets and you want to direct people to a landing page with a call-to-action button that leads them to purchase widgets.
Dos and don'ts
First of all, consider the blog or website you are writing for. Websites or blogs related to the service you provide are ideal for link building. Many industry blogs are looking for content that will engage readers and add to their reputation so they don't mind if people use them to plug their stuff as long as the content is useful and relevant. Websites looking for content will usually demand a high standard of writing. Use Grammarly to check your spelling and grammar. Ensure this is a reputable blog and not some kind of ad farm. Websites that try to game search engine results get penalised for doing so.
When writing your article, make it about a subject that includes your services. One article I wrote for a tech blog was to plug a components manufacturer. I wrote about the techniques used for making items used for addressing the Covid-19 crisis and sprinkled the keywords and links in naturally as a way of explaining how the manufacturing process worked. The article was accepted and I got paid.
It's important not to over-use keywords. The language of the article needs to be natural and readable to engage the reader and the content itself ought to be useful. Use 3-5 keywords and no more than 3 links to the website you're promoting. Use at least one link to another website to help provide a natural feel, otherwise, you're just writing an advert.
Content is king
Effective, authentic SEO is only really possible when your content is engaging. "Buy my widgets!" is not as effective as "Lose weight and feel great with these amazing widgets!" People need to have a reason to read past the headlines and to keep on reading to the end, so give them one. Of course, the headlines themselves need to draw people in, too. Articles for blogs and websites, particularly when they're basically there to advertise a product or service, should neither be too long nor too short. 300-500 words are usually sufficient.
Headers that hook readers in
SEO requires headers and subheaders as well as good content. Choose them carefully, they need to attract attention and contain keywords in a natural manner. While no keyword is particularly unique, the ones that pertain to your website, particularly those related to your products or services, ought to be used on your own website as well as in those other places where you link to it.
One of the advantages of headers is that they break up walls of text, allowing the reader to pause before going on to the next part of the article. As I learned recently from my experience of link building for Textbroker, the headers themselves need to be engaging. This isn't something I usually give much attention, my headers are usually short and snappy. However, when you're writing for someone else and they're all about SEO, you don't have the luxury of doing what you usually do, you have to write for the client.
Headers that hook people in will usually be a mini synopsis of the paragraph(s) they're above. These keep readers' attention and help with optimising the blog post or article. Use but one H1 header (the article title), then use H2 and H3 throughout the article.
Dos and don'ts
Content, as I stated before, needs to be useful and engaging. The "How it works" article I wrote for the tech blog to promote the components manufacturer was relevant to the blog itself and also to the times. When you're plugging your stuff, take your mind off of getting people to click the links and think about why they would want to do so. Are you solving a problem for them? Are you meeting a need? Is this something you would be interested in if you weren't trying to sell it? The article itself needs to meet a need or solve a problem. In my case, the article explained how components manufacturers make things so people who might want to have components made to a particular design can contact the company and have them made. An article to promote your widgets business can be about how widgets are an exciting new trend. You can put your infectious enthusiasm to good use commenting on the various uses to which widgets can be put and who is using them. Sprinkle keywords and links into the article to lead the reader from curiosity about the widgets to visiting your website to purchase them.
It's important to remember that all content must be your own original work. Google can detect when you've lifted someone else's work wholesale and are trying to pass it off as your own. Don't just spin someone else's article, use different sources for your piece to make it more informative. Pack it with facts and interesting titbits. Try to find examples of the principles you're talking about at work. If you quote someone else's work, credit them and link to the source, it's good internet manners.
I hope you find this useful. After years of writing for myself, writing for others has taught me I still have a lot to learn.
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