Links. They are a key currency for any great SEO campaign. But how do you get them? Who do you get them from? How much time will it take you? And how do you maximize the investment of your resources so that you get the best, most SEO friendly links for the amount of time/money/energy you invest?
Obviously, one post is far too small a place to tackle these macroscopic issues. But we DO have a cool tip that not many people know about… that could really help you develop your SEO link campaign.
It is surprising. It is simple. Here is the idea: write reviews of websites and blogs (PR>3) that could be useful to your visitors. Use these reviews to fish for links.
Here’s how to do it.
- Pick out sites that you love. These should be related to your business or core competency. For instance, if you run a flower website, review other flower and gardening websites. Pick carefully. Don’t (necessarily) go for the big fish. Sift through the net and find high quality sites that are relatively undiscovered.
- Write positive but honest descriptions of these sites. Use high demand/low supply keywords for a boost from the SEs. The reviews should be useful and not too salesy. But they are link bait, so don’t be too negative, either.
- Structure your reviews, so that they are “one of a piece.” Create a systematic guide to websites you like and that might be relevant to your business. Don’t just think about this as just an SEO mechanism. Think of it as a cool way to add real value to your website and to the internet as a whole. In our flower example, for instance, become almost like a mini directory for great flower websites.
- Once your reviews are live and SEO’d and optimized for their specific keywords, contact the owners of the websites you have reviewed. Write an email (personalized a little bit) explaining what you’ve done. Say that you’d love to do a link exchange. But make it clear that your review will stay up, even if you don’t get a reciprocal link. This is key. Come from a place of real altruism.
- Not everyone will respond. That’s okay. But the people who will respond may not just give you a link but may also give you a big shout-out or even devote a blog post to your site, assuming you’ve created something of value yourself. (Or something addictive!)
- If the site owner wants you to make corrections or changes to your review, do so within reason.
- As always, when it comes to good SEO, be nice and be real. Genuinely try to help your visitors and other people in your niche, and you’ll find that altruistic enthusiasm replicated.
