Creative Link Building Techniques for Your Website

Digital PR and connection building is an evolving industry, so what worked a few years ago may not necessarily work today. Although many of Link building techniques are still applicable today. This article is based on the recent research conducted with entrepreneurs about the other strategies they use to build high authority links to their sites.

Here are their souvenirs based on strategies they use to build high authority links to their sites:

Use the 'scholarship' effect

One of the most popular trends of recent times is scholarships. This is a variant of the 'local sponsorship' strategy I mentioned in my previous post - only much more effective. The scholarship angle basically works like this: Each year, your company announces between $500 and $1,000 in scholarships for students in your local community.

This announcement is posted on the External Scholarship Opportunities pages of all your local university websites, and as a result you receive valuable .edu links to your website. Brian Stumbaugh of Startup Garage says his company routinely secures 40 to 50 links to each of their client websites using this technique.

Do the legwork of the journalists for them

This is one of the most legitimate ways to get coverage from high authority websites. The technique involves investigating the types of "interesting" stories reported in certain media, and then creating your own unique studies and research that journalists in those media find interesting.

Marcus Roberts, owner of Mirador Wealth, a financial advisory firm, reports on a recent study conducted by his team members in which they asked 100 randomly selected individuals from each of the 50 American states how they would spend $1 million. The results of the study were so interesting that media such as Huffington Post, Investopedia and MarketWatch reported on them.

Correct any misinformation

As a bootstrapped entrepreneur, you may not have enough resources to be quoted in major media. But you could use your expertise to correct misinformation about these publications and gain recognition for it. Eric Brantner of CutCableToday told me that he recently discovered some discrepancies in a GeekWire post and wrote a blog post with the corrected information. He then shared this blog with the author of GeekWire.

This promptly gave him a link from the original article that referred to his article on the same topic. To standardize this process, Brantner recommends that you create a Google Alert for all your standard industry conditions so that you are notified of the latest industry articles. This way, every time you come across an article that contains incorrect information, you can post a blog post with the correct information on your site. Next: Notify the original authors of the errors on their site.

Target the 'Media coverage' page

A number of new product releases have a press or "media mention" page where they proudly share links to all the rave reviews their product has received from various users. According to digital marketing strategist, Kevin O' Brien, a good way to build links is to review such products on your website and inform the target company of the new review. O' Brien points to a review of Quuu, a social media enhancement tool that earned his company a mention on the Quuu press page.

Don't forget about HARO

Unlike the other ideas mentioned above, the "Help a Reporter Out" service for earning links is a fairly well-known strategy. But how effective is HARO? Last year, Kari DePhillips, the owner of The Content Factory, conducted an experiment in which she "pushed hard on HARO"; the result was that out of 21 pitches, she could be quoted and linked 11 times (not to mention the link from the same article that happened after she responded to my HARO request).

DePhillips points out that while it is difficult to quantify the effort in dollars, the more than 100 links she has acquired through HARO in six years have contributed significantly to the success of her company's online content strategy.