There’s no way to really promote growth on your site unless you have significant amounts of linkable content. Sure, you can randomly count on links. But, you have to keep your website updated on a consistent basis to have any meaningful significant growth. Having your website stagnate at 10-15 pages of content will get you traffic and rankings that are reflective of…10-15 pages of content.
That is, unless somehow your links take off. But publishing and praying for links to take off is just that–publishing and praying.
However, taking another step to expand how your content reaches your online audience can work wonders. Sharing to social networks and targeting industry influencers are two of the steps you can take. Doing just these two things are worlds better than the publish and pray approach and can help create significant growth compared to publishing and praying.
With this method, you’re publishing, promoting, and positioning–also known as the three Ps of SEO.
Publishing: You Create and Publish Great Content on a Frequent Basis
Nothing holds a blog back more than not being competitive enough when publishing content. The frequency of your publishing is important. When you do your competitor analysis, you also work on creating a content publishing frequency based on how your competitors are publishing content. For example, if they’re publishing three posts a day, you may want to consider this as well.
It also depends on your budget and the resources available to you. If you don’t have much in the way of finances, then you may have to make do with what you have, even if you can only publish once every couple of days.
Even if this is your situation, at least you are working toward publishing content on a frequent basis instead of stagnating, which doesn’t help anyone.
Promoting: You Engage in Effective Content Promotion
This takes everything beyond the publish and pray approach. Creating a regular promotion schedule for your blog can help you get links.
As your promotion schedule matures, you can eventually end up getting higher rankings and traffic as more people take notice of your blog as an authority.
Engaging in effective content promotion helps you stay ahead of the game and, in turn, allows you to be proactive when doing content marketing.
Positioning: How You Position Yourself Online Matters
You can promote and publish all you want, but how you position yourself online matters when you are publishing great content.
Positioning refers to how you present yourself and how other people see you in terms of your expertise, your authoritativeness, and your trustworthiness.
When you position yourself as an expert in your field, people will be more likely to come see you for your specific product and service.
And they are likely going to pay more for it as well.
By engaging in an effective process of publishing, promoting, and positioning for your brand –you, too, can experience the explosion in rankings and traffic that can result from creating highly linkable content.
Create Content Using Data That Was Researched Comprehensively
Great content is content that provides a unique point of view, which was also compiled from original research with comprehensive data and insights that can help your reader as a result.
In other words, it has all of the following:
- Highly linkable content that can help your reader and bring traffic back to you.
- A unique point of view based on original research so you are not just parroting what everyone else is saying without anything new.
- Original research with comprehensive data from credible sources combined with first-hand knowledge–this is why you are the expert.
- Insights that can help your reader –which is why they should listen to you.
- Easy-to-read formatting that results in better user engagement.
Great content has all of the above. When you create great content, you will start seeing more links coming in as a result.
Create link-worthy content by publishing, promoting, and positioning through effective processes like those outlined above.
Create Content That Attracts High-Quality Backlinks Naturally
One of the biggest benefits of creating link-worthy content is that you are naturally attracting backlinks from high authority sites through the natural process of link earning.
Why? Because what you’re doing is helping people with their problems. And the more you help them, the more likely they are going to link back to your site in an effort to help others who may be searching for such answers on Google.
In other words, you are doing the very thing Google wants you to do–helping others with their problems as a result of your authoritative content in useful formats like blogs and infographics by providing Google with unique content and information they will love.
In addition, you will see more high-quality backlinks as a result because people are naturally linking to your helpful content without feeling pressured by you. Did you know the average open rate of outreach campaigns is around 1-5 percent? That means you have to send many hundreds of outreach emails in order to gain the attention of people who can help you. Is there a better way to do this? Yes!
Focus on your own email list and social media feeds to help drive brand recognition and awareness, and get people authentically engaged with your content. When you have a newsletter, you already have a bona fide email list your subscribers trust, which means your open rate could be closer to 80-100 percent as a result.
Listen to Your Audience–What They Want, When They Want It
You can’t please everyone all of the time but publishing and positioning yourself as an expert in your field that people should listen to is the key.
Listen to your audience and give them what they want when they want it by incorporating these techniques into your online presence:
- listen to feedback on various social networks, from blogs and other online communities that are highly frequented by professionals in your target market
- share their content often as a way of building a relationship with them
- give them what they want by sharing your content and their content instead of only promoting your own website
By following these simple steps, you will be positioning yourself as an expert in your field that people should listen to. And the result is more high-quality backlinks coming through naturally from highly reputable sources.
Feature Your Content Alongside Other Industry Leaders for Enhanced Validation
Don’t be afraid to feature your content alongside other industry leaders as a way of enhanced validation and positioning yourself as an expert in your field.
When you feature your content alongside other industry leaders in a credible, professional environment you are positioning yourself as an expert in your field.
In fact, it doesn’t matter if you are actually better than they are or not. What matters is you’re featured alongside them and that’s enough to position yourself as an authority within the industry. The link backs that follow because of it can lead to great long-term benefits for your online presence.
Why put yourself at a disadvantage by not utilizing these types of opportunities to their fullest? Of course, there is the risk you will get outshined by other industry leaders, but that’s unlikely because those types of people don’t need to utilize such tricks in order to beat you.
Newsjacking
What is newsjacking and how do you utilize it for increased online visibility?
Newsjacking is the art of injecting your ideas, content, or messages into breaking news in real-time as a way of reaching an audience that’s larger than what you normally would reach.
For example, if there is an event related to your industry and you create a related piece of content and share it as the news is breaking, you will receive great exposure from every outlet covering this story.
This doesn’t happen often, so be prepared to jump on relevant opportunities like these and newsjack. If an event that has nothing to do with your industry happens, don’t waste time trying to make a connection when it would be out of place.
Follow the process outlined above to newsjack and take advantage of relevant events as they occur. Then follow up with your own content about them for increased exposure.
Take Advantage of Trending Topics from Pop Culture
Don’t forget about the importance of taking advantage of trending topics from pop culture. By doing so, you can increase your exposure and gain links as a result of the topics being covered by mainstream publications like Forbes, Buzzfeed, and more.
There are times when these types of opportunities make sense to jump on and other times where they do not. For example, don’t jump on a trending topic from pop culture when it has nothing to do with your industry unless you can make a connection that works.
It’s far better to wait for more relevant opportunities and newsjack as they arrive instead of trying to force one when it doesn’t make sense. It’s not about being first, it’s about being relevant.
Create Something Original and Brand-New in Order to Stand Out
Don’t be afraid to go out on a limb and create something original in order to stand out. Though this can be difficult, the end result is worth it if you are able to pull it off successfully.
There’s nothing wrong with creating a new format or being an industry leader by doing things nobody else has done yet. This will often lead to increased exposure and relevant links because you are breaking the mold in an industry, especially if it’s known for being stagnant.
When you create a brand-new and original approach to doing the same thing, you end up creating content that is exceptionally linkable.
Also, it increases your exposure and the chance your content will go viral because there’s nothing else like it out there. This means more people are sharing it with their family, friends, and on social media.
In-Depth Guides on Industry-Trending Topics
Let’s face it–in SEO, just about every SEO professional is going to know at least the basics. Creating brand-new guides based on the same old tired tactics is fine, but it’s not going to result in exceptional value.
Something highly detailed and that goes in-depth into something that’s rarely seen–unless you’re on the inside of an agency–is going to help you create highly exceptional, linkable content.
So long as it’s not against any NDAs, or considered company trade secrets, you may want to create in-depth guides that will help you create that value.
In-Depth How-to Resources
Another example of the same old approach would be to create an in-depth how-to guide that utilizes a unique spin on an old topic. Even if it goes as far as video, that really doesn’t change anything besides the format.
What you want to do is create something highly detailed with screenshots and more that will help users solve their problems. This should also take them to the next level when it comes to understanding a specific topic.
If you’re creating something like this with screenshots and other visuals, remember these are likely to be viewed on mobile devices as well. If you forget about that, then you could end up having problems with your visualization or layout formatting.
New and Fresh Training Courses
You can also create new training courses that are done in a way that’s never been seen before. This may or may not result in you being cutting-edge and progressive, but it will depend on what type of an approach you take with your training courses.
Just remember to make sure each video and other bits of content are high-quality and SEO-friendly. It doesn’t do you any good if your videos aren’t actually helpful or don’t serve a purpose for your viewers.
You want to give them something with value, not something that will result in them abandoning the video as soon as it starts playing.
Curate and Combine Other Content
Another way to create linkable content is by curating and combining the best of other high-quality content. This will result in something that is easy to share, highly relevant, and shares information from well-established industry sources.
High-value curated posts are a fantastic way to drive traffic via social media and increase your external linking profile. You can even go as far as creating an infographic if you think it will make sense for the curated post you’re creating.
Just make sure you don’t simply copy and paste what another publication has put together.
Create Guides That Are Highly Detailed
Creating guides that are easier to read can be extremely helpful to get links from reputable and established industry publications.
Make sure you make the most of each guide so it will result in your target audience actually clicking on them and sharing with their peers.
A good way to do this is by linking back to other valuable resources throughout the guides that are relevant to what you’re creating. This will help keep readers engaged as they go through the content you’ve created, resulting in more shares and links than there otherwise would have been.
By Creating Linkable Content That Wins, You Create a Snowball Effect
By taking a different approach than everyone else and going for link-worthy content instead of quick hits or small pieces, your online presence will be improved exponentially. If you want great SEO value, then take advantage of these tips today and create linkable content that results in earned links.
This is the most powerful link-building technique that can help you win results and help you avoid being hit by Google algorithm updates.
Because all of your links are natural and not considered to be against Google’s Webmaster Guidelines, you are less likely to get hit as a result.
