Getting Personal, SEO Style
Its no secret that SEO is a long and drawn out process, full of glorious hits and demoralising misses, all leading to that worthwhile day when you see your website on page 1 of Google for your main keyword. The time it takes for the satisfying feel of a page 1 website however, can all depend on how many, and how big the ‘hits’ are when performing off site SEO, predominantly, link building.
When performing search engine optimisation, there are few more exciting moments than finding the high page rank, high authority domain, which has 100% relevance to your/your clients website, and many trusted links. So, you submit your link, or, email them asking for a link on their site , and then you wait…and wait.
More often then not however, if you simply go straight ‘in their face’ and start demanding links without offering anything in return, the reply you are waiting for will more than likely not come.
If this is the case, its time to work the charm offensive, with a few of, but not limited to, these options:
- Offer them a service/content
- Give them some advice
- Go old school!
So, to break it down…option 1, if you feel you could provide the website in question with anything – dependant on your industry – in exchange for a link, it is always worth the effort. If you do not have anything you think your business could personally offer, then maybe offer to write some unique content for them or their blog. Even if they say no, they will respect the fact that you are willing to work for the link.
Another way to possibly gain a link is to spend some time closely reviewing their site, go through every link and every word, try to spot any potential mistakes. If you spot a spelling mistake, a broken link, a wrong page title, all of these things are worth raising with them, send them a short email simply pointing out the error. Once you have done this, you can cheekily bring up the topic of links, they are much more likely to respect and trust you if you have gone out of your way to give them some help.
Finally, ‘Going Old School’, no, we don’t mean challenge them to a game of space invaders or pong, we mean do something that is often un-thought of in the SEO/website world, use a pen and paper. Yes, pull out the stationery, and write a letter. If you are willing to take the time and handwrite a personal letter to them regarding it, not only are they guaranteed to read it, they’re going to take note of you.
In the complex world of SEO, none of these methods are guaranteed to work, or not work, but its all worth the effort to pull in those high quality links and get your website to the top of Google. For more information on link building or anything SEO related, please don’t be afraid to call our friendly expert SEO team on 01623 650333