Link building. Ever heard of it? If your Fort Collins business has ever engaged in SEO or search engine marketing, you know link building can be a secret weapon for success...but you also know that it’s no easy task. Kicking off a link-building campaign for your small business can increase your overall domain authority, letting Google know you’re legitimate and spreading the word about your company online. But, if even the big companies find link-building challenging, should your small company even give it a shot? Of course—and here’s how you can make the most of your efforts.
7 Link Building Tactics for Small Business (That Work!)
When you’re a small business you have limited time and resources. You likely don’t have an SEO specialist in-house, so you’ll need to make sure that any time you devote to link building is spent on tactics that...well...actually work. Here are 7 link-building tactics that have proven successful time and time again (especially for small, local businesses).
1. Sponsor a charity
Local charitable organizations and even big-name nonprofits are always looking for sponsors. Reach out to a local charity and see how your small business can get involved. Often, sponsors will end up linked to the charity website—making them a perfect backlink candidate. Also, working with charity events, you also open up the opportunity for your business to be featured in a news article—again, another opportunity for reputable backlinks.
2. Run a scholarship
Schools and universities are typically online under an Edu web address. These web addresses carry a lot more weight from a domain authority perspective than, let’s say, a standard [dot] com web address. Running a scholarship and sharing the information with the schools is a great way to give back to your local community and gain backlinks. Just make sure the scholarship you run is relevant to your industry—aka an HVAC company that wants to send students to local community colleges for technician training. Once you have a scholarship winner, you can also reach out to local newspapers and have them run the story for additional backlinks.
3. Reach out to influencers
Social media influencers that also have blogs are a great way to attain backlinks, too. Engage with local influencers on a regular basis online. Follow them on social media and subscribe to their blog. Building a genuine relationship here can go a long way. Eventually, consider them for an influencer campaign and have them post about your business or products on their blog. Any backlinks you receive can add to your overall domain authority score.
4. Write for industry-relevant sites
Guest blogging for industry-relevant sites is another great way to attract attention and showcase your expertise on a specific topic. For example, if you’re in the home remodeling industry, seek out a popular design blog or magazine and submit a sample topic. Find out who to contact for regular entries and see what the process is for guest writing on their site. If you don’t have a writer on staff, you can always find an SEO freelancer online for a one-off project.
5. Create case studies
Did you recently remodel for a local influencer? Did your team just install a commercial HVAC unit in a local business? Was it a smashing success? Blog about it or create a case study. Include links to the local business you worked with and the manufacturers of the products you used, too. Often brands and businesses will link to your feature as a way to say thanks...and it also gives you a backlink.
6. Reclaim unlinked mentions
This might be the easiest link-building tactic for small businesses. All you have to do is set up a free Google Alert for your company by name and web address. Whenever a website mentions your local business positively without including a link to your site, contact them. Simply say “hi, we noticed you mentioned [your brand name goes here] on your website. Would you mind adding a link to [insert keywords here]? Thanks!” Most websites will be happy to oblige.
7. Promote your content
You’re sharing your content (aka blog posts and landing pages) via social media, sure, but what else can you be doing to improve your domain authority? Syndicate your content, too. Post your blogs across the web with links back to your site, too. Using platforms like Medium or LinkedIn, you can rewrite compelling blog posts and add a link back to your website to support your link-building efforts.
Choose Beyond Blue Media for Full-Service Digital Marketing in Fort Collins
Domain authority is important, but link building (the process by which you improve your DA score) takes time, effort, and determination. Need help? Choose Beyond Blue Media. We offer digital marketing services in Fort Collins and beyond aimed at improving the online authority of your local businesses. Give us a call today at 970-691-6149 or contact us online.
Located in Fort Collins, we also provide full-service digital marketing for local and large-scale businesses throughout Northern Colorado and specifically in the following areas: Fort Collins, Loveland, Ault, Greeley, Denver, Windsor, Boulder, and Longmont.
