4 bonding ideas that won’t get you in hot water

I hear a lot of people in the SEO community questioning the value of link building.

Current SEO trends seem to focus on the technical aspects of SEO and leave link building as an afterthought – or not a thought at all.

I think technical SEO is extremely important and a top technical SEO professional is worth every penny they earn.

But the inability to strategize around building quality links leaves money on the table.

If you are stuck on measuring links by volume, I think you are wrong.

I have many case studies that show that a few relevant and high quality links will perform better than several thousand irrelevant and lower quality links.

Modern bonding is not a numbers game.

Modern bonding is a relationship game.

Relationships are tough.

Relationships take time.

Bonding is difficult.

Link building takes time.

But this article is not intended to create a comprehensive link building strategy.

In this article, I’ll give you four link building tactics that work.

None of these ideas are revolutionary.

But I hope some of you take ideas from this list and put your own twist on it.

And I’m sure for some of you at least some of these tactics will be new to you.

Feel free to use any of these ideas, and feel free to add your own twist to them.

After all, there are many ways to go wrong with bonding, but there isn’t just one way to do it right.

1. Sellers, customers and friends

Link building is about relationships.

It stands to reason that one of the easiest ways to get quality connections is to leverage the connections your business already has.

One of the first bonding activities we do with a client is asking them to think of a list of vendors, customers, and friends that they think might be willing to provide a connection.

Then, using our link building assessment methodology, we assess each opportunity and prioritize.

Make no mistake, we don’t take every opportunity that presents itself.

Relevance is important.

While a high quality link is always desirable, and in many cases can still provide significant value even with a low degree of relevance, most people’s personal contacts can only provide links that do not. particularly authoritative.

However, I would say that if you have a business relationship with a company, their site inherently has minimal relevance to yours.

The action element for this tactic is build your list and don’t skimp.

Make a list as complete as possible.

Then rate the links that could be pulled from the list and prioritize them based on your rating criteria.

Then take the best leads from your list and meet them Where call them on the phone!

As a general tip, we find that if we can talk to someone in person or on the phone, we’re much more likely to get a link than if we just email them.

For the rest of the list, contact them through the appropriate channels.

The appropriate channel is how the prospect is most comfortable communicating with you.

Don’t forget to ask for the link.

2. Commercial publications

When I worked at a PR firm, trade publications were the bread and butter of easy publicity success.

A colleague at the PR firm was once praised for publishing an article in a trade publication.

I’ll never forget the moment the big boss hit answer all (instead of just answer) to tell the manager she shouldn’t be praising account managers for getting results in trade publications.

He said we should own the trade publications.

He was right.

If you have a decent product and can differentiate yourself, you should have articles in trade magazines focused on your industry.

Articles, which appear frequently in online versions of professional publications, should provide you with a quality, highly relevant link.

The action element for this tactic is to explore the different trade publications in your niche and start reading them.

Get to know frequent writers – who are likely editors or freelancers.

Follow these writers on social media – Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, wherever they are.

Interact with editors by providing them with commentary on their stories as well as information that doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with your business.

Basically, working to make their jobs easier.

Then when you come up with something great about your business, go for it.

Don’t forget to request a link in the story.

It amazes me how many times PR people don’t even ask for the link.

Journalists often don’t think in terms of links, so reminding them that you’d like one doesn’t usually insult them – in fact, they’re usually grateful.

3. Link-worthy content campaigns

Why do sites link to other sites?

The answer is quite simple.

The sites contain links to material that they believe will be of use to their audience.

One of the most common tactics that sites employ is to look at what is currently working for your competition and copy the type of content, but trying to outperform the competition in terms of the quality of the content.

This is a viable tactic, but often fails to deliver optimal results.

The smaller your pool of likely linking sites, the less effective the copy content will be.

Creating linkable content is difficult.

But you’ll never know if a piece of content can be linked until you try it.

The action items for this tactic are to think of at least three pieces of quality content that you think will appeal to influencers in your space as well.

While it’s a good idea to take a look at what type of content works for others, try not to make fun of your competition too much.

Work to come up with an idea for content that hasn’t been explored very well.

When creating content, consider expressing expertise, authority and trust, or as Google likes to call it, EAT.

The content you create should be a resource for both influencers and end users whenever possible.

But creating the content is not enough.

This is where the “countryside” part comes in.

You need to make a plan to get your content noticed by gatekeepers who can reward you with a link.

Don’t try to pitch to everyone in the world.

While it’s tempting to play a numbers-and-volume game, you’ll be more effective if you also limit the pool of influencers you want to sell to your linkable products.

Focusing on the most important contacts allows you to spend the time you need to be successful in securing the highest quality links.

4. Be controversial

Controversy gets links.

Brands that understand their audience can profit from controversial positions.

If you know what your audience thinks about a particular issue, taking a stand on that issue only makes your brand more relevant to your target customers.

Brands like Ben & Jerry’s, Patagonia, Heneiken, Starbucks and many more have managed to turn controversial social positions into thousands of links from high quality sites.

And the links come not only from relevant sites that cater to brand supporters, but also high-quality sites that cater to those who oppose the social positions of brands.

In other words, they get links from their supporters and detractors.

The saying “I don’t care what you say about me, just spell my name” has never been truer than in the battle for high quality links.

The action element for this tactic is making sure you understand your audience and what is important to them.

If you don’t understand your audience, don’t use this tactic.

Just ask the folks at the Komen Race for the Cure, who are still recovering from their controversial decision to stop funding Planned Parenthood almost a decade ago.

But if you know your audience, speak up about the causes that are important to them.

Don’t be afraid to take a stand that your audience will appreciate.

One word of caution – taking a stand can be a bit exhausting.

Trolls are real.

There will be those who oppose your position who will work to harm you online.

If you have extremely limited resources to fight your detractors, taking a controversial stance might not be possible no matter how well it will work with your target audience.

But if you can fight the trolls, the connections you can get by taking a stand are well worth the risks.

Once you take a stand, you are not done. You need to create a campaign to promote your stand.

Just like in the last tactic, you need to make sure that the important people know the position you have taken.

Again, don’t play a numbers game with your reach.

Find the most important people and make sure they know your booth.

This list will most likely be different from your other lists, as you’ll want to find influencers who are particularly interested in the position you take.

In conclusion

There are literally thousands of ways to creatively get high quality, relevant links.

Most consider bonding an impossible chore.

I think it’s because they are looking at link building the wrong way.

It doesn’t take thousands of links to be successful – it just takes a few of the good links in most cases.

Letting your creativity flow to create unique and effective link building campaigns is one of my favorite parts of SEO.

If you understand that success is achievable if you push the boundaries, this could become one of your favorite parts of SEO as well.

More resources:

Image credits

Featured Image: Created By Author, July 2019