A Few Favorite Links Building Tactics in 2014

With the introduction of Google Panda and Penguin, it seems that search engine optimization has become harder than ever. While it is still as important as ever to optimize your website for the best search engine results possible, it has become harder than ever to nudge your site up the results page. Luckily, there are still many great ways to improve your search results, no matter your keywords. Here are some of the link building tips we can recommend in 2014.

Link Building Tactics 2014

1. Include linking as a term of contract whenever you sign a new contract with a new business partner. Whenever you create a new business relationship, stipulate that your new partner must link to (and you to them) on each of your respective websites.
2.  Don’t forget about the power of old-fashioned public relations. PR professionals can create press releases and get your company media attention, which of course results in positive search engine results.
3. Blogging, although not as trendy as it once was, is still a useful way to raise your online profile. As long as your blog is useful, entertaining and well-written, it will attract readers, whose clicks will translate into results page ratings for you. Once you are blogging, learning more about tagging, commenting, and participating in the larger blogging community will help maximize the SEO potential of your blog.
4.  Make it easy for visitors to your site to link to you. Include a “link to us” button in emails. People will link to your site if they think your site will provide valuable information or resources to their own site’s visitors.
5. Submit your content to an online directory, where it will be published with a link to your site. Avoid obvious content farms, which search engines like Google and Bing tend to assign low ratings to, and aim for good quality directories like Yahoo and MSN.
6. Exchange links with another site. Don’t allow any site to link to yours; make sure all your links are relevant. For example, if you run a site comparing rankings of ideal diamonds, consider exchanging links with some of the many blogs that help men choose perfect rings for their fiancées.
7. Writing and publishing your own e-books can be a great way to get exposure for your site. A short, well-designed e-book or booklet on a subject of your expertise is likely to be linked to as people find it helpful and pass it on to friends and family. These links will accumulate over time to give your website a subtle but meaningful rating boost.
8. They may not be new, but don’t underestimate the power of sweepstakes to boost your website’s profile. People love contests and sweepstakes, and with social media tools, it is easier than ever to spread the word. By raffling off a coveted product to anyone who tweets or posts about your site and includes the link, you get people to link to your site with very little effort.
9. Social media offers the savvy business owner new ways to create inbound links and traffic. Creating long-term relationships through these tools is crucial to maintaining these links and building a steady online presence. Try offering key employees and resident experts (including yourself!) to trade media for expert interviews, and utilize professional social media tools like LinkedIn to get in touch with new contacts in your field.
10. Cause marketing is a great way to get easy media attention, which of course boosts your search results. Sponsor a local charity, donate money to locals schools, or hold a contest for the best idea to improve the neighborhood. Charity projects can be relatively inexpensive considering the significant boost it will give to your search engine results.

Guest post by Whiteflash.com.