Link building for local businesses
If you’ve gone through all the hard work of a link building campaign, you expect to be rewarded with some impressive backlinks. The reality is that many people are disappointed with the trickle of backlinks and the trickle of traffic that their efforts produce.
If that sounds familiar to you, then you need to step back a bit and re-access your linking strategy. Are you really giving enough thought to your strategy? One of the most popular topics from the customer survey last issue was “The definitive linking strategy”. So here goes.
First of all, link building is not about search engine optimization, it’s not about boosting your Google PageRank, it’s not about publishing a link directory and it’s not about swapping backlinks with as many other websites as possible.
So what is link building about and where should you put your efforts for maximum return?
Strategic link building is about establishing your competitive position in the online marketplace that already exists, albeit informally around your industry sector.
How do you define the online marketplace?
When potential customers look for an answer to their problem, they’ll do a search on Google, they’ll scan relevant niche related business, read articles and product reviews, lurk on discussion groups and evaluate competitors.
The sites that your potential customers use to do this make up the online marketplace around your industry. These are the sites you need to be on and your linking strategy must get you there.