TURNING HITS TO VIEWS TO SALES
PART III
“A company that builds a loyal social following has a built-in army to promote their content, day in and day out. That content will get shared, get links, send social signals…all of which can’t be a bad thing.”
– Will Reynolds, Founder, Seer Interactive
One of the most powerful tools in SEO are organic backlinks. Search engines comb the web to find the most helpful resources for their audiences. They search for authorities, or experts, in their fields. They also try to eliminate sources that manipulate their content including sites that create unhelpful link relationships. The best way to grow your page visits is to create content that naturally leads to backlinks. In order to do that, you will need to know how to generate backlinks. Here are three most crucial steps to get started:
- Create quality content
- Leverage your professional & personal networks
- Employ social media
CREATE QUALITY CONTENT, CREATE ORGANIC BACKLINKS
“The objective is not to ‘make your links appear natural’; the objective is that your links are natural.”
When people share a link they are, in effect, putting their name behind it. The New York Times completed a study on the psychology of sharing and found that people basically share items for one of five main reasons. Beside each item in parentheses will be a potential impact:
- To bring valuable and entertaining content to others
- To define ourselves to others
- To grow and nourish our relationships
- Self-fulfillment
- To get the cause out about causes or brands
They also found that there were basically six types of personalities present. These personalities varied in the methods and content they shared as well as how they selected and presented the content they put forth. Knowing your audience will help you present your content in a clear searchable format. That format can dictate who reads and later shares the content. Regardless of the particular personas, the Times found seven steps that can yield results and influence sharing:
- Appeal to consumers’ motivation to connect with each other — not just with your brand
- Trust is the cost of entry for getting shared
- Keep it simple… and it will get shared… and it won’t get muddled
- Appeal to their sense of humor
- Embrace a sense of urgency
- Getting your content shared is just the beginning
- Get shared
- Get shared again
- Listen
- Get credit for responding
- Respond
- E-mail is still #1
Let’s say you have crafted some great content. You have a couple of blogs, an eBook, and infographic, and maybe even a video. How can you get started with backlinking if you are just beginning? Great question! I’m glad you asked!
LEVERAGE YOUR PROFESSIONAL & PERSONAL NETWORKS
One great way to get started in backlinking is to begin sharing your content with individuals in you professional and personal networks. Identify individuals that you know and have mutual trust. As you are starting out in your pursuit to generate organic backlinks, consider using the following six outlets to spread your content and start to see a few shares:
- Trusted professionals that work in a field that crosses into your own
- Established social presence
- Social butterflies that work with people that may benefit from your content
- Like-minded individuals that share concern for the cause or industry your content affects
- Social media groups that are established for your field or cause
- Use your personal social media page to promote your content and ask friends to share it
EMPLOY SOCIAL MEDIA
Social media is quickly growing in strength to share content and drive site visits. As a result, social media creates organic backlinks. Establishing a page for your content can create an opportunity to expand your market share and create an accessible format for your content that it may not initially find online.
TURNING HITS TO VIEWS TO SALES PART I: HITS
TURNING HITS TO VIEWS TO SALES PART II: IMAGES
TURNING HITS TO VIEWS TO SALES PART IV: METRICS PROVE YOU NEED A CONTENT STRATEGY
