How Long Does Link Building Take to Influence Rankings?

If you’re an SEO, chances are, you’ve recommended link building as a tactic. And, unless you work for a very trusting firm, you’ve probably been met with the question, “When will we see a return on our investment, and how much will we see?”

This is a question I’ve been asked numerous times, but never had a good answer for. The truth is, a new link doesn't affect rankings immediately. That makes it hard to tie an individual link to SERP rankings increases, since there will usually be several other links and on-page changes made to a target page between the time when you get that first link and when you finally see increases in rankings.

So, I set out to figure this out myself. I'm lucky enough to be working for a company with nearly 200,000 indexed pages, which gets hundreds of new links each month naturally, through PR and through my link building efforts. That means I've got a lot of pages that only got 1–2 links in the last 6 months, and didn't go through many on-page changes.

I picked out 76 links pointing to pages which are all similar to each other in content, and we didn't change that content (significantly) for 6 months. I focused on rankings for target keywords with a 25–35% Keyword Difficulty Rating. I looked at two versions of their target keywords, so I could have a bit more data. The results aren't super surprising to SEOs, but they're often questioned by the managers of SEOs, and now you have graphs to prove what you've been saying all along.

It takes 10 weeks on average to see 1 rank jump

More links do have a more immediate effect. Jacob at Exstreamist promoted some material that got him around 20 links to one of his pages, which was being outranked by other pages with about 6 more inbound links. It took his page 5–10 weeks to move from #9 to #5.

It seems that each link has a small to medium effect initially, but that effect increases over time. If you add a lot of links at once, you're not only going to see faster results, you're going to see much bigger results over time.

The lower the rank, the more effect a link has

The pages that I observed that were already ranking on the first page of SERPs didn't show much of a rankings increase with one link, barely moving over one spot in 22 weeks. In contrast, pages ranking on the second or deeper pages of SERPs took off after 8–9 weeks.

Keep in mind that I am working with a fairly small data set, so I don't recommend that you promise a 10 spot jump after 22 weeks.

Higher DA will move the needle faster

Wondering where DA 50+ links are on this graph? I didn’t have enough to pages other than the homepage to get meaningful averages. Sorry, guys.

Unsurprisingly, a higher DA will have a bigger effect — in fact, you can see that the average rank change for a page that got a link from a site with a DA below 25 actually dropped after 13 weeks, then recovered to barely two ranks up.

I generally have a rule that I don’t want to spend any time or money on sites with DAs under 25. This chart shows that they’re not completely devoid of value, but be prepared for a very, very small change in rank with these guys.

Interestingly, both the DA 0–25 and DA 25–50 sets showed their first big jump after 10 weeks, but anecdotally, I've heard that higher DA links will have faster effects. This may be because higher DA sites get crawled more often (so the link will be discovered sooner), but I think this may be a purposeful delay in the algorithm. Google's probably taking a bit more time to trust a link from a lower-quality site.

Cool! So, if I start link building now, I'll see results in 10 weeks or sooner!

Actually, no. It takes a while to get links from a (legitimate) link building campaign. Each step is going to take a varying amount of time, based on the company you work for and the resources you already have. Here’s a list of steps you should keep in mind.

1. Getting the resources

Finding an agency (1–3 months)

The easiest route when you’re starting out is to hire an agency, since they’ll come prepared with a whole team of experienced link builders and will recommend their own tried-and-true strategies. Based on my experience watching businesses scope out Distilled when I worked there, the decision-making process is going to take you 1–3 months. It can be more if you’re a large company with a lot of bureaucracy, or if you’re trying to get a really good deal. Once you’ve chosen your partner in crime, you’ll usually have to wait a couple of weeks to a month to formally start.

Hiring a link builder in-house (1–2 months)

If it’s easier for you to hire a person than an agency, or if you think this is the best long-term strategy, you may end up needing to hire someone. The best candidates here are going to be people with link building experience, a customer service background, and/or bloggers who have successfully built up their own communities. According to Fast Company, it takes about 23 days to hire someone, so include that in your timeline.

Work with PR (almost immediate)

You can work with your PR team to start optimizing their media hits to also include good links. The success of this strategy will vary based on whether you’re going for general Domain Authority link building — in which case, all of those homepage links they’re getting will help you a lot — or trying to build Page Authority to individual landing pages, in which case they’ll probably have a hard time helping you out.

It's worth pointing out that I don't know any SEO who relies solely on PR wins to drive their link building strategy, so branch out if at all possible. If you're low on budget, though, try buying your PR team some drinks and getting them on your side.

2. Coming up with a link building strategy (2 weeks–1 month)

Once you’ve got link builders working for you, you’re going to need to come up with reasons why people will want to link to you. Here are some broad ideas, from fastest to longest ramp-up time:

Your company as a resource (1 week)

One way to get links is to find pages that are listing resources for something that your company provides. For example, if you’re Lyft, you can look for blogs and other sites that list ways you can make money with a flexible schedule.

Your potential here is going to vary based on what your company does and how well you understand the solutions your business offers and who appreciates them. Allow at least a week to prospect potential sites to reach out to.

Your expertise as a resource (2 weeks–1 month)

People are always looking for experts online, and your company probably has some valuable knowledge you can share. For example, if you’re Periscope Data, a company that lets you turn your database into graphs and tables for easier understanding, you might have a hard time finding many sites that are looking for your exact product. But you can put together advice on how to properly write SQL, and boom: thousands of more linking opportunities!

In this case, you’re going to need to both prospect to find the right sites to connect with, then you’re going to want to offer either quotes, guest posts, or resources on your site to entice them. That’ll take a few weeks to a month.

Infographics (1–3 months)

Infographics may be a little overused by SEOs, but high-quality visual assets can get a lot of attention. Just keep in mind that if you don’t work closely with your PR team, you may end up with a lot of posts sharing your infographic, but not linking back to your site.

To put together a good infographic, you’re going to need a compelling idea, clever/unique data, and a good visual designer. They’ll take you at least two months as you get started (but bank on three), though you may be able to get the time down to one month, if your company is a smoothly running machine.

In-depth research (1–3 months)

Write a really unique or really well-researched, well-written article, and you can probably get a lot of shares even without a visual component. This works best for companies that are leaders in their specific field and have a lot of data that their upper management is okay with them sharing.

Expect for this to take just as much time as an infographic — your writer needs just as much time, if not more, as a visual designer. OKCupid’s (previously) famous blog took 2–4 weeks of developer time and 4–8 weeks of a writer’s time for each post.

3. Executing (2 weeks–1 month)

Once you’ve got your strategies in place, you’re going to need to email each prospect, possibly going back and forth with them as they take their time to get back to you, post the wrong link, or need more persuading. You may get a few immediate wins, but remember that you’re not paying them, so you’re at the bottom of their priority list.

Kicking off a link building campaign? Here’s what to plan for:

• 1–4 months: Find a link building agency and start them at the beginning of a month, OR
• 1 month: Find an in-house link builder
• 1 month: Come up with your top link building strategies
• 1–3 months: Prospect for potential sites to target, and pull together the content that you need to entice those links
• 2 weeks–1 month: Execute! It’ll take awhile to write all the emails you need to write, and respond to the feedback you get
• 5–10 weeks: Wait for those links to take effect! Tell your team not to panic for at least 10 weeks (although effects will continue to grow beyond that)
  

All in all, that means that it may take you 6 months–1 year from beginning to end before you start seeing noticeable effects from your link building efforts.

As an SEO, I feel the need to reiterate: SEO is an investment. Yes, it’s going to take you a lot of time to get those results. But do you see how those rankings keep moving up and to the right, even after you’ve secured those links? Set your manager’s expectations that this is going to be a long process, but the money you pay now is going to pay off continually as long as you keep on top of your competition.

Good luck, and happy link building!

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Be Bold: 4 Uncommon Types of Content That Attract Tons of Backlinks

If you want great backlinks in the modern SEO world, you need great content.

It’s as simple as that.

Those links improve your search engine rankings and send you droves of referral traffic.

Really, all the posts you read on content marketing come down to two things:

• how to create great content
• how to promote it

They can both get pretty complex when you dive into them.

Here, I want to focus on the first point.

Specifically, I want to talk about what types of content outperform all others.

I get hundreds of emails a day from bloggers asking for links to their latest “epic” guide.

I check out as many as I can, but most aren’t nearly as epic as the creators believe they are. In fact, they’re all almost identical.

If you want to be successful with your promotional efforts, you need to have something truly worth promoting.

That means you have something that’s unique, special, and valuable. And it needs to be something that people care about.

It’s no easy feat, but that’s your goal.

Out of those emails I get every day, 99% contain links to your standard blog post/guide type of content.

I love blogging—I really do—but if you want to stand out, you should also consider creating other forms of content.

There are four in particular that are really effective, and I’ll reveal what they are in this post.

Be warned, though: the reason why these types of content aren’t produced as much as others is because they are much more difficult to create than your standard blog posts.

Want to attract hundreds of backlinks? Then check out this cheat sheet and learn about 4 uncommon types of content that you should publish..

They will cost much more time and money to produce, but they will also produce exponentially more links and revenue.

They’re not for the lazy, but if you’re ready to put in some work, let’s get started. 

Type #1: Tools rule in terms of value

It’s tough to define what a member of your audience would deem valuable, but it correlates with the usefulness of your offer to them.

Blog posts can be very valuable if they help a reader overcome a big problem.

This very post could be worth tens of thousands of dollars to you if you actually implement the advice. I’d say that’s valuable.

But many blog posts aren’t actionable even if they’re well written.

On the other hand, tools are almost always useful because they have a specific purpose and use.

How many bloggers or businesses do you know that have created tools for their audiences?

My guess? Not many.

Not only are such tools useful but they are also rare, which makes them even more special.

Let’s look at a few so you have a clear picture of what I’m talking about.

Take a look at the tool from Keywordtool.io:

This was made back in May of 2014.

According to Ahrefs, at the time of writing, it had over 25,700 backlinks, coming from 3,860 linking root domains.

Can you imagine getting this many links from a series of blog posts, no matter how “epic”?

This keyword tool takes a simple concept, but it executes it well. You enter a keyword into the text box, and the tool will generate a list of keyword suggestions based on autocomplete suggestions.

Basically, it goes to sources such as Google, enters your keyword, and then looks at the suggestions that pop up.

If you hire a typical developer, this kind of a tool would take about 2-3 weeks to create and cost around $5,000 (my estimate).

Based on that cost, the creator has been able to get links for 19.4 cents a piece. Or, in terms of linking root domains (LRDs), it’s $1.75 per linking root domain.

And these aren’t low quality links. On top of that, I’m sure he’s been able to sell a good number of premium memberships (a few extra features), while also drumming up some advanced keyword research projects for other businesses.

One more example (a personal one…): If you go to the Quick Sprout homepage, you’ll see the Quick Sprout tool, which you may or may not know about.

It takes your domain name and generates an incredibly detailed SEO and site performance report:

It wasn’t cheap to make. In fact, it cost me over $100,000.

I include it here to illustrate that you can go as big or as small as you’d like with tools.

Small tools that cost a few hundred or thousand can still get a great amount of attention, but bigger tools usually get more.

Even though the tool is free, the leads that it has generated have already produced several times what I paid to have it created.

That’s the most important conclusion here: Tools can be used not only to get backlinks and traffic but to also produce revenue.

Blog posts convert at lower rates, and while they can produce a solid return on investment (ROI), it doesn’t compare to tools.

Are tools perfect? It’s only fair that I tell you about the potential downside of tools as well.

First is the potentially high cost. You’ll need to invest quite a bit before you ever see returns.

Secondly, results are never guaranteed. Not all tools are well received or popular, so you risk creating a tool that your audience doesn’t love.

However, if you really understand your audience and apply lean marketing principles, you can reduce the risk of this considerably.

Type #2: Viral story videos (almost commercials)

I think many people forget that videos and commercials are still a form of content.

Yes, people don’t like most commercials they see on TV, but smart marketers have figured out that there are certain types of ads that people love.

They’ll share these, link to them, and help them go viral.

My favorite example of this is Dollar Shave Club’s ad campaign.

Their first video came out of nowhere and was enough to establish the company as a household name:

This wasn’t a typical commercial about shaving blades, with all sorts of close-ups. You know the ones I’m talking about…

Instead, it’s an immensely entertaining video starring the founder.

They don’t include the standard platitudes that viewers are sick of hearing. Instead, they’re authentic.

I strongly encourage you to watch the full video now, before moving forward:

This video alone has received almost 22 million views along with 9,520 backlinks from 1,760 domains:

It’s true, creating a video like this isn’t cheap.

It will cost tens of thousands of dollars, and that’s why most businesses don’t even attempt it.

However, if you have the budget, it’s a great option. Just remember to also budget for the initial promotion (that hopefully pushes the video viral).

Type #3: High quality images are more valuable than ever before

I’m not sure why this idea did not take off in the past.

It’s not new.

The strategy is to create a whole bunch of custom images that bloggers in your niche would love to use.

Once you do, you let them know about the images and say they can use any of them free as long as they link back to your site, giving it credit.

If you’re a blogger, you know how hard it is to find great custom images, let alone free.

That’s why this is such an easy sell.

But now, I think this strategy is more effective than ever before.

There have never been more bloggers creating content on a regular basis. That’s one factor that raises the demand for images.

Additionally, most of those bloggers are realizing that quality is the most important factor in their success. That applies to both their writing and the images they use. This creates even more demand for high quality images.

If you can provide that, you will be successful.

Stock images suck, go for custom: There are tons of free stock image sites out there with the same old pictures of models dressed up, faking some pose.

There’s a reason why readers hate these: they look fake and unrelated to the content.

You could customize those stock images, but that’s more work than most bloggers are willing to put in.

Your best bet, when using this strategy, is to create a ton of custom images relevant to the topics that bloggers in your niche write about.

Here’s an example of one that I used on one of my past posts:

As you can see, it doesn’t necessarily have to be complex to look nice and enhance the content.

Take image building a step further and make images for stats: One specific approach you could take is to create images, essentially mini-infographics, that summarize important industry stats.

This approach has one huge bonus.

Think about a time when a blogger is searching for a good stat to use.

They head to Google and search for something like:

content marketing challenges stats

A good portion of the time, they will look for good images to include with the stats they find (I know I do):

If they see a good one, they’ll click on it and go through to the page that hosts it:

In this case, that page would be your gallery.

As long as you ask nicely for a link in exchange for the picture, you’ll usually get it.

The big benefit is that it’s easier to rank in image searches than regular results.

On top of the links you get from emailing specific bloggers, you’ll get links naturally from people who find your image gallery through this process.

But don’t rely on image traffic: If you want to control your ROI from this project, you need to promote your gallery to bloggers yourself.

Make as big of a list of bloggers as possible, and start emailing them with a message like this:

Subject: I made a free gallery of custom (niche) images

Hi (name),

I know that it’s tough to find or create great images to use in blog posts, so I thought I’d do something for the (niche) community.

I’ve hired a designer to create a ton of custom images, some of which will probably be perfect for future posts you write. (I can’t use them all myself!)

The only catch is that I’d appreciate a link back to the gallery when you use a picture.

I’ll also be removing each picture once it’s used a few times so that none of them become too common.

If that sounds like something you’re interested in, let me know, and I’ll send you the link.

Cheers,

(Your name)

Type #4: Stats will drive the future

The final type of content that isn’t created as often as it could be is a list of stats.

Good bloggers love stats and will link to a source when they use a particular statistic in their content.

If you collect a ton of stats on different topics in your niche, they will often link to your page as a reference (on top of the original research studies).

For example, in a health niche, you could create stats for things like:

• junk food consumption in 2016
• average amount of protein in diets of different countries
• number of vegans in 2016 (or over the years)
• average minutes of exercise that people get per day

Think of stats that bloggers will be looking for.

To make it even more effective, conduct original research: The real power comes when you conduct your own surveys and data analyses.

Then, when a blogger wants to cite a stat from that research, they will link back to your site every single time.

You can easily get hundreds of links (or many more) if your research provides a useful, interesting result.

One business who does this sort of thing is Buzzsumo.

You may remember them because I wrote a post that summarized their research on over 1 billion Facebook posts.

Since they emailed me their findings directly, I didn’t link back to a specific page on their site. Instead, I just linked to their homepage multiple times, which is even better for them.

While I can’t say exactly how many links that research got them, I can confidently say that it’s in the thousands by now.

That kind of research is difficult, but if you’re willing to put in the effort (and maybe hire a data scientist/programmer), it’s possible.

Conclusion

I warned you, none of these content types are easy to produce—that’s why they’re not common.

However, they all can produce tremendous ROIs.

When done right, each of these types of content can attract hundreds (or thousands) of links and lead to greater profits.

I realize they’re not simple to do, so if you need some guidance, let me know where you’re stuck by leaving a comment below.

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10 Local Link Building Tips To Use Right Now

The conference season has kicked in already, and I’ve been overwhelmed with how many businesses have been asking for more local link building tips. I wrote a post here last spring aboutlocal links, but it was more focused on sharing the importance of local links. This time, I’m here with actual down and dirty tips.

As I mentioned before, traditional link builders only target links from sites with high Domain Authority (DA). They’re cautious of Penguin, and they want as much link juice as possible. With Local SEO, I often find that we’re taking the opposite approach.

Many times, I prefer a link from a site with low DA, as long as it’s a local website. Heck, we even actively target nofollow links (That sigh you just heard was all the traditional link builders freaking out). Even with low authority and nofollow, a link from a local site carries a ton of local relevancy.

Don’t forget: When you’re building links, it’s not only about the inbound link for SEO value. If you get quality links on local sites, they’re links that humans will actually click on. Those local links will bring you more traffic, and they’ll increase your brand’s visibility.

So without further ado, let’s jump into a few local link building tips that will work for any business vertical:

1. Alumni Or Military Discounts

Offer a discount to alumni from a few local universities. Once you’ve got a page on your site explaining the discount, it’s usually quick and easy to reach out to local alumni groups and get added to their sites. Military discounts work well, too, but these typically require a bit more outreach and follow-up to get links.

2. Local Meetups

Local meetups are an untapped gold mine for local links. Head over to Meetup.com and check out the active groups in your area. Look for groups that are related to your business first, then branch out to other local groups. First, you’ll want to go after groups that are looking for a location for their meetings. Offer up your place of business, and BOOM! You’ve got an easy local link.

If you can’t find anyone looking for a place to meet, look for groups that are seeking sponsors. For $50–$100 a month, you could sponsor the refreshments at one of the meetups, and BOOM! You’ve got another easy local link.

3. Host A Community Event

Throw a party and invite the entire city — it’s that easy! Check out what your local auto dealers do on holidays (They’re always throwing great local events).

Whether it’s a 4th of July cookout or an Easter egg hunt for the kiddos, if you host an event that’s open to the community, it’s really easy to get links (and social mentions).

4. Create A Local Resource Page

Whenever I talk about local resource pages, people think I’m talking about trading links with local businesses. That’s not what we’re doing here. With a local resource page, you’re sharing information with outsiders about something in the area that you’re passionate about.

If you’re a connoisseur of smoked meats, share a list of the best barbecue joints in your city. If you love to spend time outdoors with your kids, publish a list of the best activities in town for children. If it’s useful information about your area, other sites will link to you.

5. Local Awards

Nearly every city has some sort of local business awards. They might be vertical-specific, or crowd favorites, or they might even be related to community service.

Do some research and find out what local awards your business might be eligible for, and get yourself nominated. The results are nearly always published online, which means the winners typically get links.

6. Take Advantage Of Relationships You’ve Built

Unless you’ve just opened, your business has been a part of the local community for a while. You’ve built relationships with other local businesses, so take advantage of those relationships and mine them for links.

Think about other businesses that are similar to yours or that support your own — or even businesses in unrelated verticals whose owners you’re simply friends with. Since you already know the owners, it’s typically incredibly easy to get those links.

7. Local Figures

An interview with a local figure is another easy way to get some great local links. Think about the relationships you already have. Do you play golf with someone on the city council? Do you go to church with the mayor?

If you’re not directly connected with a local figure, maybe one of your close friends knows someone — or maybe a local figure is a regular customer. Network a bit, and set up an interview with the person. Once it’s published, you’ll be primed to get some juicy local links.

8. Local Directories

You should be hitting your local directories for citations anyway, but they’re also a great source for local links.

Most every city has its own small directories, so do a quick Google search, find them, and get your business listed.

9. Local Blogs

Find local bloggers and start to network — once you’ve built a relationship with them, it won’t be hard to get them to write about your business and include a link.

10. Sponsor A Little League Team

This one’s our go-to pro tip for local link building. For a few hundred bucks, you can sponsor a local Little League team (or any sport, for that matter).

It’s a feel-good warm and fuzzy that makes your business look great to the community, but it also gets you a really great link from a hyper-local website.

Now, go forth and build some awesome local links!

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SEO 101: The First 7 Links You Should Build in 2016

2016 is here, and it should come with little surprise that link building is much the same as it was in 2015. Links are still important.

Your links still need to be relevant and they still need to come from human-curated sites. They have to make sense from a user’s perspective. Most importantly, your content and outreach needs to be top-notch.

But it is a new year, so you have to move forward. If you produced great content last year, I hope you earned plenty of links. I hope you built some relationships with your outreach. Even if you did great last year, it’s time to start again and keep that momentum going.

And, if you’re just starting—don’t worry. 2016 is full of link building opportunities.

This post outlines seven healthy links (or many more, if you play your cards right) you can build in 2016. They’re not all quick, easy, or cheap, but almost every good link I’ve ever built has required real time, thought, and effort.

If you’re interested in sustainable links and more relevant web traffic, read on. If you want something quick and easy, there are posts on other websites to help with that. If you run a real business or work with clients, who run real businesses, just make sure the links you build are earned and will benefit your website in the long-run.

In most of the following sections, I’ll have suggestions for link builders who are just starting, as well suggestions for more established link builders. You can mix and match.

1. Local-Related Linkable Asset

Many of the best links you can build originate from your content. You don’t have to be a world-class writer or designer to earn those links, especially if you have good outreach skills. You do have to be willing to do research and apply your expertise, though.

Hard work helps, too, of course.

This year, build a great piece of local-focused content. Even if you’ve built popular content, based on your town or city, come up with something original. The goal here is to attract links from sites that relate to your town, city, county, or state.

It doesn’t have to be related to your industry, as long as it’s related to your physical location.

And as long as it’s useful.

If you’re just starting: Think outside the box. You can start small, as long as it hasn’t been done by other local-specific websites.

• Develop an ice cream tour or shaved ice shack tour of your town, complete with Google Maps markers. Start working on it now, so it’ll be ready for the summer. Besides great links, you’ll quickly become the most popular person around town.
• Build a list of dog-friendly restaurants and bars in your area, complete with menu recommendations, where to park, and other relevant info.
• Create a list of supposedly haunted houses and buildings, complete with their ghost stories.
• Build a guide to family-friendly art, writing, and pottery classes in your area.

Those are just a few random suggestions, but they should get you going in the right direction. If you mention a specific business, such as a restaurant in your content, be sure you reach out to them and show them your guide.

You don’t have to build a gigantic guide. If you create something fun, charming, and useful, local sites will be eager to link to it. Think of it as making an endearing indie film, instead of a Hollywood blockbuster.

If you’re established: Think bigger. Make a related ultimate guide to your city’s parks or aggregate information from popular websites and make a comprehensive guide to biking and hiking trails.

You can also create a guide to historical buildings, complete with interviews from local historians. Be thorough and make it something that visitors or locals will actually see as a useful resource.

If it’s good enough, you might even be able to get some .gov and .edu links.

2. Industry-Related Linkable Asset

Just as you create a local-related linkable asset, create an industry-focused linkable asset, too. The best links for most businesses’ websites come from local sites and industry-related sites. Invest in some content that’s useful for your niche.

If you’re just starting: What’s the most annoying question your customers ask? What’s the most common question new employees always ask? Basically, what’s the one thing that seems like common sense, but no one seems to know?

Answer that question and do it from your perspective. Build your personal story and expertise into it. Build a guide around it and outline everything in a “how-to” fashion. Make sure your content doesn’t talk down to anyone, but make sure you completely answer the question. If you can add relevant images, illustrations, and video, you’ll do even better.

As always, make it useful for your audience. Make sure a potential customer would come away from it feeling informed. And don’t put them to sleep. Keep it lively.

If you’re established: Why not actually try the Skyscraper Technique?

Basically, find the best performing content in your industry and one-up it. Brian Dean outlines all of that in his excellent post.

If you just Google the term, “Skyscraper Technique”, you’ll find several detailed success stories. And stories from several people, who didn’t quite succeed. This is a big undertaking, so I recommend you read several of those stories and do your homework.

If you’ve tried the skyscraper technique to no avail, feel free to move on to the other six suggestions in this post or try making another type of industry-related linkable asset.

But, if you’ve never tried it, this could be the year of the skyscraper.

3. Interviews

When I say interviews, I don’t mean the same link-bait, industry-expert roundup posts we see all the time. Those still work to a good degree, but you can aim higher.

Instead of interviewing people who do exactly what you do, why not interview people who are popular and beloved by your audience?

You’d be surprised by how many famous people are happy to grant interviews, especially if you’re polite and willing to give back.

Reach out to their press agent or PR person and be sure to express their value. And be sure to follow up.

Once you complete your interview and post it to your website, search for others, who share and link to that type of content and do some outreach, letting them know about your interview.

If you’re just starting: Find a b-list or c-list celebrity, beloved by your audience. Or, alternately, find a b-list or c-list celebrity who’s interested in your niche. Reality TV stars and independent, but popular, musicians are good starting places. You can find plenty of interview targets with some smart Google searches.

You’ll have greater success if you reach out to them when they’re promoting something—a new product, a new season of a TV show, the launch of their podcast, or a new album. If they’re already doing interviews, they’ll be more likely to grant an interview. Make sure you take time to discuss their project in the interview, too.

Give back by promoting them as much as you can.

If you’re established: Start an interview series with more approachable famous people, who are beloved by your audience, and then use those interviews as collateral to score people with even more pull.

The same advice goes here: You’ll have much more success with people who are already doing the promotional rounds.

4. Neighborhood Links

This is a similar concept to the local-related, linkable asset I mentioned above, except it shouldn’t require much, if any, additional content.

There are tons of neighborhood, city, county, and state-specific sites that might link to you, just because you are part of their community.

You’ll go even further with these sites if you’re willing to offer a discount, willing to offer coupons, or willing to come up with a specific special offer. Some sites will link to you, regardless, but you can form partnerships, too. Build a relationship and then give back to the other webmaster’s audience.

Here are some ideas for both beginners and established link builders:

• Chamber of Commerce: You’ll have to become a member, but it’s a great organization to belong to and a great link. It often comes with good traffic, too.
• Your town or city council
• Sports clubs: Look for amateur, intramural, adult leagues, and school sports organizations and offer them a discount.
• Neighborhood-specific websites, apartment complex websites, and homeowner’s associations: Again, offer a discount if your business is close to a specific neighborhood or apartment complex.
• Locally-owned or franchised hotels: Same concept as above. Offer a discount or special offer for their guests.

Not all of these links will be easy to get, of course. You’ll have to make sure their websites have a blog or a page that might link to you, and you might have to do some telephone outreach.

5. Help a Reporter

You might already be familiar with Help a Reporter Out (HARO), but have you actually used it?

I find there’s a common misconception with HARO. Your business doesn’t actually have to be doing anything newsworthy to make a connection and contribute to a story. Oftentimes, bloggers and journalists are just looking for business owners and experts in certain fields to supply quotes and help beef up their stories.

Head to their website and register as a source. You’ll have to set relevant filters and make sure your pitch and reply are good.

If you’re just starting: Look for reporters who want small business sources. They, oftentimes, want to speak with business owners, who have overcome adversity, are struggling, or who have encountered certain obstacles.

You can offer niche-specific expertise, too. Instead of just giving cut-and-dry advice, make sure you put a little of your own perspective and experience into your reply—but avoid being self-promotional at all costs.

If you’re established: Look for reporters who need success stories. You can go niche-specific, but you can also talk about how you’ve marketed your business. Stories on digital marketing are big, and if you can offer expertise to fellow business owners in your niche (even your competitors), you’ll have a leg up.

You’ll get alerts a few times a day, and you’ll be surprised how often a reporter or blogger is in search of your wisdom.

6. Write or Film a Review

Business owners often send out their products for review in exchange for a link, but what if you look at it from another angle?

This goes for both beginners and established businesses and link builders. Find a niche-related product or service you like. Find something you’re passionate about from a small company or startup. Write or film a review of that product and detail how to use it.

You’ll do extra-well if it’s an industry-related product or service your audience will like and can afford. If you create a positive, useful review, reach out to the company behind that product or service. Unless they’re a gigantic company that receives reviews all the time, they’ll be excited to see (and share) your review.

The goal here is to keep it relevant, keep it useful, and keep it positive.

7. Customer Spotlight

This link suggestion is relatively simple, but you’ll need to do your homework first.

Make a list of some of your favorite repeat customers. From that list, determine which customers have websites, are prominent in their industry, or are prominent locally.

Call or email that customer and explain you’d like to do a customer spotlight to give something back to them and build a better community among your audience. Interview them and focus on their business, their life, and what they’re passionate about. Ask them about your product or service, too.

They’ll be flattered, of course. Who doesn’t like being in the spotlight? If they have a website or even just a large social media following, you should have no problem getting them to link to or share that they have been highlighted for their success.

Conclusion

If you’re eager to build some links in 2016, these seven ideas are a great starting point. There are plenty of other links you can build, of course, but sometimes you have to think just a little bit outside the box.

This year, plan on flexing your creativity, working hard, and aiming high. There’s no shortage of talent in the link building world and most niches are more competitive than ever. If you focus on high quality, useful content and forging local connections, you’ll be off to a great start.

These are just a few of my ideas. I’d love to hear in the comments any ideas you have to build great links in 2016.

Image Credits

Featured Image: oatawa/Shutterstock.com
In-post Photo #1: Tumisu/Pixabay.com
In-post Photo #2: marekuliasz/Shutterstock.com
In-post Photo #3: Ollyy/Shutterstock.com
In-post Photo #4: Vadim Georgiev/Shutterstock.com
In-post Photo #5: Neva79/Pixabay.com
In-post Photo #6: MyImages – Micha/Shutterstock.com
In-post Photo #7: geralt/Pixabay.com

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