One of the best ways to future proof your online business is to diversify your online backlinks. Relying solely on one traffic source puts your business at the risk of unexpected Google updates, sudden changes in PPC costs and more. When it comes to web traffic, putting all your eggs in one basket is the worst thing you can do.
This article will walk you through six actionable steps to helping you generate high-quality
traffic to your website from multiple sources:
Step 1. Implement Google’s Authorship Program.
Google’s Authorship markup is a great trust indicator for both users and the search engines. The process is very simple and once you’re done, your blog posts will appear in the search results along with your profile image, a link to your Google+ account, the number of Google+ circles you are in and a link to more of your posts.
A study conducted by the marketing agency Catalyst revealed that rich snippets can increase Click-through-Rate by an amazing 150%. The Authorship markup also prepares your website for the future, once Google starts using AuthorRank as a ranking factor in the SERPs.
Step 2. Get Links From Other Websites.
- Blog Directories – Blog directories (e.g. EzineArticles) are a great way to promote your website. Make sure to submit your site to at least the top 20 directories available. A simple Google search on “the best blog directories” will provide you enough information to get started.
- Guest Posting – Search for established websites in your niche and offer to write guest posts for them. It helps build a reputation as their readers gradually become your own audience. You can search for blogs accepting guest posts at MyBlogGuest, Guestr and BlogDash.
- Social Media – Each time you publish a new article, make sure to post it on your social media channels: Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn, StumbleUpon and Google+. BufferApp, HootSuite and Bitly are some of the best social media management tools for sharing content across multiple platforms.
- Videos – Create a short video that includes your product’s benefits and a strong call to action. Then, publish it on YouTube, Metacafe, DailyMotion or Vimeo to allow different types of users to find it.
- Blogs and Forums – Look for the most popular blogs and forums in your niche and join the conversation. Once you get a feel of the community, you can begin replying to people’s questions and provide tips. This will build trust and help you be perceived as an expert.
- Document Sharing – Create a valuable whitepaper, report, e-book, or presentation, add links back to your site and publish your content on sharing sites like Scribd, Docstoc, Slideshare and Issuu. See this as a log-term investment, where you educate your audience and help them get to know your products. Plus, being published on such authority sites will increase brand authority and trust.
Step 3. Leverage Influencers In Your Niche.
A great way to create leverage for your website is to link to top influencers in your niche as often as you can. Make a list of the most successful people in your industry and try to link to their site in each of your posts.
Realtime is a real-time content discovery tool powered by Bitly that monitors all the clicks that are going through the URL shortener and shows the links that are being clicked on the most. This helps you to cut through the noise and find the hottest posts in your niche in real time.
RTIROnline provides a great resource where you can find authors available for live and in-studio interviews. You can also search for influencers using FollowerWonk and Topsy, the former being especially useful in finding older, but extremely popular posts.
Once you’ve created a list of experts, reach out to them ad request an interview. This will give you the huge benefit of having the experts’ popularity reflected back on your website and thus boost your credibility.
Summing Up
There are many ways to increase your backward link count, you just have to be creative and stay away from link farms and other black hat strategies. There’s no shortcut to long-term success and the more natural you increase your backlinks, the higher the traffic quality and people reading your site.
