These days, content marketing is hands-down the easiest way to do SEO and particularly link building. However, there is an art to it and here we will look at four methods that will set your strategy apart from your competitors.
Think collaboratively
Before approaching potential websites that you would like to appear on consider:
What would a potential target like to see on their site? Browse their blog, get a feel for the company. See what content they share on social media. This will help you understand what content resonates with them and their audience. Most importantly, do they accept content from external companies? If they don’t it means that it could be a very hard sell to get a placement on their blog.
Consider the format
You must set yourself apart from the competition. Guest posts are overdone and most website administrators will ignore your request for one.
In today’s day and age, you need to think beyond guest posting. You can look at things like top 50 roundups, infographics and resource guides. They all work incredibly well garnering the visibility and links you are seeking.
The secret sauce to all the above is how you do the outreach. Our tip is to target companies that are very active on Twitter. There is nothing wrong with a bit of ego bait when you use a tactic like the “top 50 blogs in X niche”. Follow the companies you mention in your top 50 and that are on Twitter and tweet at them with a link to the top 50 article or infographic. Follow up with an email. They’ll love the free exposure and done right this is sure to get you links plus the added benefits of retweets.
Get proofreading
It is not just your typical, caffeine-fuelled, up-late-at-night student who uses an academic proofreading company when they need help on their essay. Businesses can also really benefit from having an expert editor refine their word choice and punctuation and improve on the overall flow and style of their documents. Proofreading can sharpen your writing and thus make it more impactful when you consider that perhaps your message is hidden behind awkward phrasing and repetition. Plus, having spelling and grammar mistakes on your website have been proven to lower trust and reduce conversion rates. It’s the added extra that your competition will overlook.
Think beyond the obvious
Or phrased another way, look for link targets in places your competitors will not.
For example, if you are a company selling cat flaps websites that may find your content interesting would be a cat blog right? Sure, but that’s too obvious.
Delve deeper.
What about a blog about the sizes of dog and cat flaps for a general pet blog? An article considering the impact of having cat flaps on home security for a house blog? Or an infographic for a gadget blog that looks at the evolving design and technology behind the cat flap? You get the idea. Often this is where you will really gain an advantage whilst your competition sticks to the obvious.