[Build Backlinks Online] Filthy Linking Rich: How to Passively Attract Valuable Links

Build Backlinks Online has posted a new item, 'Filthy Linking Rich: How to
Passively Attract Valuable Links'

Posted by JamesAgate
The best ideas for "building links" seldom arrive whilst you are sat there
thinking of ways you can build links. I don't mean to start off on the wrong
foot here and provide you with one of those posts that proclaims "just hit
publish" and links will rain down from the sky if your content is "great"
enough.


We'll be getting links with the process I am talking about today, but there
are also a whole load of benefits besides links to come from doing this.

Why you should still care about links

Despite all the noise in the industry, links form the very basis of the web
and remain the key component in Google's algorithm, so having a plan in place
for how links are going to be attained is essential for any ambitious business.


Beyond the dramatic improvement in search engine visibility that we all know
links can deliver, the right kinds of links can offer:

Significant referral traffic
Online brand awareness
Social proof (improving conversion)

Links were here before Google; they are the stitches that connect the
patchwork quilt of randomness that we call the internet. I don't want to pretend
that I forget all about Google when we're looking at link opportunities but we
are constantly looking at ways to get more than just ranking potential out of a
link.

Earning links isn't a myth

The organic, editorially earned link isn't a myth. Unless you are a big brand,
though, it will require some time, creativity, and investment up front. Get it
right by building a piece of long-term foundational content, (not solely tapping
into something that is hot for five minutes and then gone), and you can provide
your business with a platform that means every month you're not starting with a
blank scorecard. You can then layer additional online marketing efforts on top
and enjoy a compound effect.

How to get filthy linking rich

Many of you will be familiar with Robert T. Kiyosaki's Rich Dad Poor
Dadâit's worth a read if you haven't. The premise of the book is that the
rich don't work for money but rather have money work for them, Robert explains
he effectively had two dads growing up (one actually being his friend's dad);
one who died a multi-millionaire, and one who died broke despite having had a
decent job and a good education. Long story short, you get rich (and
subsequently richer) by thinking differently than everyone else.


There are comparisons that can be drawn between what the book is talking about
and most things in our daily lives; the fit get fitter, the rich get richer,
bestsellers sell better and so on and so forth. When it comes to SEO, it's no
different.


In fact Mike Grehan wrote a paper which discussed this concept specifically in
relating to links and search engines. He highlighted;


"...how great the bias is for high ranking pages which are fundamentally
ordered on link based algorithms, to attract more links."


In essence, those pages that rank prominently strengthen their lead naturally
because they attract more links as a result of ranking at the top. Smart
marketers can turn some links into more links.


I wrote a post a while back about targeting influencers and content creators
at the exact moment they were looking to link, therefore increasing your chances
of getting a link. Since then, though, it has become clear to me that this
concept really is much bigger than that. We've slowly but surely developed and
refined the process to maximize the links and eyeballs a content asset can
attract passively over time.


And it is that process which I am going to run through today...

Concept
Seed placement
Prime
Supportive outreach
Extend

The chart below shows the growth in referring domains for a content asset we
developed using the above process:



The asset was launched six months prior to the start date of this chart and
the consistent growth continues to this dayâit was designed to meet a need
in the market and is something that users and influencers alike have an interest
in and will continue to have an interest in for years to come.


That's over 100 links attained passively, and the average Domain Authority of
those (according to LinkBabel) is 63, so these are decent links as well. Sure,
not all are big-hitting-need-to-write-home-about links but they are relevant and
most are with publishers we'd ordinarily seek a relationship with if we were
promoting it proactively.


Here's a chart showing pageviews for the 6 months after launch (it's certainly
not what we in the industry would consider "viral," but the asset targets a
long-tail phrase, and pageviews are showing steady month-over-month growth):



Stage 1: Concept

We're more often than not seeking to cover a question, tackle an industry
concept, challenge a misconception or provide the most comprehensive and useful
piece on a particular topic.


What makes a good idea?

Something you can talk credibly about: It may sound obvious, but don't stretch
your fabric of expertise too far.
Something that has long-term appeal: You want to be a value investor rather
than a speculator.
Something that will appeal to customers AND other content creators.
There is currently a void of decent content covering the subject.

Sources of inspiration


The key to this part of the process is to get inspired and then begin the
fairly manual process of identifying which of the ideas are the real
opportunities. Again, I can use an investing analogy here because it is no
different to investing in anything else; start broad, do your research and
narrow it down to the opportunities you are going to pursue.

Magazines in your industry: Look for the pillar topics that have evergreen
potential and see if they are as well served online.
Talk to sales teams: They often have valuable insights into customer pain
points and common questions.
Keyword research tools: Dig through industry keywords (often more toward the
long tail, but in some cases big head terms to find people looking for answers
and solutions).
Use Google Images: Sometimes visual queries are under-served.
Related topics in Wikipedia: Browse the "See Also" section to help ignite some
lateral thinking.

How do I know it's an opportunity?


You are ultimately looking to identify queries that are underserved.


Picture yourself in the shoes of both a potential customer and a fellow
content creator. Do you feel you can find what you are looking for with the
current results that are returned on query X or Y? If not, why not? And how can
your planned asset fill that gap?


If you can reach both of those types of users then once you've given the asset
that little initial nudge, the content itself pays its own way for life.


A strong example of an underserved query is the question "what is
outsourcing?" Quite a broad term, but if Google's Keyword Planner Tool is to be
believed, one that gets asked over 5,000 times per month. A good number of those
are likely to be other content creators who are seeking a nice succinct
explanation or guide to outsourcing that they can reference and link to for a
piece they may be writing on a related topic. Imagine creating a visual tutorial
that introduces outsourcing and looks at how a business can get started. That
would certainly beat the current lineup of content on offer, then you'd just
need to carefully optimize it to make sure yours is the asset people find.


What type of assets will work?


I'm a big supporter of evolution rather than revolution in SEO. The format of
the content isn't necessarily the thing you need to focus on ("OMG we can't do
infographics because they are so 2013!") it is the substance of the piece that
is more important. The "problem" isn't with infographics per se, but rather the
way they are executed. Granted, sometimes the opportunity actually is bringing a
different format to the table, but the world doesn't declare books (physical or
digital) as "dead" just because a couple of authors put out a couple of bad
books.


Maybe it isn't the vehicle, but rather the person driving it. But I digress.


My point is that this process can be applied to a multitude of different
content asset types, the key is recognizing the opportunity you have at hand and
whether it is the substance of the piece, the format of the piece, or both, and
then act accordingly.


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Note: The extent to which and the order in which you complete the following 4
stages depends entirely upon the type of content asset, the type of project and
the goal of that project.


For example, we've worked on projects where the client didn't want the asset
on their site, they wanted to give it exclusively to a 3rd-party publisher and
focus on helping the asset reach prominence on that site so that they could
leverage the social proof and traffic (although not the links). Equally, we've
worked on projects where we publish first on the client site before seeding it
with a big publisher.


I'll be running through each of the stages and then I'll leave it up to you to
slot them together in the way that makes sense for whatever it is you are
working on.


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Stage 2: Seed placement

This is going to be a high-profile publisher directly in your industry or
perhaps tangentially related (go where the audience is!), and that site should
enjoy prominent syndication. A good example of this is Entrepreneur.com being
syndicated to regional news websites who leverage the deeper coverage of
business issues that they don't. We could get into a whole conversation about
duplicate content and auto-syndicated links, etc., etc., but I'll take
authoritative, relevant links any day of the weekâparticularly if I only
have to build a relationship with one publisher to get them!


Why give the seed placement to someone else?


The "initial exclusive" ensures we get the attention of the influential
blogger and power publisherâthey are getting something we've put blood,
sweat, and tears into first, before anyone elseâin some cases before we
even publish on the client site. This is frequently a powerful bargaining chip.
Remember, though, that the residual links can end up with that third-party site
if they end up outranking you (not always the case), but that shouldn't put you
off, because often giving a site an initial exclusive opens doors that wouldn't
be possible when pitching content that is already live on your blog.


Where can I find a seed placement?


If you are stuck for ideas then a good place to start would be one of the
multitude of premium advertising networks out there including BuySellAds or
Federated Media. Or you can take a dip inside Google Adwords and use their
display planner to get some ideas. If you are doing this for a client, then talk
to them and ask them which sites they read.


What qualifies as a seed placement?


A fairly straightforward but not necessarily perfect barometer is whether you
quote the site by name (because it is a publisher with a recognisable brand), or
whether you describe it based on domain authority (because you know nobody has
heard of the site). If its the former then you've probably got a good candidate,
if it's the latter it doesn't mean it isn't a good site but it might be more
suited for contacting during the supportive outreach stage in this process.


Another key reason to use the calibre of brand as a barometer is because you
can leverage this initial seed placement when it comes to supportive outreach.
This publisher's brand (and their editorial integrity) lends huge amounts of
credibility to your asset resulting in a much lower level of friction when
talking with other sites because there is a feeling of "If it is good enough for
X, this piece must be legit."

Stage 3: Prime the asset

Publish the asset on your site and prepare it for immediate and long-term
success by priming it for easy social sharing and incorporating common sense
optimization of on-page factors.


More specifically;

Accessibility and visibility of social sharing buttons
Accessibility and visibility of any embed codes or downloads
Keyword research and optimization of titles and the content itself, relating
back to the opportunities identified in stage 1.

These things serve to heighten your visibility across social channels, reduce
friction should someone wish to share the piece (either socially or in the form
of a link) and finally it heightens your visibility in searchâto maximize
your reach and longevity of the piece with customers, other content creators and
influencers at the very moment they are doing research (looking for a source to
cite).


Grab this solid checklist that Rand put together about on-page optimization
for a checklist.

Stage 4: Supportive outreach

The aim of this part of the process is to secure the last of the proactive
coverage. Links lead to more links so getting your asset visible with some nice
initial traction is how we can be sure it'll be a success long term.


The likelihood is that the types of publishers you'll be working with at this
stage are going to be more niche-specific bloggers, smaller or regional
publications and even personal blogs that are authored by experts in your
industry.


I put together a post to help you identify, research, and organise link
prospects which you might want to have a read of.


Securing the seed placement is a lot more like a high-touch sales/business
development relationship so it is harder for me to design a process for you.
When it comes to supportive outreach, however, we can probably afford to tailor
a template email rather than write bespoke each time. We're not mass
email-blasting here, but we are looking to secure a higher number of links,
therefore we need to be efficient.


It isn't easy to get noticed in someone's inbox, but there are some best
practices for sending these kinds of emails:

Find the person's name
Get a professional email address
Make sure it is the right person
Be meticulous in your proofreading
Be personal (but sincere)
Respect their time and be concise
Think carefully about certain words that might flag spam filters

As well as some really good guides on the subject:

Subject line: this guide
Persuasive body copy: this guide
Signature (and overall format): this guide
Stage 5: Extend

There are several aspects to this stage, all of which I'll go over in more
detail below:

Paid content discovery
Paid social media advertising
Attribution checks
Content repurposing

Paid social media advertising


The three main platforms we work with for these types of campaigns are:

Facebook: Read this guide from First Conversion
Twitter: Read this guide on KissMetrics (basic but gives a good grounding if
you are getting started on the platform)
StumbleUpon Paid Discovery: Read this guide on Search Engine Land

Paid content discovery


A good presentation from Wil Reynolds on this subject.


The three main platforms we work (or have worked) with for these types of
campaigns are:

Zemanta - how many links does $1300 get you?
Taboola
nrelate
Outbrain

We prefer Outbrain, but it isn't perfect by any stretch. We've found some
campaigns devour the budget in minutes, and others barely get any impressions at
all despite being for the same client, but I'll leave you to make your own
judgement as to their effectiveness. I wanted to present them as valid campaign
extension options because they more often than not tend to add some value.


Content repurposing


Here's a solid guide to content repurposing over on the Content Marketing
Institute.


And some quick ideas to get you started:

Translate into other languages: English-language markets are inundated with
content, and international markets less so.
Turn into other formats such as video, slide decks, or eBooks for wider
distribution.

Attribution checks


This is something that can be done on an ongoing basis because if your asset
is attracting links on an ongoing basis it will also likely be attracting people
who are pinching it or from it and not attributing.


In the early stages of the campaign you can often find some really juicy link
opportunities by finding the sites that have covered the piece but not
attributed correctly. After that you may find people who "borrow" large chunks
of it (Copyscape to the rescue) then you could always ask for the attribution
and send them a DMCA if not.

Reverse image search using Google Images or Tineye: Need a solid guide to image
link building? Look no further than this one.
TalkWalker Alerts: Set up a few including parts of the title, full title, brand
name etc.
Monitoring brand name mentions and manually reviewing these to see if any are
content asset coverage with a citation but no link.

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Finally - I confess, I haven't been entirely honest with you, because to really
get the most out of this method, you can't be 100% passive. You might need to
tend to it from time to time, updating the piece to keep it relevant, for
example. Or consider further "extension" promotions if there are seasonal peaks
of interest in the piece; the asset is, after all, dual-purpose. Just because
you've got it positioned to consistently drive links and traffic, what's to stop
you from being proactive and using it attract more customers at, say, a key
buying season in your industry?


----


So, there you have it: Our process in 3,000 words for developing content
assets, some of which go on to earn thousands of links and generate thousands of
social shares long after we've finished active promotion. With the right idea,
the right format, a good initial seed placement, intelligent priming, and
thorough supportive outreach, a content asset can take your link building
campaigns to a whole new level.


I'd welcome any feedback or questions in the comments below.
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