Reading Time: 4 minutesLaunching a new website is an exciting milestone for your business, but once the website goes live, the work doesn’t stop. The next step after publishing your site is successfully promoting it, ensuring that your target audience can find you and the content you’ve created. After all, what’s the point in having a website if no one sees it? The best way for business owners to achieve this is to have a comprehensive SEO strategy. If done successfully, your website will be well ranked on Google search results, allowing more people to organically stumble upon your website. This is especially critical for small business owners that can’t rely on global notoriety the way that large chains can.
While there are several components to an effective SEO, one that absolutely should not be overlooked is link building. But what is link building, and how does it work?
An Intro to Link Building
In short, link building is the process of collecting links that direct users on other websites towards you. When Google’s algorithm crawls through the internet, it takes note of links and how they connect the various pages of content. A website with a large number of backlinks from popular, well-established sites will be ranked much more favorably than a site with no backlinks at all.
Many factors determine whether a backlink is high or low quality. While having high quality links will certainly help your SEO, it’s better to have a small collection of low quality links than none at all. When you have a collection of backlinks, you have better chances of attracting new visitors from those other sites. Since link building can take a lot of time and effort, business owners with a new website to promote would be smart to begin focusing on the low hanging fruit of links.
5 Easy Link Sources
Fortunately, many places online allow you to include links, making it easier to get started with the link building process. While it’s true that these sources can be perceived as relatively low quality in comparison to some of the alternatives, and (you’ll certainly want to pursue higher quality backlinks further on), they’re an excellent place to begin establishing an online presence for your site. Here are five easy link sources to target first:
1) Existing Platforms
If your business has any existing platforms online, consider publishing links on those sites that lead to the new one. It might seem silly to link back to yourself, but this strategy has a few benefits. For starters, it helps keep visitors navigating within online locations associated with your business. The key is to not go overboard. Only include links that make logical sense and avoid overwhelming your viewers. Don’t forget to add links to any social media profiles associated with your business as well.
2) Social Media Shares
In addition to including a link to your new site on your social media profile, you can also benefit from shares across the platform. When your content is shared on places like Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn, that adds to your backlinks. You also benefit from likes and comments on those shared posts. The best part of these sorts of shares is that they serve as evidence of increased popularity to Google’s algorithm.
3) Organizations or Events You’ve Sponsored
When you sponsor an organization or event, it’s common for them to include some form of acknowledgment in response. Blurbs written as a thank you to sponsors tend to include a brief summary of your business. Those blurbs could easily incorporate a link to your new website as well. If you haven’t sponsored anyone yet, consider seeking out sponsorship opportunities within your community.
4) Press Releases
Not only can press releases be used to share exciting new updates for your business, but they can also include links to your website to help direct readers your way. As long as you save these for genuinely newsworthy occasions, they can be an excellent tool.
5) Member Profiles
Are you a part of any organizations? National associations? Local online communities? Most of these types of groups include a section of the site introducing their members, including a brief bio and contact information. This would be a great place to include a website link.
Bonus: Local Business Listings
Relying upon online directories that point visitors towards local businesses may not be as unique of a solution, but they’re certainly an easy way to link build. They also help to add credibility to your business, making you seem more well established and professional.
Where to Go Next?
After you’ve finished exploring all your more attainable backlink options, you can start spending more time earning higher quality links. One strategy is to investigate what sorts of backlinks similar businesses or competitors have. Explore whether those sources could promote your site as well. Another option is to put in the effort to reach out and build genuine, long-lasting relationships with relevant partners that are well respected by the local community. Not only will links from such a partner be a huge bonus to your SEO in addition to lending you a good amount of credibility, but they will also serve as a future resource that could assist your business in other ways.
When you need help building your backlinks, talk with our team for advice and actionable strategies. It’s one piece of your search engine optimization puzzle. We can show you where it fits and what piece to look for next.
At Vizion Interactive, we have the expertise, experience, and enthusiasm to get results and keep clients happy! Learn more about how our Link Profile Management services can increase sales and boost your ROI. But don’t just take our word for it, check out what our clients have to say, along with our case studies.
