11 Essential Ways To Build Links Through Content Marketing

Anyone involved with online marketing and SEO already knows link building can be a dangerous game to play. For starters, you have to keep up-to-update to Google's algorithmic changes and play by Google's ever-changing Webmaster Guidelines. You also have to make sure you're getting links from high-quality sites – and not those spammy, black-hat locations. Despite these challenges, link building works.

According to a study conducted by Moz—which examined the top 50 Google search results for approximately 15,000 keywords—99.2% of the top 50 sites had at least one external website pointing to it. The study also discovered that more links correlate with higher rankings and the chances of ranking for anything competitive is rare without links. While it is possible to rank without links, Moz warns "if you're looking for a site that ranks well with no external links, be prepared to look for a very long time."

But, that presents another dilemma. Since people use links to manipulate rankings, Google has cracked down and penalized those sites participating in any sort of link schemes.

So, how can you safely build links?

One of the most common, and legitimate, techniques is to use content to earn those quality links. In fact, as John Ball pointed out in Link Building and Content Marketing: Two Different Peas in a Pod here on SEJ,

"A slew of SEOs are moving towards content marketing as a primary method of link building."

The reason? Webmasters want great content, not poor content just for the sake of a link. Because you're already creating and sharing top-notch content, your site will become more linkable.

While content marketing and link building are two different things, you can most definitely use the following 11 content marketing strategies to build links safely and legitimately.

1. Reach Out to Influencers

Most of us already know who the influencers are. These are the bloggers, journalists, or industry analysts who have the power to influence buying decisions in our market. They can also become brand advocates who passionately promote your band. By taking the time to reach out to these influencers, you're not only gaining a new audience, you're also increasing your credibility.

The first step to reaching out to influencers is to determine who is influencing the buying decisions of your audience. You can begin to target these influencers by knowing which individuals fit best with your brand and who has plenty of reach. While Katy Perry may have the largest Twitter following, do you think that she would be a good match for a company like Dollar Shave Club? Begin your search for influencers by doing some good old fashioned keyword searches that are relevant to your brand. You can also search on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Technorati or use tools like Social Mention to discover influencers who have mentioned your brand on social networks like Facebook or Twitter.

Once you're found your influencers, Kevin Cain on Convince and Convert, suggests that you prioritize them into a list based on who will have the most impact. From there, you want to begin building a relationship with them. One of the easiest and most effective ways is to follow them on Facebook or Twitter and to like or comment on their blog posts or social media updates. However, don't hesitate to submit your posts on Reddit, Stumbleupon, Growth, and any LinkedIn groups you're a part of.

After you've established a relationship, don't be shy about sending your influencer a direct message or personalized email. In the email, you want to introduce yourself, offer some sort or assistance, and ask them for their help. The body of the email could even include a link to your site.

For example, if you're a dog groomer, you could email relevant local businesses like veterans asking for a link to your site.

Finding the influencers for your brand will take some research and time to build a relationship. It's not something that's going to happen overnight. But, if you're able to find influencers in your specific niche and reach out to them, you're not only helping your content marketing campaign, you'll also secure quality links.

If you want more information on influencer targeting, I suggest you read this guide from KISSMetrics.

2. Guest Blog

Remember when Google's Matt Cutts declared that guest posting was dead? That exactly hasn't been the case. Guest blogging remains an effective way to get your brand noticed, increase your search ranking, and build links. What Google doesn't want, however, are those spammy links. To properly use guest blogging to build links you should only focus on getting top-notch content published on high-quality sites and blogs that are relevant to your niche.

Source: 11 Essential Ways To Build Links Through Content Marketing