Maybe you have heard some of the cliches about content:
If you build it they will come!
Content is King!
Really?
Yes, it is true.
However, what most of the people that use these and other cliches about content development and link acquisition fail to share the details about what content development can directly impact link building.
Great content is valuable to others and users and webmasters will link to content that is useful, but in a case of which came first, the chicken or the egg, how do these users and webmasters find your great content to link to, if they cannot find it?
Thinking outside of the box is extremely important to get momentum rolling for a website to start ranking and being found and this is especially important for link development. So, where do you start? Well, thinking outside of the box is extremely difficult, however, defining what the box is can be a great first step. Defining the box might be different for you than others because of the category or vertical you are in and what your competitors are doing. The second, and most difficult, is to do what isn’t being done. I know it sounds simple, but it can be the most difficult. This is one of the biggest reasons that businesses look to consultants to get advice about what they are not doing or didn’t even realize they could or should rather than doing it yourself.
OK, back to the the topic…
I have broken up the idea of content development for building links into two very broad categories, on-site and off-site. On-site contains some ideas around developing content on your site or domain, but actually, it is what you have direct control over. Off-site, on the other hand, is content that is published somewhere else, simply, you don’t have direct control over it and might be more difficult to manage for optimal user and ranking benefits.
On-Site Content Development
Since on-site content development you have full control over, it doesn’t carry as much weighted value, but has the most long-term benefit. Below are outlets to develop content that can attract inbound links. You may have heard of them previously, but how you approach them can have a huge impact in their success. Potential value assessments will also be covered to set the expectations for cost and benefit.
Resource Documentation
Do you know what you are talking about? This is a very valid thing for a search engine to try to understand about your site before sending their users to your site. The reason? Because they want to send the user to the most relevant page because this makes a happy user and a happy user is a returning user. So, how do the search engines determine that you know what you are talking about? Content. Plain and simple.
Building a catalog of information that is relevant to a user will do two things, attract search engine attention and user attention. Search engines send users and users send users, so the way to best accomplish this is by having enough content on pages that you want users to find. If this does not account for the aesthetics you are trying to deliver, my suggestion is to include this information in an easy to find place (global navigation is a great place for an entry to this information). Remember, a good rule of thumb to consider is “every page is a landing page,” so, if a user landed on any page within your site, would they know where they are and are they able to easily navigate to any other area.
Quality content is quite often overlooked when engineering a site for SEO. Test your site, if you don’t have the budget, get a couple of friends that don’t regularly visit your site and solicit their feedback. The other thing, difficult to do but valuable none the less, is to look at each page of your site and ask yourself the question, “if this wasn’t my site, would I link to this page?” If the answer is no, then rethink it!
Blog
I know that so many have hopped on the bandwagon of developing a blog for their site. For link development, it is a great tool to attract attention from users that are more likely to have an online voice. Bloggers read blogs and write about blogs, so this is a good group of people to target if you are looking for inbound links.
Four concerns with building a blog for your domain to attract links:
1. Is your content solid? In other words, will it stand on it’s own or is it just a different way to pitch your products or service offerings? If it is another attempt to pitch your wares, check out other ways to attract links in my opinion.
2. If you let the cat out of the bag, be ready to clean up after it! A blog is a great tool, but if you don’t put in the time and energy required it will show and might turn your greatest advocates (and link givers) away.
3. If you can’t commit to the time it will take to maintain, build content that doesn’t need to be updated and managed. Build your content on your site instead of adding a blog.
4. If you build a blog, the likelihood is that others will link to your blog, not to other important pages on your site.
Off-Site Content Development
Off-site content development outlets, of which some will be covered below, have varying degrees of difficulty to accomplish. Some require a financial cost, but all require some resource, usually time and patience. As with on-site activities, the following topics will contain potential value assessments to help set expectations for cost and benefit.
Press Releases
Press releases are a great way to make a splash and start the inbound link ball rolling, however, like so many other link building tactics, don’t overdo it. If it isn’t news worthy (be honest to yourself), don’t put it out there. The other thing to consider is the cost. Yes, you can put out releases for free, but you do get what you pay for… just a consideration. Press releases have a way of being a flash in the pan as well, they can attract some attention, but the goal of press releases for link development is not in the release distribution only, it is in the hope that it is picked up by other writers and capture links from these sources.
Distributing content that you already published is not a good idea either, so keep it unique…
Article Syndication
The thought of writing content and publishing it anywhere other than your own site might seem wrong, however, it may get attention from users that might not find your site through normal search activities. Articles can also be a way of taking an indirect topic off of your site and address it without trying to find a way of forcing it in your site. Like press releases, don’t republish content that you already have on your site, it should or will be disregarded by search engines because it is duplicate, if you are lucky. If you aren’t, the article might rank higher than your original page. Not a pretty sight.
Guest Posts
This is a great way of dipping your toes in the blog waters by working with a vertical blog resource and offering them something they are looking for, quality content. If you are looking for a tough judge of content, a good blog editor will provide the needed feedback!
Quality content is a great bartering chip to offer a blogger, it can be a win-win. Be careful and make sure you are respecting the blog’s owner, author(s) and especially readers. I don’t recommend paying a blogger to write a review unless you are prepared to allow them full control of the message, link(s) included or not!
There are plenty of other areas of online content to attract links, I am sure you can think of one or two I haven’t covered here. But circling back to the old cliches, content is still king. Building quality content that is link worthy is the best way to attract links. Be a quality resource and you will be resourced. We have a saying about promotions at Rosetta, “You have to do the job, before you get the job.” This can also be applied here, if you don’t link out to other sites, chances are it will be tough to get others to link to your site. No website is an island.
This concludes the link building via content development, for now at least. The most important thing to remember is that content is what drives the Internet, images and design are great but if the user doesn’t see it, did it even matter. Build quality content, it is the foundation of relevance. If your content is need of work, fix it first before looking elsewhere for inbound links.
Next, we will be covering direct link requests, so stay tuned!
Here are links to other posts in this series:
Holistic Link Building 101
- Holistic Link Building Defined
- Directory Submissions
- Content Development to Build Links
- Direct Link Requests
- LinkBaiting
- Link Building 2.0
Related Posts >>
- Link Building 2.0 – Link Development in Web 2.0
- Holistic Link Building Defined
- Holistic Link Building 101
- Baiting the Waters for Link Success
- Link Building Strategies – Eric Ward
{ 38 comments… read them below or add one }
For the life of me, I cannot get my head around article marketing. I know that it is something that we should all be doing but if you look at the 2 largest article directories, they’re are just full of really poor, self serving, self promoting articles that offer (IMHO) nothing in the way of good content. I just find it kind of depressing that we have to go down this route. Anyway, not saying I’m right…just my two cents.
Mark, your point is reasonable.
Looking at the article directories might not be the only place to look. There are plenty of niche resources that may not be labeled as an article directory (about.com) that would be useful for link development and doesn’t contain the poor, self-serving, self-promotion articles.
Thanks for the comment!
Thanks, these are great tips. I would agree that many sites do a good job of having content on their site, but I think the best way to develop a good core of visitors and clients is to have quality content and useful information on your site. Just like this site, your info has helped me greatly.
Stephen
As an addendum to my comment, I have just searched for one of my keywords and an article I did specifically for Digg is sitting at number 1 in Google for that term. Ok so it may not ever get near the front page of Digg but if it drives traffic as a result of my article then I will take that every time!
Mark,
Thanks for the follow-up… no (good) point is ever made without data to back it up. SEO is mostly about opportunities. Opportunities to be seen in SERPs by a user who is looking for what you have to offer.
You gave some really good pointers in this post thank you. I really agree with what you said under blogs, that if you don’t have time to update it then post it to your website. Many people start blogs because it’s the popular thing to do and they’ve seen it work for so many other companies and individuals. They don’t realize the time commitment required to make the blog successful and beneficial to their website. Putting the post directly on the website might just be the ideal fix for people in that situation.
EH, thanks for the comment.
True dat! This can also be said for twitter, facebook, etc. Marketers need to realize first that most of these are pull marketing platforms, not a push, and to that end, they fail. Look forward to additional information supporting the link development topic and social media (i.e. blogs, twitter, youtube, facebook and the like). This should be the last installment of the series.
Cheers!
Stephen — great info as usual! Content is King — but you have to write unique and valuable content.
What I find surprising is how many successful professionals struggle with writing about what they know best. Then when they do, they don’t proof read or spell check and they end up looking like schlocks. Or the content is so overly self-promotional hypey pitchy it has no value to anyone but the site owner who wrote it!
Writing original content of value to your target market is truly the “silver-bullet” everyone is seeking and what so many are not willing to put the effort into.
Keep up the great work! I stop by often and felt it was time I take the time to tell you what a great resource you are!
At your service,
Judith
Judith, as always, my pleasure!
I think that the web aligns pretty well with other business aspects… many authorities within a vertical have a tendency to act based upon their instinct, which has gotten them far, but in other circumstances. For instance, keyword research almost always should be conducted without (as much as possible) the internal or industry “speak,” because this has a tendency to send a SEO strategy down the wrong path. Understanding the nomenclature of your intended audience is key, for targeting the right keywords and developing the content that supports it!
Thanks for reaching out!
Great write up. I particularly like the part about resource documentation. Honestly, this is something that I haven’t even considered yet. I’ve done my fair share of blogging, press releases, and article syndication, but haven’t got into resource documentation at all yet. Thank you for bringing this to my attention.
Cool Gifts,
Thanks for the comment. Many forget about the fact that a website is a destination, not a flee market. Giving users a reason to visit a site beyond the conversion, such as a purchase, is really important to developing repeat business.
Although I agree with you that content is the first thing that a blog should have, don’t you think a little bit of encouragement initially could perhaps push the author to write even better content?
However, when your site is new and lacking content appreciation too lacks as well! It’s kind of a viscious circle I guess.
True, however, the topic doesn’t only relate to blogs but all sites. It is, however, a vicious cycle, what comes first… building quality content should be the first step to building a website.
Thanks for the comment.
Thanks a lot. Usefull for me as a newbie
good post. but it seems like content is not that helpful in the competitive phrases for development. Isn’t it ?
This is very helpful
Although I agree with you that content is the first thing that a blog should have, don’t you think a little bit of encouragement initially could perhaps push the author to write even better content?
However, when your site is new and lacking content appreciation too lacks as well! It’s kind of a viscious circle I guess.
As said, the content really is the kind. Thanks for this quality post and i really enjoyed reading it, i am also convinced that the artle syndication is the best way of promoting
You are right that writing quality content can bring links from various sources. If someone continue writing quality content and his/her site would be strong in search engine, and naturally, people would easily come to his/her blog or website. Gradually, people would start to know about his site and giving links to his site.
On page seo is just the first building block. So there is no “chicken or the egg argument here”. On page comes first – no doubt. Off page comes second and servers as a beacon to search engines. When the SEs come knocking, there must be something there. If on page seo is not in place and done properly, then there is not as much of an incentive for them to come back.
Bottom line – there is a tight and relevant correlation between on and off-page seo. On and Off-page SEO…IS SEO. Really pretty simple when you think about it. No need IMO to hash and re-hash about which is more important, comes first, etc. You need both.
For all bloggers, it is an essential article. After reading this article anyone can find out the important of link building. Yes, I am also a blogger. And I can understand mentality of some bloggers who think that content developing is important to get link. However, it is a debatable entry. In my personal opinion, I want to say that a good content is enough to get more traffic but not much enough to get link. I may be wrong or right. If I am wrong then tell me in which way I can make it correct.
Great post – I struggle with differentiation. It seems like there is a blog out there for everything. By participating in discussions, however I am getting a better sense of what people are doing and where there are needs.
Writing quality content can bring links because the owner’s site would build a strong link in search engines. No doubt about it. Great service first before thinking about the result. That has been always the key for success.
Whenever I am designing a website for cleints, I do stress to them that having a new website is like having a shop out in the middle of nowhere and if you dont tell people it is there then no one will come to your shop. I tell them that content is king and that they MUST get inbound links to their websites. Most of them are “to busy” to get these links for them selves and soon ask me why they are not getting many visitors to their websites. This frustrates the life out of me simply becasue they wont take very simple and straight forward advice. GET INBOUND LINKS.
I find the best free way to get inbound links is through forums that allow website reviews (with no no_follow). I like to write stuff on forums so the sites I have found that allow me to add links are obviously benefiting from my posts simply becasue I am adding good content to the sites.
As you say and as we all know, content is king but most are simply to lazy to add real good content to their own websites.
Pitty..
Great article. The quality of content is pivotal in gaining our audience’s interest. Differentiation and/or concurrence are also important elements when writing. Presenting facts as well as points of view also necessary. Thanks.
Definitely, develop a website with original content is an important stuff to optimize but is not easy. Its a hard work! But you Page rank will be great if you can do that.
Having unique and useful content is the key to retaining visitors. In order to get them there in the first place, you must attract them by going to other blogs, commenting on them, posting in forums, etc.
I think you put a very good point in your post about quality content. Too many SEOs (or would-be SEOs) simply write material that has the appropriate keywords embedded, but don’t make the content (on-site, article, wherever) worth actually reading. I think that’s key to doing proper link building, and you summed it up very nicely.
Content is really important in all sites. Actually, readers are after to the website owner’s contents. Otherwise, they won’t dig into it if readers find your site useless.
The best approach in my opinion is a well diversified approach of all aspects, profiles, articles, PR anything and everything done the right usually yields positive results.
Content is the “KING”! This makes sense why most readers find a site more interesting than any other site. Readers really don’t want to spend much of their time reading sites without any useful content.
The content is the most important part to every site. It helps the site’s readers or visitors to decide whether to continue reading the post or find another one.
Writing quality content can bring links because the owner’s site would build a strong link in search engines. No doubt about it. Great service first before thinking about the result. That has been always the key for success.
I appreciate on what you wrote. SEO start with a good content and he/she must knew on how to use these content. It is really annoying that your site has different content and irrelevant topics just to update your site some people rather than focusing on the content they intend to commenting on non relevant site just to gain backlinks.
Nice post.
It’s really disheartening to see how many badly written Articles and Press Releases get circulated around purely in the interest of link building. Content will go a long way in attracting visitors to your website. Friends of mine have received 1,500 visits or more to a single post on their blog, not because they promoted it, but because the content is worthwhile.
Great post and it’s true having a blog attracts traffic and acts as a link between one business/venture and the users out there.
I play in a band in Austin, TX and have been promoting my site through article marketing. It seems that these links from article directories don’t carry much weight. Have the search engines discounted the links from these directories to almost nothing? I’m spinning my own articles to where they are each 31% or more different from each other before i submit them to avoid duplicate content and haven’t noticed my sites budge from where they have been ranking. What do you think?
I think you put a very good point in your post about quality content. Too many SEOs (or would-be SEOs) simply write material that has the appropriate keywords embedded, but don’t make the content (on-site, article, wherever) worth actually reading. I think that’s key to doing proper link building, and you summed it up very nicely.
i agree with your aspect that content is king, however, in my disposition to point out that not always a website can be enriched with a variety of content that all the visitors will find interesting. For a commercial website for instance, a company that sells products (electronics etc) there is no way to write as much content as possible unless you start blogging and explaining some technical aspects of the product you sell but i want to express my skepticism to this whether the users will still find interesting and bookmark your site or not. I have been blogging for my business site for about 3 months now and i have yet to see any kind of progress and initiation from others to link back and forth to my site.. but again, i do want to agree with your argument that content is king, most important element in an seo campaign