Ivana Katz
Ivana Katz, Owner at Websites 4 Small Business

Search Engine Marketing (SEM)

What is the best way to find backlink opportunities?

I have a client who has a website related to family friendly activities and I am wondering what is the best way to find backlink opportunities?

Suggestions on how to approach businesses to exchange links would be greatly appreciated.

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4 Answers

James Norquay

James Norquay Consulting Director at Prosperity Media

1. Find website who are in a similar niche and then look at their external backlink profile.

A good tool to use is https://ahrefs.com/

2. Look for partners or any one you have sponsored in the past and link to these guys. 

3. Create content marketing assets that these external sites are going to want to link to.

4. If you are still looking for link building ideas here are a few more resources to assist you -

http://pointblankseo.com/link-building-strategies

http://backlinks.com.au/10-surefire-link-building-tips-for-2013/

Ivana Katz

Ivana Katz , Owner at Websites 4 Small Business

Thanks James for all your suggestions. Really appreciate your help.
Peter Doyle

Peter Doyle , Managing Director at ChangeXChange Consulting

Hi Ivana

All of the advice given here is excellent. However, there is one intangible. That is, its more about 'gut feel'. You do need to consider relevance, you do need to decide why you want this link or alliance and here come the gut feel - no matter how good the other business is, or for that matter how good the fit is with your business. The over ridding questions for me are- can I work with this person or business? Are the business ethics the same as yours?

I have a few alliances, they work really well - you have to be comfortable working with the people in the business and you have to be sure you can protect your brand image.

Bottom line is if you pass one of your customers/clients to your alliance/link and they mess up, guess who shares the blaim...
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Wendy Huang

Wendy Huang Full Time Blogger and YouTuber at A Custom Blog in 4 Minutes

Hi Ivana,

It's easier to start with who you kind of know or have met in the past already. Put together a list of:

  • Past/current customers
  • Past/current partners
  • Look through all those business cards you have or are going to collect through networking events
  • People you know in business or owns a website

And just simply sent out a polite request to them :) Sometimes just asking helps alot!

You can also try drafting up a polite request and sending it around, who knows you might get some responses :) 

Make sure in your request you tell them how it will help them and what you will give them in return :)

 

Best of luck!

Ivana Katz

Ivana Katz , Owner at Websites 4 Small Business

Great idea. Thanks Wendy ... will ask client to go through his old contact list.
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Trish Fehon

Trish Fehon Online Marketing Expert at Online Influence

I agree with Wendy, it's best to build links with businesses that you know and are related to your niche. there is not much benefit linking to a website that really has nothing to do with your niche - these kind of links can look spammy to Google.  The algorithm Google use is very complex and they are becoming more & more "fussy" about linking.

Ivana Katz

Ivana Katz , Owner at Websites 4 Small Business

Thank you Trish.
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Katherine MacPherson

Katherine MacPherson Principal at The Hunter Box

Go back to your objectives: what's the purpose of the link? Is it to improve your SEO? Then it should be done through genuine content. Creating reciprocal links is certainly valuable, but this is not a sustainable growth plan. Geniune content is the way to go. Check out this article for more information: http://www.thehunterbox.com.au/generate-right-traffic-smart-seo-techniques/

Ivana Katz

Ivana Katz , Owner at Websites 4 Small Business

Awesome. Thanks Katherine.
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