[Build Backlinks Online] Case Study: White-Hat Link Building in the Gambling Industry

Build Backlinks Online has posted a new item, 'Case Study: White-Hat Link
Building in the Gambling Industry'

Posted by sammirandaThis post was originally in YouMoz, and was promoted to the
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author's views are entirely his or her own and may not reflect the views of Moz,
Inc.
During 2012, Google clamped down on poor link building tactics, eliminating
directories, article submission sites and adjusting the criteria for natural
links. Consequently, the gambling industry has been facing the daunting task of
restructuring its content marketing and SEO initiatives. Abusing article
directories and paying for guest posts with keyword rich anchor text no longer
cut the mustard.


Alongside brand building through social media and delivering value-added
content, white-hat link building is high on the agenda to restore rankings. But
it's often dubbed mission impossible by gambling marketers.


Traditionally, gambling websites are short of linkable assets. First-party
games often constitute a casino's most valuable content, but they're developed
infrequently and reputable websites are hesitant to link to gambling-related
content because of the social stigma attached to the industry.


White-hat link building (an admittedly contentious term) is possible. In this
post I'm going to outline four strategies that I have obtained from my
experiences of content marketingâspecifically 'guest posting' for want of
a better termâfor a gambling affiliate website.


To conclude, I'll also provide three examples of the valuable backlinks I've
managed to obtain through using these tactics.

1. Lead generation

Gambling is a multi-faceted entity, incorporating psychology, legislation and
social issues. It features heavily in sports, discourse surrounding marketing
and advertising techniques, and even celebrity culture. Contrary to popular
belief, the scope for gambling related content is massiveâit stretches far
beyond the roulette guides and blackjack strategies found on poorly constructed,
niche gambling websites.


Content marketers let the stigma attached to gambling dictate their
initiatives, saying "There's no way awesomedomain.com will link to a gambling
website." But this blinkered outlook represents a wasted opportunity. Providing
there's no explicit material, a website should link to any credible source that
enhances reader understanding.





The kind of headline that demoralises gambling industry marketersStart to
build a diverse list of online publications that can be approached for guest
posting. Ask yourself the following questions:

Do they accept freelancer contributions or guest posts?
Do they accept organic links in the article body?
If not, do they at least offer a promotional link in the author byline?
Are outbound links restricted to trusted contributors? In this case, you'll
need to build up your credibility before benefiting from links.

Note: I dislike the term guest posting as it's often (now) associated with
systematic efforts to produce mediocre articles and place them on any website in
a similar niche. I do not endorse, nor follow this churned approach to content
production. However, we'll use the term to keep it simple!


Finish by categorising your leads based on the subject (i.e. business,
education, entertainment etc) and the website's SEO metrics (page rank, citation
flow, trust flow, PA etc).

Top takeaways
Don't let the stigma attached to your niche cloud your thought process.
Think of guest posting as feature writing, not copywriting. Avoid the churn!
It is not always about getting a link straight away. Sometimes you'll need to
prove your worth with valuable posts to build up trust and credibility.
2: Topic generation

My topic generation tends to fit into three subject categories.

Gambling

The first is gambling itself. You should aim to cover the full emotional
spectrum, from negative articles surrounding consumer gambling addiction to more
imaginative, uplifting pieces covering novelty bets and celebrity gamblers. You
don't have to glorify gambling. For instance, you might want to take a critical
standpoint towards PaddyPower's agreement with Facebook to launch a
sports-betting app, highlighting the perils of social gambling. This would
interest any gambling B2B website.

Marketing and business

Ironically, the second subject area is exactly what I'm doing now. When you're
discussing anything business or marketing related, you can write objectively
about the gambling sector. Gambling websites are known for audacious
advertising, flashy design and clever conversion optimisation, making them
perfect case studies for marketing and UX-related articles.


Though valuable, deep-links to your gambling website's core landing pages are
hard to embed as organic links within an article body. Rarely is it ever organic
to link to a page full of gambling bonuses, but it is possible. If you're
discussing website design and innovation, you can specify an excellent landing
page, which gives you ammunition for an organic link in a user experience post.


You can also look within for an engaging business story. Does your company
have a colourful history? Is your CEO a budding Richard Branson? Entrepreneur
websites love to feature original case studies, and should be happy linking to
your website if it underlines an intriguing corporate venture.

Shareable content

The third area is shareable, viral content. The internet is awash with trend
websites that disseminate funny and digestible content. You should be looking to
jump in with a snappy, "Top 10 Amazing Bets" kind of list that incorporates a
mix of images, videos and memes.


I've hijacked a quirky "question asking" formula from viral scientist Jonah
Berger to drill out facts and generate interesting ideas. Using 'roulette' for
exampleâ


Who chooses to play roulette?
What types of roulette are there?
What can we learn about the type of person who plays X version of roulette?


Now to mix it up a bitâ


Where do those people come from?
What is the majority gender?


Now make it controversialâ


Are people from region X more prone to gambling? Are men playing the "live"
version more? Is this because they are physically attracted to the croupier?


As you can see, questioning your own topic triggers a web of interesting and
contentious content - the kind of material which a much wider audience can
relate to, enjoy and share. Another creative formula I use for topic generation
is 'subject + random category or buzzword '. For instance:


Roulette + films (which brings me to the iconic Russian roulette scene from
The Deer Hunter).


Roulette + social (which brings me to the webcam-based phenomenon Chat
Roulette).


Roulette + travel (which in the case of Heineken, brought them to a video
whereby holiday makers were offered to play 'Departure Roulette' and board a
flight to a random destination).


Roulette + magic (which brings me to popular British mentalist Derren Brown's
'Russian Roulette' trick).

Writing

Once you've seeded a topic and an angle, you should be looking to delegate the
writing of an article to a crack in-house writerâsomeone with a passion
for journalism and developing their online presence. In my experience,
outsourcing to freelancers or an agency comprises quality and article
authenticity. The work is thin on research, low on personality and possesses a
'churned' feel to it, which brings me back to my stereotypical guest post gripe.
Make sure you leverage the knowledge of your internal teamâi.e. your
designer for design-related materialâto cover all potential article bases.

Top takeaways
Explore your niche. It is sure to bring up topics that bear wider social
significance.
Have you successfully implemented a marketing campaign? Is your business doing
great? Tell your own company story.
Brainstorm and generate shareable content. Use the "question asking" formula
above to come up with interesting topics.
3: Original and convincing outreach

Here's a fantastic post entitled "Revealed: Outreach Campaigns from some of
the Biggest SEO firms." It underlines just how useless some SEO agencies are at
establishing credibility and building rapport with editors and webmasters. They
have to resort to manufactured guest-post outreach.


My outreach is far more tailored and elaborate. I throw in a bio, examples of
my published work and a brief employment history. There really is no substitute
for published work, and I'm fortunate enough to have articles on websites like
Buzzfeed and The Bleacher Report. My emails will be personalised, complimentary
and explain why my content is suitable for the website's target demographic.
Email outreachâsummarised perfectly by this infographicâis a science
in its own right.




I sugar-coat my job role (senior editor at a gaming information portal) and
justify my outreach on the grounds of a writer wanting to broaden his horizons
and bolster his portfolio. For the most covert infiltrations, I pose as a
journalist looking for an actual job as a remote freelancer. Though I'm
approaching these websites for a link to my company website, it's not always at
the forefront of my agenda. I want to diversify my writing portfolio and elevate
my own online presence to establish regular writing gigs in the future.


For first time contact with an editor, I always include an article attachment.
I've enjoyed a lot more traction with this tactic. Editors receive and reject an
inordinate number of pitches, but are far more likely to respond if you've gone
to the effort of constructing an original article.


Another top tip is when I've linked to a business or website in a previous
article, I'll approach them for a guest post later down the line so they can
return the favour. This is a great way to break the ice simply by letting them
know you mentioned their insightful article.

Top takeaways
Personalise your outreach. Research the editor, the website and its target
audience, and explain why your content is suitable.
Ask yourself: Are you emailing a webmaster, or an editor? The former will be
familiar with SEO, and will scrutinise your outreach more heavily. An editor
with a journalistic background should be more receptive to content proposals.
Be yourselfâan ambitious, talented freelance writer. By mentioning your
company, you run the risk of being ignored on the basis of seeking commercial
gain.
Where possible, include an original article for the target website as part of
your email outreach.
4: Build your website's linkable assets

Successful link building means working with the internal content team to
develop linkable assets. This can be a mix of ephemeral news content,
infotainment articles and more academic, educational resources. Across our
websites, we've covered the whole spectrumâfrom a Vegas-themed HTML5
puzzle game that amassed 1,000 shares, to a serious investigation into casino
design.


One of my company's more ambitious projects was the creation of an infographic
documenting the probability of stumbling upon any given piece of image-based web
content. The luck factor prevalent in gambling was a springboard for our
tagline, "How Lucky Are You To be Reading This Infographic?" The outreach
campaign went far beyond standard infographic "directories," earning us links
from the likes of Cheezburger.com (the heart of many viral pieces),
Shortlist.com (known for their magazines in the UK), and even a Mashable.com
editor's personal blog.

Top takeaways
Focus on all media types. If you're conducting a video interview with a key
industry figure, get it transcribed and make it into a podcast to maximise your
outreach.
Formalise a comprehensive outreach plan: Find relevant twitter influencers
through Followerwonk, track down key bloggers through Google blog search and
contact industry journalists through Journalisted to cover your story.
Three "guest post" examples

Here are three examples of the aforementioned tactics being put into practice.
Naturally, I can't divulge too many leads!


1: The Bleacher Report: "Should Gambling Be Given The Boot From English
Football?"







The Bleacher Report is the world's fourth largest sports website. It thrives
on user engagement, and its article base is growing rapidly courtesy of an
advanced contributor program. Anyone can apply to write for Bleacher Report, and
after a two stage screening process, you're awarded admin rights to publish an
internal article. I was accepted into contributor program after providing
examples of my sports writing. The Bleacher Report prides itself on attributing
relevant resources, so I decided to produce an op-ed piece about gambling in
football with a link to Roulette.co.uk's internal blog posts; "Footballers in
Vegas."


2: Growth Business: "Five Reasons To Start An Affiliate Business"







Growth Business is a highly respectable business news and advice website. It
doesn't advertise guest posting opportunities, but I noticed that a range of
entrepreneurs supplied content in the comments and analysis section. On the back
of my experience in affiliate marketing, I pitched an original article "Five
Reasons To Start An Affiliate Business." Lists are an integral part of content
marketing: they're tangible, digestible and make for convenient reference
points. Since I was referencing my own websites as case studies, I was able to
embed organic links, and my contribution was duly accepted. I linked to other
affiliate marketing resources within the article body to aid reader
understanding and avoid any suspicions of commercial gain.


3: Grads Blog: "Gibraltar: An Opportunity For Graduates?"







The Grads.co.uk blog welcomes student and career-related content. It's a
growing, multipurpose website offering career advice, job listings and
interactive student engagement, so I expect the metrics to increase
significantly over time. Having graduated a little over two years ago and moved
to gambling operator hub Gibraltar, I offered a featured article on the merits
of relocating and finding employment abroad. I embedded a link to my company's
Gibraltar infographic, which included a vexel replica of the peninsula and
important stats about its economy and lifestyle. I want to cement a long-term
relationship with the editor and avoid the 'one-off' guest posting tactic so I
offer monthly contributions.

Conclusion

It's worth noting that the aforementioned tips shouldn't necessarily be
followed in order. Topic generation might be the last thing I do if I've forged
an editorial contact and secured a regular writing gig. I might publish an
internal article on a whim to establish a relevant backlink, or build a whole
guest posting campaign around a static, linkable asset.


I've written this post with reference to the gambling industry. However, it
can be applied to any difficult niche. Left-field topic generation, skilled
feature writing and tailored outreach can generate sterling results.


Finally, I want to stress that these guest posting tactics are more than a
link building exercise. They're something we tie into an overall, content
marketing strategy to drive referral traffic and social shares. After a
three-month implementation period, we recorded an overall referral traffic
increase of 45.54% on the previous three months. The majority of this came from
social websites, with overall social referral traffic increasing 247.98% in the
same period.


Do you agree with these tactics? Have you devised your own, unique outreach
plan?


I'd love to hear the Moz community's thoughts on link building for difficult
niches!
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