Are You A Real Business? SEO Link Building 2013
So everyone wants one way backlinks that will skyrocket their website to the first page of Google for their targeted keywords. Well getting natural and quality one way backlinks is easier said than done, and directory links and articles are just not going to cutt it in a post Panda and Penguin world.
Quality natural links are not out of reach, however, if you’re a real business. So the question you should ask yourself is “am I a real business?” You may say, “Yes I am; what kind of ridiculous question is that? I am incorporated, registered, have a product or service, and customers.” These things are important for every business, but if you’re a real business, are you doing what real businesses do?
Ever wonder how some businesses get linked to by big sites such as the New York Times or The Economist? They’re getting hundreds of quality links while you’re stuck building directory and article links. They get those quality links by doing real businesses stuff. That’s right. They have events, sponsorships, partnerships, contests, giveaways, charitable donations, huge blowout sales and much more.
Real companies don’t just build links from directories and articles. In fact, they put growing their business first which then leads to quality links. The idea is to stop doing things purely for links because eventually this is not going to work; a lot of sites found this out the hard way with the Google Penguin update. Build your businesses’ brand, reputation, and popularity, and quality links will follow, not to mention traffic.
Real Business Practices, Real Link-Building Success
Sears allowed consumers to vote on which popular items should go on sale each week during the 2011 Holiday Season. They called this promotion “People’s Pick,” pick.sears.com. Imagine allowing consumers to choose during the Holiday season what products should be discounted; that’s pretty groundbreaking. This was a very creative campaign that generated lots of buzz on social media and gained Sears many quality backlinks.
Sears campaign heavily utilized old-fashioned press releases:
- http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/power-to-the-people-searscoms-new-peoples-pick-feature-lets-customers-vote-online-choose-which-items-go-on-sale-133603703.html.
- http://searsholdings.mediaroom.com/index.php?s=16310&item=82884
These types of business practices not only help grow your business, brand and reputation, but also lead to quality links. In addition, social media is key to running a “real business stuff” campaign as social links are now a ranking factor. When you combine real business practices with SEO there is a goldmine of opportunities. Once a business decides on the theme of a “real business stuff” campaign, SEO’s in turn performs optimizations, press releases, social distribution, and outreach to garner links.
As the ghost told Kevin Costner(Ray Kinsella) in the movie Field of Dreams, “If you build it, he will come.” This statement is very relevant to real business stuff; “If you build a great business, the quality links and traffic will come.”
In summary, focus on the resources you have available to do a “real business stuff” campaign. Make sure it is significant enough to get you buzz and for other sites to link to you. Your 2013 SEO link building should be tailored around this concept; leverage real business practices to get quality backlinks.
You Might Be Interested In
