What is Link Building and What Does It Mean for Your Marketing Strategy

While it can feel like there’s never enough time or space in the digital world to properly implement a marketing strategy, the truth is that a properly executed plan will not only help you reach your marketing goals but also leave you feeling better about yourself in the process. If your business isn’t yet aware of it, but you are already a part of a link-building movement, then you are already ahead of the curve. The term link-building was coined in 2004 by Joanna Wiebe at Needham & Company to describe an effort to leverage one’s links on social media platforms to build brand awareness and establish a presence within a specific niche market. In essence, link-building is creating content that helps others find relevant information related to your company or industry sector while simultaneously assisting them in finding unique resources. It’s great for businesses who want to build their brands organically by creating and sharing original content with engaging images or videos. It’s also essential for companies who want to target potential customers based on their interest in specific topics or industries.

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What does link-building mean for your marketing strategy?

As you’ve likely realized by now, link-building is the process of creating relevant and useful content, either in the form of blog posts, eBooks, or videos, that are linked on social media platforms and readers’ websites. This means that when a user clicks on one of your links and goes to your website, they are taken to the place where you have tons of valuable information for them. By creating a virtual road map for readers, your links help you get more readers to your site. You are creating a super connection with your visitors (and potential customers) by showing them that you care about what they are interested in.

Using Link Building in Your Marketing Campaign

Remember when we mentioned that link-building is an essential part of marketing that should be implemented as early as possible in your business’s growth? Well, we are almost halfway through the year and we have some pretty amazing news to share with you. In the first quarter of 2019, Google updated its algorithms to penalize websites that don’t follow best practices for SEO. Now, this doesn’t mean that link-building is off the table for your marketing strategies. It simply means that you need to be more strategic with your practices. In order to keep your business’s name and reputation in the meta-search engine results pages (SERPs), you will need to work smarter than ever before.

6 Reasons Why You Should Jump on the Link Building 

Here are 6 reasons why you should jump on the link-building right now: Increased Awareness – You’ve likely experienced this firsthand when saw the surge in traffic to your site as a result of an Amazon or Google partnership. By creating links to your products or services on other websites, you are boosting your site’s visibility and increasing your site’s overall search engine optimization (SEO) power. Website Backlinks – Backlinks are links that appear next to your site’s name in search results pages. They are important because the more highly-ranking your site is, the greater the click-through rate (CTR) and landing page resumés your site will generate. Longer- lasting Links – Long-lasting links are links that appear longer in search results pages. By including links to your site in your marketing strategies, you are boosting your links-to-rank ratio (LTRR). This, in combination with your links’ destinations, will help you build a long-term relationship with site visitors. Increased Social Proof – Social proof refers to the idea that by showing search engines and readers that you have positive reviews or comments about your products or services, you are also showing them that you are a trustworthy and reliable web host.

3 Ways You Can Use Link Building in your Marketing Campaign

Now that we’ve gone over what link-building is and why it’s important for your marketing strategy, let’s take a look at what you can do to implement link-building in your marketing campaigns. Build a relationship with your links – You can’t spam your links, but you should make sure they are relevant and in good standing with your brand. After all, links are a great form of advertising and your links should point back to your site. Build authority with related topics – While you should be creating original content, you should also integrate your links into interesting and relevant content topics. This will further solidify your authority in your niche and will make your links look even more authoritative. Improve your CPM (Cost per Mille/Thousand) – You can boost your CPM (cost per mille/thousand) by creating more relevant links. By adding a link to your site for a home renovation project, for example, you are creating a more engaged and profitable experience for your visitors.

Conclusion

Now that you know what link-building is and how it can benefit your business, it’s time to jump on the link building bandwaggon. By implementing link-building in your marketing strategies, you can create more engagement with your current and new customers, build brand awareness, create better click-through rates (CTRs) for your landing pages, and increase your site’s overall SEO power.