With every new technological advancement, it’s often remarked about how the world has “become smaller.” The Earth never actually changes size, but it seems smaller because technology allows us to close the distance between one another in various ways (i.e. the telephone, railroads, air travel, etc.). The internet was one of the most revolutionary ways the world “shrank,” because it allowed us to start communicating instantly with virtually anyone around the globe. And for some reason, the internet fostered a spirit of collaboration and interaction like nothing else. From the very beginning with chat rooms to the popularity of sites like Reddit today, online folks have always seemed to want to get to know each other.
What does this have to do with marketing? Well, being able to collaborate with others from a blogging standpoint can be a huge boost to your SEO efforts. This is best exemplified in the process of backlinking. A backlink is a simple concept: it basically means someone on the web has linked to your content for some reason. Usually, it’s because they found it interesting and/or valuable, but there are other possibilities. Maybe they know the writer personally, or perhaps they vehemently disagree with the blog article and want to detail their issues with it. Regardless of the reason, backlinks are virtually always good, because they bolster your site’s relevance. When Google sees that another site has linked to you, it automatically views your site as more relevant. And the quality of the site that backlinks to you can have a major impact on that relevance.
So how do you go about obtaining some quality backlinks? Reaching out to other websites or bloggers can be useful. Look at who some of the influential bloggers or experts are in your market/field, and contact them. Do you have a particularly well-written blog article that you’re proud of? Share it with these individuals via email or social media and ask if they’d be interested in linking to it. You’re going to get a lot of “no’s” and probably be outright ignored much of the time, but if you get even a single backlink, it’s worth the trouble.
Also, be sure to offer others a favor in return. Perhaps you can link to their work on your own website. You can also ask them if they’d like to write a guest blog on your site. Not only does that help their exposure, but when they share the guest blog entry, they’ll have to link to your site – which results in a backlink.
Social media is another great tool for potential backlinks. You should already be promoting your content on social media, and be sure to utilize hashtags regularly (especially on Twitter and Instagram). By doing so, you may catch the attention of others who are involved in your market/field, and even a retweet can pay dividends for your site.
Overall, backlinks are just one part of an effective SEO strategy. They aren’t necessarily the most important part, but they are certainly very beneficial.
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