Link building...I know what many of you are thinking if you have gone down this path. Pay a bunch of money to SEO companies to get other sites to link to your site and hope that it works. If you have not tried this or wonder why it is beneficial for links to come back to your site then you should consider that between 60-75% of how you rank in Google, Bing, or Yahoo relate to those links that come back to you organically, without paying for links. Take it from us, this organic linking really works.
Time to Start Link Building Now
Step One: Gain Buy in Internally
Ok, so you have done nothing like most of us but you know you need to but have no clue where to start. For the long term, the place to start is with you or your staff. You see your companies profits and revenues rely on these links. Chances are, you or your people did not know this and should they know, maybe they would be interested in helping your company. You would hope so as your company success may effect them. You should consider laying out why this helps your company and how it can ultimately benefit your folks.
As a business owner of another successful business, we actually gave incentives to gaining links from those other businesses. Our employees are to block out 3 calls per day to reach out to other businesses to see how we can serve them. It's an easy sell internally because if they can make a difference, that difference may result in them making more money or benefits. After all, your company will benefit from links that come from other sites.
Step 2: Who to Contact and What to Say
You know other companies that are related to your product or service. Those companies are likely hurting a bit due to this economy and would appreciate anyone that wants to give them a hand. That would be you. Yes, you can make a differance helping them. We are just trying to add a little humor here (pic of the purple person) but ultimately they will like you if you help them get more customers to notice their business.
Calling and telling them how you can help will get them excited. Brochures in your store, notifying your clients through newsletters, Facebook, and blogging can be ways to notify your clients about their company. Who would say no unless they just don't want any more new business?
So you finally get a hold of someone that gets it that you are simply trying to help and they say absolutely yes. What we have found is that they actually come back with "How much does it cost?" or "How can we help you?" Either are nice segways into "oh there is this one little thing you can do for me". That is a little link coming back to your site. Bingo, you got one. This process is a slow, long term approach that over time gets you results that last.
Step 3: Share the love
This one is simple, return the favor. If you get a site to come back to you from there homepage, you should take care of them in some way. Maybe they earn their own page, key on them with a blog or top spot in a newsletter. If they don't give you full link juice (ie. a back page), you might not show as much in return. Take care of those that are linking to you, you will be very happy you did when Google notices.
