Inbound links generally increase the value of your website, especially in the eyes of Google and other search engines. They help people to find your website and all that you have to offer. It’s like each inbound link is a vote of confidence to your website.
Link building does not end once the link has been set up. Getting links is one of the most challenging stages in search engine optimization. In fact, getting the link should be the first step in getting a long-term link building strategy.
When someone has heard of you and decided to link to you, most people tend to just congratulate themselves for the inbound link and move on and even forget the one responsible for the inbound link.
The person who helped you should be deserving of your time and attention. Although a thank you might be enough provided that you treat it like the opportunity it really is. Establishing a relationship with them could not only boost your search engine rankings but could also be an opportunity for rich collaborations and businesses.
Now consider these 9 questions when building relationships from sites that are already and may be linked to you:
1. Is their site popular?
When the site is popular, it can be beneficial to you. You can measure the popularity of the site by checking out the inbound links they are getting. When you’ve already know the popularities of the sites, you can then sort them out and start with the most popular.
2. Which sites bring you real traffic?
Review or investigate Google Analytics to find out which of the links are actually bringing you real traffic. When sites bring traffic, it might be because of:
- They’ve talked about your product and have given you a good review.
- Their visitors are also interested in your product.
- They’ve placed your link in a major spot on their site.
- They get high traffics.
3. Do you know how the link got there?
Always remember that it’s people who make links and not websites. Do some research to know who they are and what they do. Try to know the reason of why did they link to you.
4. What social media sites are they active on?
With the growing popularity of social networking, communicating with it is very critical nowadays. Because these people have linked to your website, they can bring in followers and a network of friends who may be interested in what you have to offer.
You can follow them on Twitter, Linkedin, Facebook and many other social networking sites and interact with them. By doing that, you’ll be seeing your network and your inbound links grow.
5. Can you say something great about their site?
Writing a complimentary blog post or making positive comments are “flattery tools” which can be powerful in building relationships. We all love a bit of flattery and as Dale Carnegie said: “Flattery is telling the other person precisely what he thinks about himself”.
6. What linking text do they use?
Linking texts are important in building links. So when the site that linked your website is using the basic ‘click here’, you might have to approach them nicely and suggest that they will use one of your important keywords or linking text in the phrase. Having keywords will strengthen the value of the inbound link.
7. Can you collaborate?
Ask yourself if there are any ways you can collaborate, either in business or in content. Is there something you could do to generate more business or anything that could help each other? Start brainstorming! If there’s a business that will fit between you and the site that links to you, then they are likely to respond any business related propositions you make.
If ever you miss any favour to return for the site that linked to you, you can do so right away. It’s never too late. It’s easy to do a favour for someone. Relationships are the heart of a successful link building. A simple email thanking them and asking them to keep in touch will always do.
Hope you found some value in that…
Ray Baker