As the title of this article suggests, link building really is a labour of patience. It forms part of a set of SEO activities that help improve a website’s quality and its ranking in organic search results. I touched on the topic of SEO (search engine optimisation) in my piece on keywords and the Collabim tool. After my first experiences with link building, I felt exhausted; contacting high-quality websites with a view to securing potential collaboration can be frustrating at times because:
a) there simply aren’t as many high-quality websites as there are low-quality ones,
b) not everyone is able to reply to you.
My online marketing-savvy mentor and guru Michal, in response to my lament that I’d received replies from only four out of ten websites I’d contacted, said: “That’s still quite a few.” With Michal’s support, we explore and establish collaborations for our clients where it makes sense. There are many rules for effective link building that drives relevant traffic; generally speaking, it’s primarily about the naturalness of the embedded link, its placement, and the thematic suitability of the page.
The most natural form of link building, which I personally seek out, is collaboration with high-quality content websites, such as online magazines. My work begins with communicating with these websites and agreeing on terms, followed by writing an article on a topical issue related to the client’s industry. The article, containing a link to the client’s website, is then submitted for publication on the pre-agreed website. Phew.
But it doesn’t end there by any means; building backlinks is a continuous, long-term process. This involves directory listings (less is sometimes more), contributing to forums (without spamming), presentations on Slideshare, or collaborating with bloggers (which is a great fit for websites covering fashion, cosmetics and accessories).
When you set about actively building backlinks, remember to be patient – they say patience is a virtue. In the next instalment, we’ll talk about copywriting and website content strategy.
Read the previous instalment: Measure the strength of your campaign: Part V.