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Why you need back links, and how to create them.

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Why you need back links, and how to create them!

Back links are the URL links which point back to your content from other online locations - these are really important to building up your position in the results in any search engine displays. Many businesses already know that the first page results are the most viewed of any search result. So appearing high up in the page one results (page ranking) is paramount to getting the chance to have visitors view your site and the content and products you display there.

Linking your content through various ways to help the search engines understand what your content is about, who it is aimed at and what amount of relevant information it contains, are key to helping these visitors find your content in their top search results.

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Why you need back links, and how to create them.

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Why you need back links, and how to create them!

So what does this mean for anyone looking to create and distribute content? Simple – you will need an organic approach to building your links which best uses the topic of the content to help you decide which places to link this to for better relevance and positioning in the search engines. The short version of which is – ‘It will take some time and effort – but your results will be easy to sustain in the long run’.

They are called back links because you often work backwards from your starting point (your website, landing page, blog article or status update). You tend to finish the piece of content you want people to find, then work out methodically to place links to the content through other blogs, websites, adverts, articles, comments, images, advice in forums, etc. To make your content fit into what your visitors are ultimately looking

Warning – your content and links need to be relevant to the search and information people will want to see from their enquiries. Recent updates to Google algorithm since 2011 have been done to remove the links from crafty marketers who seek to game the results and use automated systems to put content in the wrong places in order to make it appear in the search results.

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Why you need back links, and how to create them.

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How to build back links

You need to start small and work outwards. You will need to create a network of links that best suit your content and which will allow for a proper flow of traffic back to your website. An example of this – if you have a cooking product, you will likely have a website which will sell your product. In order to help maximise your sales you need more viewers who will be interested in this type of product.

If your website is relatively new, it is unlikely that you will be getting a vast amount of visitors just at the moment. To increase the visitors to your site you will have to promote your content (be this product reviews, comparison tests, articles about the benefits of your products or the cooking industry, news and up to date information about cooking issues and information.

All these types of content can be put out to other sites which are also in this industry. So you need to look for how to build links to your site - from sites which best represent the kind of product and information you have.

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Why you need back links, and how to create them.

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A Step by step work flow for building back links

Follow this worksheet to understand and develop your own link building strategy. You can use this to expand your potential readership of the content you are producing or you can work through methodically to create back links to your main content piece.

We need to build links in a top down fashion. This means we don’t just take a load of links and point them at our single piece of online content like the image on the right...

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Why you need back links, and how to create them.

www.marketingwu.com

A Step by step work flow for building back links

This used to be a favourite technique used be marketing people to try and manipulate the search engine results – so this way of building links is not a pattern which would grow organically. Many search engines will reduce sites like this as they are not deemed relevant to the information sources. These kind of techniques impact your site in a negative way.

Organically grown links work in a different way.

Search engines analyse how people interact and share information online, and they look for the patterns this sharing creates. ‘Single links directly to your site never really appear natural’.What tends to happen is that someone will see something relevant to them and link to this, post it as an article link or share it via social media platforms (Twitter, Facebook,etc). People will then like, re-tweet, re-post or comment on this information and the links will be shared in a different manner out to different people.

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Why you need back links, and how to create them.

www.marketingwu.com

A Step by step work flow for building back links

This layer of information in turn, will be commented on, re-linked, liked or blogged about in a slightly different pattern still. So your original concentrated information will be watered down with other information and text on each layer of interaction these links receive.

In order to build strong links back to our site we need to help dilute the content on different layers which then link to sub layers and so on. So what you get is something which will look a little like this diagram.

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Why you need back links, and how to create them.

www.marketingwu.com

A Step by step work flow for building back links

The red dot at the top is your content that you want people to reach. You need to help create links to this which strengthen the search ranking and allow people to flow to this content from any subsequent links which they find.

The orange dots would be the first few links. These could be:1 An article on your blog which discusses your main content2 A video of your product or service on YouTube 3 A guest post on another blog that is relevant to your content

The next level of links would be to these three first links. - Comments from readers/viewers- Social media updates which contain your links - Articles which use your content as a source for discussion/content

This layer building can then be carried on to the next layer, and the next, and the next.

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Why you need back links, and how to create them.

www.marketingwu.com

Prepare yourself for a slow progress to begin with.

Much of link building organically is done by other people interacting with your content. This can take time, but then the search engines need to see you are linked to over time, not just trying to make quick links to cheat their systems.

You can help speed up the process, by taking a proactive approach to link building to encourage this interaction. This will require time and effort on your part, but is a great way to help establish new links to your content.This approach would be:

- Guest article writing on other people’s websites relevant to your own- Starting an email list and offering content out to your subscribers- Participating in forums for your target market or business area- Building a community of active participants- Creating free article pages and adding content related to your main content- Creating videos that offer information about your topic or business content- Answering frequently asked questions on your business field- Engaging with people on social media sites- Offering the latest news and issues relating to your industry

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Why you need back links, and how to create them.

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Prepare yourself for a slow progress to begin with.

Some of these are direct online marketing techniques (free article sites, email lists), some are more indirect (forums and answering FAQ’s). But all should serve to help your link to your sites become placed into the content or the writer biography so that people who like your content and information can follow through to see more of what you offer.

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Why you need back links, and how to create them.

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Ideas for link buildingIf you are stuck for more ideas on what to do next, then try these:

- Create a top 5 list article about products or services in your industry. These need to be relevant to people who would view your content, and not necessarily about trying to sell your product. You want to be able to offer well informed and unbiased information to help people solve a problem they may have around the top 5 criteria.

- Create a single page of links which go through to trusted sites and leading figures of your industry or topic. Give a brief explanation about why this site is useful to your visitors. Pages or useful resources tend to get shares or posted as social media links. i.e. 30 best sites to read about cooking, the 10 best sites to read before you start your online business, etc.

- Interview someone important to your field. They will often use social media to tell people of the interview they just did, so make it informative and good to read. You can email people through their websites or contact details online that are visible to the general public. You may need to follow up with a few people in case some people do not respond. Don’t be put off, just try to keep the people you interview related to your content.

- Create joint content with someone else in your position. Growing online is hard for everyone, so see if you can partner with someone who can bring in something that you think you may lack around your content or topic. That way you are both promoting links to twice the effect of the layers we discussed earlier.

- Start a social media account in your chosen field and help put as much information that is relevant to your followers, try adding your link in to articles you produce or offers to your products and services.

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Why you need back links, and how to create them.

www.marketingwu.com

Conclusion - You need to build more than just links.

Link building is a great way to get your content found, increase your potential visitors and readership or just allow people to access the information you feel is important.

But remember to try to work in a method that supports the content you produce. Link building without the relevant links and locations is not going to improve your search engine results. In fact, you will likely be penalised for not having relevant content and lose your placing in the higher pages ranks and results for search of this topic.

Stay relevant and work for a long term successful link building strategy. This will undoubtedly strengthen your results for long term success, and it should protect you from any negative effects from updates to search engine algorithms. As these will be made to help keep search results related to specific content and links as they can be.

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Why you need back links, and how to create them.

www.marketingwu.com

Conclusion - You need to build more than just links.

Depending on the amount of feedback and comments you get from your visitors, you can look to engage these people in order to help build a community around what you do.

This is a great way to build links to your site. Active discussions and social media ‘Buzz’ all help your content, and many links can be made from this type of activity.

At the end of the day – you need to try to build your reputation and most importantly you need to build trust. This will all help your links to be trusted, viewed and shared as your visitors will be able to see how useful your information is, and the search engines will see the activity around your content and links as relevant – and thus help promote your content better for their end users.

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What next ...

Marketing Wu is all here to help small business, entrepreneurs and boot-strappers create and develop their online content.

You can find out more by visiting: www.marketingwu.com

Or by following me on Twitter @marketingwu

What to do next.?.. Please feel free to forward this information to anyone who you think would find it useful and interesting. It can be useed as social media links and content for your blogs. But please remember to credit me and add a link to my site (see below).

www.marketingwu.com

This tutorial is not for sale, and is offered for free under the creative commons licence. Please remember to offer a link back to my website : http://www.marketingwu.com referencing Marketing Wu as the creator of this content. Many thanks in advance! Robin

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