According to 2019 statistics high-quality content and link building are the two most important signals used by Google to rank your website. To add further weight to the importance of link-building, in a survey of SEO’s, 72% believe that backlinking is significant when it comes to ranking. But wait a minute, if online link-building is so important, why do we even need to know about offline link-building?
Online link-building is an effective way to build strong relationships online, but using similar methods offline can be just as valuable. Going to a bloggers event, advertising in local media, getting radio, TV or newspaper coverage, using branded product marketing, business cards and talking at events, can all be a great way to build backlinks whilst also promoting your brand.
There are so many opportunities to gain backlinks away from the online world, your business marketing strategy really could be missing out if you don’t take advantage of offline link-building.
To increase the visibility of your business, you simply need to apply an effective strategy to offline link-building. Don’t know how? No problem. Read on for some easy guidance to making the most of the vast world of offline link-building…
Choosing the best way to pursue Offline Link-Building
Realistically, your business has a ripe world of link-building opportunities that are simply waiting to be cultivated. Of course, that doesn’t mean all of those opportunities will work or that you should fund them.
The best way to try out offline link building is to simply use the next company event that is suitable for these purposes, and measure the results.
In the meantime, we do have some advice to help you prepare for your first offline link-building exploration:
Before the Big Event
“Success depends upon previous preparation, and without such preparation there is sure to be failure.” – Confucius
Confucius was right, you must prepare in order to succeed. This is especially true with planning for your link-building event. What do you want people to share? Try and keep it simple and perhaps have one blog or one landing page that is your target. Once you have that all in line you can:
- Utilise event listing sites local to your event, who will offer extremely reachable link opportunities.
- Consider getting in touch with key influencers in your industry so that they can let their followers know about your event.
- Get in touch with bloggers who are relevant in your industry.
- Decide on incentives so that those helping you build links get something in return
- Examine all potential opportunities during this event to link-build – be creative
Throughout the Big Event
Whether your business hosts the event, or you’re holding a booth, or perhaps speaking at the event, there will be a plethora of opportunities to build links throughout. People love to share where they have been and what they have been doing. Everyone else attending the event will want to demonstrate insider knowledge, gain mutual link building opportunities, or just say they were there. For some events, there’s kudos attached to simply attending. To make the most of the event you could:
- Blog about the event every day to highlight what you have seen, who you have spoken to and your key takeaway from that day
- Anything you share should be sent to or shared with the person organising the event to encourage them to share it with their followers
- Tag or mention industry leaders in your blogs or posts to utilise ‘ego-bait’ which will hopefully persuade them to share
- Speak to everyone. Building relationships is key to both online and offline link-building and every opportunity to network is an opportunity for business growth. Do look sharp and practise those first introductions though, as apparently 72% of people do place great importance on first impressions when networking.
- Use a hashtag to help people in the real world link their experience with you to the digital world
- Promote social interaction on every bit of your marketing
- Don’t be afraid to gently encourage sharing by the way of freebies and goody bags for bloggers or Youtubers in exchange for a mention
Following the Big Event
After the big event a lot of your hard work will have hopefully paid off and you’ll be measuring those results carefully. However, it isn’t totally over just yet. You can still get more links after the event is over. To maximise the opportunities you could:
- Follow up those you connected with via email, linking them to your target page
- Do make sure any new visitors to the target page are able to leave their details so they aren’t just there for the one visit
- Ensure any visitors get maximum value when they do follow links to you. If you spoke at the event, a slideshow, YouTube video or detailed overview will certainly help
- Ask any current contacts to share your content
- Keep a close eye on the results and note any particularly successful ones to build future relationships or attempt to replicate those results next time
“A Pessimist Sees The Difficulty In Every Opportunity; An Optimist Sees The Opportunity In Every Difficulty.” – Winston Churchill
Wrapping up
Offline link-building is not necessarily easy but it can be an entire area of untapped potential when it comes to your business outreach efforts. With some planning, creativity and strategy, your business can benefit greatly from offline link-building.
To talk about your strategies for promoting your website, whether they are on or off line why not give us a call. MaxWeb have been building and promoting websites for many years and our experts are ready to talk to you. Please call us on 0151 652 4777 or email info@maxwebsolutions.co.uk to find out more.
Posted on Tuesday, July 16th, 2019 in SEO.
