I always say backlinks are like highways that lead to your website. The more roads that lead to your website, the easier it is for people to find you.
But it’s utterly important that the roads leading to your website are well paved. No cracks or pits in them. In fact, they should be highways or at least national roads. No side roads, country roads or, worse, just paths.
So, how do you build these webs of roads with quality in mind?
I prepared a quick guide to help you build quality backlinks – let’s discover what it’s all about.
1. Create content that can be used as source
Journalists and bloggers always appreciate a well-done research. So if you’re thinking about getting some links back to your website, this is a good idea to start with.
Post content other people can quote. The main types of content you can use as “source” include:
- research (quarterly, yearly)
- statistics
- infographics
- whitepapers
- reports
Tip: Make sure the topic is relevant to your industry, as well as to the writers’/journalists’ interests.
Looking for more content inspiration? Check out my guide to social media curation 101.
2. Identify websites/writers that are a good match to your industry
There are three simple ways to do this:
1. Use Twitter Advanced Search
Discover free media without having to use a paid tool. Twitter Advanced Search is a great resource. Using hashtags, keywords and even places or special dates you can refine your search and find what you’re looking for.
Depending on your industry, you can search for different keywords or hashtags – I think these are the most relevant.
Filter out users and content by looking at people’s profiles and deciding if they’re relevant for you or not.
Tip: Before you start searching for influencers, it may be practical to create a target persona.
Decide what are the specific traits you are looking for and only take into account the users that fit your portrait. These traits can include:
- the number of followers
- the frequency of posting
- engagement rate
- industry/niche
Bonus tip: See if their style fits your brand’s style, as you don’t want to be endorsed by someone whose culture is not a fit to your company’s.
2. Use a PR Tool
Free stuff is always God sent – if it works. But if you’re looking for faster ways to pinpoint you to the right people, then a PR tool is even better.
Such a tool allows you to search for media contacts by different tags/traits. For example, you can run searches by keywords, media type, subject or even name.
One of these tools is Cision. It shows you a person’s area of expertise, background and Twitter following as well as a bunch of other useful information – contact information included!
3. Use Google Alerts for specific terms
When everything else fails to help, there’s always the good old Google Alerts.
Set alerts for keywords that interest you, and get a notification every time someone posts about them. You can receive daily or weekly reports. It helps you make an idea about who are the people who write on your topic of interest and how often they do it.
Tip: Using Google Alerts requires doing a bit of manual work. Create an Excel Spreadsheet or a Google Drive Spreadsheet and save information about writers, such as their website address, number of social media followers and contact information.
Bonus Tip: You can also research their website ranking to make an idea about the quality of their domain.
3. Target bloggers on social media
Now that you know who’s who in the zoo, it’s time to woo them.
Your goal is to make an impact on these people’s minds so that they notice you’re there, they know about you.
You can promote your posts on social media using ads (either on Facebook or on Twitter). Pay attention to how you configure your ads’ audience:
- with Twitter’s advertising dashboard you can target specific handles
- on Facebook you can use these people’s contact information (email or phone number) to configure a custom target audience for your ads
- alternatively, on Facebook you can choose your audience based on industry and job titles (if you couldn’t source their contact info): blogger, journalist, reporter
- you can even use LinkedIn matched audiences to reach out to these influencers
Getting quality backlinks is a combination of social skills, networking & good research. Read more about the foolproof trio of organic networking success here.
Now that you went through all the steps above, it’s time to contact these people. Because you’ve already connected with them on social media, chances are that they already know you. So they’re hot leads – very likely to respond.
Tip: Always offer something in return to people who link to your website. An easy thing you can do is share their article on your social media accounts once it’s published.
[ctt template=”7″ link=”5Z0wB” via=”no” ]Tip: Always offer something in return to people who link to your website.[/ctt]
Get the most out of your link building efforts
Social media is a great avenue to reach influencers and have them write about you on their websites. Whenever you plan on building new “highways” to your website, keep in mind that you need to be genuine – people will immediately spot any fake attitudes.
Need help coming up with a strategy for your social media communication? Want to create more quality backlinks for your website but don’t have the time to do it?
I’d love to jump in and help. Contact me below.
