10 Strategies to Drive More Backlinks These actionable tactics and resources will help develop and grow your content strategy.
By David Koji Edited by Dan Bova
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
There are several traditional link building strategies that most companies engage in. One of the most popular, guest posting, is used by almost every organization.
However, there are several additional linking building strategies, tactics and resources to help your content strategy grow and flourish. Here are 10 actionable steps to generate additional backlinks for your site.
1. Blogger reviews.
Decide on something you can give away in exchange for a review. It can be software, an informational product, physical product, or service. Anything of value that bloggers in your niche would want to try and write about is fair game. Find bloggers in your niche searching for things like "best content marketing blogs 2016" or "top social media strategies for businesses"
Reach out to them with this email script:
Hello [name],
I was searching for some [topic] today when I came across your site.
I really liked what I saw!
I just launched a guide that teaches people how to [relate to their topic above]. I usually charge $X, but I'd be more than happy to send it over to you at no charge. All I'd ask is that you'd consider mentioning it on your blog or writing a review.
Let me know how that sounds.
Sincerely,
[Your name and contact information]
2. Give testimonials.
List all of the products and services that you've used over the last six to 12 months. Check to see if their websites have a testimonials page. Here are 11 examples of some excellent testimonial pages from the hubspot blog to show you what you are looking for.
Reach out to them with your testimonial. Mention that they have permission to include it on their testimonials page.
Related: 6 Small Differences Between Average Content Strategy and Genius Strategy
3. Link reclamation.
Find sites that mention you and your brand online (you can use a tool like BuzzSumo to help with this). Check to see if they've linked to you.
If not, reach out with a friendly email to ask them to add your link.
4. Directories.
Check out this article that includes 49 free web directories for building backlinks.
Submit your site with a 100 percent unique description. Wait for your site to be approved and get your link.
5. HARO.
HARO stands for Help a Reporter Out. They describe themselves as "the most popular sourcing service in the English-speaking world, connecting journalists with relevant expert sources to meet journalists' demanding deadlines and enable brands to tell their stories."
You can sign up as a source (free) here. Check your inbox for HARO emails that list reporters in need of sources, like this:
Category: Business and Finance
Query:
When you subscribe to an enewsletter or download an app for the first time, the first point of contact, either a welcome email or welcome notification makes an important first impression.
If you work in email or mobile marketing, do you have advice for your fellow marketers about how to craft the perfect first email or app notification?
Share your best advice of what makes for a really strong first email or app notification to new email subscribers or app downloaders, and share examples of companies, other than the one you work for, that you think are doing a good job with this!
Requirements:
Should work in marketing.
Reply with a brief response and get your links.
6. Website feedback sites.
Create accounts at the following website feedback sites:
Submit your website to receive feedback. Your link will be automatically created.
7. Find expired domains.
Search for pages with lots of links on them (like resource pages). Use Domain Hunter Plus to find expired domains linked to from that page. Buy the expired domain for the cost of registration.
Related: 5 Content Strategies That Will Always Work
8. Blog aggregators.
Search for blog aggregators using these search strings: "submit blog", "blog directory", "blog directories"
Submit your blog along with a unique description. After your blog is approved you'll get included in the directory along with a link to your blog.
9. Find guest posting opportunities on Twitter.
Head over to Twitter Advanced Search. Enter these search strings into Twitter search: "your niche" + guest post, "your niche" + guest author, "your niche" + write for us, "your niche" + guest article
Make your guest post pitch to the quality sites that come up.
10. Infographics.
Identify a trending topic in your industry (Tip: use Google Trends). Put your data together.
Work with a graphic designer to create an infographic. Note: You can hire a pro on several sites such as Upwork or Elance if you do not have an in-house designer. Promote your infographic. Check out this article for tips on getting backlinks with Guestographics.
Related: Developing a Hardcore Social Media Content Strategy In 5 Steps
By utilizing these strategies you will generate more backlinks to your site, which will start increasing your site traffic. Be sure to track each of these initiatives using Google Analytics or another analytics program, so that you can determine which are most effective and capitalize on these new opportunities to grow your business.
