link building tactics

This article accompanies Ken's talk to Search Marketing Expo, London, 15th November 2007. Power Point here.

So what exactly is cutting edge? Looking to dictionary definitions, two main meanings emerge:

* In accord with the most fashionable ideas or style

* The latest or most advanced stage: the forefront.

When these coincide, great but of course, they are not necessarily the same thing. The most fashionable idea this year is social marketing, the most fashionable last year would have been link bait.

For me, cutting edge is all about doing what works. As this relates to link building, my definition of cutting edge would be "when marketing, public relations and SEO/link building work together to a common strategy".

So marketing sets out the business objectives, public relations garners news coverage, link building generates an online buzz and permanent high quality links, SEO makes sure the website is optimised with content that will turn those links into search engine traffic. The borders between each of these elements is blurred, of course, but when they work together the synergy can produce outstanding results.

This is particularly true for large corporate sites where these three disciplines may be managed separately and the potential business gains are missed.

Many large brands and corporate websites have thousands of links pointing to them. But does that mean they can say 'job done' and turn their attention to something more important? I don't think so.

Having thousands of links is a great starting point. But using those links effectively to meet business objectives and grow revenue is the important goal - and that task is ongoing.

There are six important objectives you should address when you have thousands of links. Here they are:

1. Use your link power effectively

Most of your link power will come into your home page and it is then distributed through the pages to which you choose to link. How do you currently decide what to link to? Is it purely on departmental grounds, or is it done to boost the search engine performance of pages critical to your business success?

2. Find out who links to you now - and who brings you traffic

Doing detailed link analysis is an essential foundation of your link building strategy. You need to know which sectors your links are coming from, and you need to know which of those links are bringing you relevant, referred traffic.

3. Get the most out of what you already have

Making sure that you get as much as you possibly can from your existing links is the next step.

Here are the tactics you should consider:

* Encourage deep links to specific content - so if a quality site links to your home page, drop them a quick email, pointing out the URLs of specific content they might find attractive.

* Ask directly for keyword rich links - the website has already linked to you so they probably see you in a positive light and may respond to a request to use specific linking text.

* Explore relationships, business or otherwise - starting a conversation and exploring how you might work together for mutual benefit can produce spectacular results

* Consider joint publications - if you find the right partner, publishing a joint publication can be of great benefit.

4. Look at market segments where you're weak

A detailed link analysis will always show market segments where your presence is not as high as you would like it to be. If these weak segments are important to your business, you need to do something about it. Here are tactics to use:

* Carry out keyword research for the segment in order to understand what people are looking for

* Search on Google using the most important keywords and identify authority sites that publish good content

* Write a few test articles - both for publication on your own site and to target the authority sites you've identified

* Explore business and other relationships as described above.

* If the potential of the market segment justifies it, consider creating customised product offerings

* Use public relations to establish your position.

5. Look for emerging markets

Clues for emerging markets can come from anywhere. Read as widely as you can and try and absorb anything that suggests a trend. Books such as Microtrends by Mark J. Penn can be a rich source of inspiration in this area.

The tactics I'd use are exactly the same as in number 4 above with the addition of one important task - gather evidence to confirm that the emerging market actually exists and is relevant to your business.

6. Plan initiatives for the year ahead
The secret to success is always to have a plan in place. This should cover the next 12 months as a minimum: include the business objectives that you're trying to achieve, the important targets, the content that you'll have to create and the link building actions that you'll have to undertake.