Link Building 101: What it is, why you need it, and how to do it
Link building is one of those fancy SEO terms that is commonly misunderstood by coaches, trainers, and all types of small business owners.
That, coupled with the fact that Google is constantly changing its algorithms, and it’s no wonder most wellness professionals are scratching their heads in confusion!
The good news is you don’t have to have a Ph.D. in SEO to understand link building and use it to drive more traffic to your website, find more clients, and increase your business revenue.
Let’s take a look at what link building is, why it’s important for your business, and how to use it in your online marketing.
What is link building, anyway?
Link building is a process whereby hyperlinks to your website are placed on other Internet sites around the web, including social media platforms.
When you write a blog post, and another coach or trainer places a link to your blog post on their website, that is link building.
There are many ways that links to your website can appear elsewhere online.
- You can comment on blogs or participate in forums, including a link back to your website when you do.
- You can write a guest post on someone else’s blog and include a link to your website.
- You can post links to your content on social media.
- Other coaches, trainers, bloggers, and online business owners can share links to your site and include links to your content on their own websites.
Some link building methods are better than others. That is to say, Google has very specific rules about what makes link building good or bad.
This means you should do whatever you can to comply with a set of strict guidelines when developing your link building strategy.
But before I reveal which link building techniques make the Google gods happiest in 2015, let’s talk about why you should be building links in the first place.
Why do I need link building?
Link building is sort of like getting a great referral from a coaching client.
At your gym or in your coaching business, chances are a lot of new clients come to you based on referrals.
When another website links back to your site, it’s their way of telling Google “Hey! I found something really valuable on this website!”
Google takes that “referral” into consideration when deciding how to rank the various pages on your website.
Here’s how it works in the real world:
Let’s say you write two blog posts.
Technique 1:
You promote the first post yourself via social media. You also visit related wellness blogs, comment on those blogs, and include a link back to your original blog post.
Technique 2:
The second blog post includes a healthy-eating infographic. After posting the infographic on Facebook, dozens of bloggers share it and include links back to your website on their sites.
Google views this second type of link building strategy as ideal. The infographic you posted on your site will rank better in search results precisely because other people found it to be valuable.
When used correctly, link building is a powerful way to increase brand visibility, help new clients find you online, and increase revenue in your coaching practice.
But how are you supposed to get other people to link to your site?
How can I use link building to get more clients?
There is a right way and a wrong way to build links online.
The 2012 Google Penguin update forever changed the way SEO experts (and black hat marketers) achieve their link building goals.
In a recent 2015 Google+ Hangout, Google’s resident link building expert, John Mueller, suggested that manual link building is no longer effective because it’s akin to ‘tooting your own horn’ online.
Mueller went on to say that creating high-quality content that others naturally want to share is the #1 way to build links that Google actually likes.
Before Google Penguin, many people would place links to their site on ‘spammy’ websites with low quality content, all in the interest of link building.
Google caught on, however, and now those types of links can actually hurt your ranking.
In order to create the kinds of links that will boost your website ranking in search engines, it’s important to…
- Stop “voting for yourself” by building links back to your own site. Google can tell that it’s you who’s creating these links, and may dock you for it.
- Focus on creating relevant, high-quality content that your clients and prospects will love, and that the owners of other websites are likely to share. This kind of content includes infographics, compelling videos, and long, detailed blog posts that are educational and actionable.
- Share your high-quality content on social media so others can view it and share it with their networks.
- Reach out to other coaches, trainers, and wellness entrepreneurs about guest posting on their blogs. Guest posting is a high-quality, organic way to build links back to your website. It will also allow you to build relationships with others in your field and can open the door to joint ventures and other business opportunities.
Link building helps prospective clients find you online. The easier you are to find, the more clients you’ll get as your visibility and brand authority grow.
But it’s crucial to achieve your link building goals by creating high-quality content. The link building practices of just a few years ago are no longer helpful, and may even harm your page ranking.
So steer clear of outdated tactics like placing links on irrelevant websites, in article directories, or on social bookmarking sites.
Focus instead on creating highly valuable content on a consistent basis and developing relationships with other online entrepreneurs in the health and wellness field.
For more tips on SEO, marketing, and growing your wellness business online, download your FREE Entrepreneur Jump Start Kit by clicking here now: http://johnspencerellis.com.