Building Links, Gaining Trust
I found this little card in the bottom of my strawberry container, it’s a promotional offer driving people to a website or asking them to call in and complete a survey in exchange for a $5 coupon by mail.
For such a little card the promotion sure packed a huge marketing punch. Is there a way to use something like this to build links, drive traffic and build brand trust? You bet!
Little Package, Big Punch
I did not contact Driscolls to find out why they were running the promotion but if I had to guess, it was done for product feedback. Surveys are a goldmine as far as I’m concerned, there is a lot you can do with the information and outreach potential they have. From a linking standpoint, surveys alone don’t generate much interest but the content you create from the survey can generate a ton!
If I was going to develop content from a survey, I’d break it down into three types: media link bait, Infographics and industry reports. Let’s look at each.
Media link bait
Can you answer ‘yes’ to the following questions?
- Do you know at least four (4) journalists from four different news outlets in your industry?
- Have you collected their stories to get a sense of their topics and writing styles?
- Are you paying attention to where your competitors are being featured news wise?
If you can, great! If you can’t, it’s homework time. Most people think “press release” when we talk about targeting the media and that’s fine for certain projects but if you want solid media links and to become the ‘go-to’ source for your industry, you need to identify influential media and how to get your content to them.
No two reporters are alike, some like being contacted, others don’t. Most have “how to get in touch with me” type directions on their columns and blogs, read up on their preferences and follow through. If all else fails, pick up the phone, call the publication and ask for their submission procedures.
The world is not always on fire or experiencing a market crash so sometimes, reporters go looking for news. Survey results are great as factual support or as filler pieces, here’s a good example:
The fact Gen Y like hybrids is hardly news but outside the election and SOPA drama, there’s little to report on. It’s why this piece made it to the home page of USA Today and BusinessWeek. (at the time I wrote this)
Bottom line here — if you produce content backed by research and know where and whom to push it to, chances are it will be used and linked to. People like facts.
Infographic link bait
I know I raised a couple eyebrows when they saw my infographic suggestion, I’ll be honest, I’m not a fan. But other people are and the media (still) seems to be so I can’t ignore their potential for some industries. (#willuseanythingforalink-whore)
Using your survey results you can create and pimp an infographic for educational, humorous or controversial attention. How and what you develop really depends on the demographic using your products. Even the strawberry industry promotes them:
Tip: These type of niche infographics do especially well with trade publications.
Industry Reports
This is one of my favorite tactics, I use it on clients all the time and it always, always, always works. Just ask Rae or Rand or anyone else that culls information from a number of credible sources and produces a research document for an industry, this technique link rocks!
When you write an industry report you need to expand your circle of expertise and pull in sources from outside your company. Be sure to include a definition of your industry, bio’s of the people contributing, historical trends, and outlooks for the future. Journalists and the people contributing like this and will link to it as a result. Use your survey results to support trends, and/or a SWOT analysis so your company remains a focal point in the report.
Simple Actions, Powerful Marketing
A promotion like this doesn’t have to run offline, you can do the same thing for your online business by creating a promotion and launching it through confirmation emails, product announcements or any other type of email contact you make with established customers.
The key phrase here is “established customers”; I wouldn’t run a survey promotion off a website, you can’t be sure the people filling out the survey have actually used your product. Granted, I can’t be sure the people providing feedback through the strawberry promotion used the product but chances are they have since the special offer can only be found on the bottom of a berry container.
Link building is, and always has been about building links and gaining trust. Think about new ways to use factual information and your efforts will pay off in new links, traffic and brand trust.
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Look At Everything With Link Building Eyes
I’ve been attending SEO and marketing conferences since 2002 and have amassed a huge pile of totes and backpacks as a result.
I use them all the time, mostly for groceries but I also haul around library books, gym clothes and gardening tools in them. Not too long ago a woman stopped me in the grocery store and asked about the SEO totes I had piled in the front of my cart, she recognized one since she had attended the same show earlier in the year. Small world!
I know I’m not the only one using my conference totes and backpacks at home, my friends do the same:
Christine Churchill and daughter Kaitlin. Tote in Kaitlin's lap is from the first SES conference Christine attended in 1999.
I’ve seen Christine use her backpacks around her horses, she has them in the barn, in the horse trailer, in the shed, in her pickup and hanging from her saddle horn. She makes good use of all the conference bags she hauls home!
Mat uses his conference backpacks to leave home:
Mat Siltala bought luggage to match his SMX backpack. OK, not really but they do match!
Simon needs multiple backpacks to carry around his stuff:
Simon Heseltine, AOL Bagman
If you’re saying “Yo Debra, where’s the link building spiel here”, have no fear. Besides having a little fun, I wanted to use my conference images to show how you can take a simple item or idea and use it to attract links.
Link To An Authority
While I used the images above as a giggle and intro this post, I picked the bags because of the companies they represent. Each comes from a well known and authoritative SEO/SEM conference, I linked to them for a couple of reasons:
- They help reinforce my credibility as a professional. I have been speaking at SMX and SES for a long time and appreciate the fact they keep asking me back so I do whatever I can to help promote and support both shows. My totes post may be corny but the sentiment behind it is heartfelt both personally and algorithmically. Sentiment analysis and the way it is being used to influence rank deserves another post but I’ll leave you with a link for later reading.
- Boosts my relevance factor. Linking to the authoritative conference sites will not directly influence my current ranking but it will help establish where I belong topically and tie my site into the link graph.
Use Images As Link Magnets I am frequently asked to share “advanced” linking techniques and tacitcs, I always reply “there is no such thing as advanced link building. I really feel that way but will say there are creative link marketing tactics that go beyond the basics and are discussed less frequently which makes them seem more advanced. Here’s a couple of tips to try:
- Optimize your images. Get permission from the people behind the photos to use them, this is a big deal for both legal and marketing reasons. Hover over the pictures on this post and you’ll see they are tagged with the names and hyperlinked. This is just good SEO as well as being polite, Google Image is still the second largest search platform in their stable so I want to be sure my images have a solid chance of being found when searched on.
- Use Flickr. I do this quite a bit with images taken from client’s ecommerce sites. Build a channel, publish your reprint requirements and promote the Flickr channel to your users, through your niche forums and via press release. You have a new channel, pimp it! A free image source is always well received, point your releases to the trade journals in your industry for added punch. There are several image sharing sites online, be sure to spread the wealth.
- Make an image video. If you don’t have the time or resources to create a video, use your images to make one. Search on the term “image to video” and you will find lots of companies with software or services to do it for you. Develop channels at all the video sites and promote as you would images. Include a written transcript of each video and add them to your site so you benefit from the new content.
Look at everything with link building eyes, it will pay off in spades!
Hey before you leave… If you are headed to SMX West in February and SES New York in March, please come by the Linking Bootcamps and say hello. My sessions are not for the faint of heart, I roll hard and fast jamming a ton of tips, techniques, and tools in the hour I have. You will walk away with a great outline of tactics to use.
Christine and I are moderating each other’s sessions at SMX again, she does a wicked smart keyword research and copywriting for search session so be sure to come by!
Thanks and see you soon!
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