Creating natural links to your site can be time consuming, however, it doesn’t have to be all that complicated. The key to building authentic links is to create compelling content. This comes with significant benefits, that if leveraged properly, can dramatically improve your rankings and visibility online.
This is often where people get discouraged and give up, because we all don’t have that ability. I don’t consider myself a very good writer, however, I do know what people want and are looking for when they visit my site, because I do my research. If I don’t know how to do something, or can’t do it well, I find someone else who can. I outsource it.
Research your audience’s needs
If you can surf the internet and spend a couple of minutes doing some keyword research, you won’t be guessing what it is that people want to know about. It just takes a little effort. Nothing worthwhile ever came easy. Check out this seo keyword research tutorial video to learn the basics.
Basic needs are what made MacDonalds or Burger King such great successes. They saw the need for fast food that was cheap, and they capitalized on that knowledge. There are literally hundreds of tools online that can help you gather, research and mine for keywords or key phrases. (i.e.: the words people use to search online).
If you know what people want or need, all you have to do is create something that solves the need and does it well.
The cost of running an online business has gone down in price over the years. The services and access to information is literally at your fingertips. The only difference is in how you leverage that information.
Avoid buying links
Buying links is tempting, but be forewarned, they come with a lot of risk. You can suffer search engine penalties if you are found out. What you want is targeted traffic and real likes and followers.
You can learn more about building natural links here and also see what Matt Cutts has to say about why buying links is a bad idea. If you have been unfortunate to have received a warning from Google about too many unnatural links coming to your site, you may want to read this too.
Leverage Social Media
Ultimately, you want to be involved in at least 3 types of social media. More is better, but you want to master one traffic source at a time, or at least focus your efforts on one before experimenting with others. Lost focus is going to be a productivity killer.
Pinterest has become a powerhouse in the social media realm. Because of its ease of use and its appeal, mostly to women, who use the service almost twice as many times as men, leveraging this tool can be immensely valuable.
There are tons of interesting pins that grab your attention more than a catchy title to an article. A picture really is worth a thousand words, and I believe that Pinterest will continue to grow and become an ever increasing necessity for every business to have their hand in.
Study some of the pins, and the Facebook posts that get liked, and you will discover that they often communicate a need very well. It’s not all serious, high pressure selling that drives the popularity and likeability of something. It’s the worthiness to meet a need or solve a problem in an interesting and maybe unique way that really will get the adoration of people.
Stay tuned for a future article on the basics of using Pinterest to generate targeted traffic and leads.
Guest Post Writing
If you have a niche service or skill-set, you should be writing guest posts or articles on other websites. The appeal of doing so is two fold. One, you get to share in the attention of another site’s audience, who most likely will have similar interests.
Two, you can establish yourself as an authority figure in your a specific subject matter. Name recognition or brand recognition is important. This is the age where online community and social signals are becoming the norm, and if you’re not being talked about, shared, or liked, then you’re the kid who is sitting by himself during recess. Guest writing is a great way to engage a variety of audiences similar to your own.