What do you know about backlinks?
You always see the word “backlinks” when it comes to SEO. Every SEO guide created stresses the importance of backlinks. And if you practice SEO for any time, it is common knowledge that backlinks will boost your page ranking on Google.
If you’re a business, backlinks are exactly what you need. Most businesses struggle to generate buzz and traffic for their business. The next possible step could be to purchase ads.
Yes, that might work, but why would you spend money when backlinking is a FREE technique that you can utilize to generate organic traffic at absolutely no cost to you? Backlinks will introduce your brand to a new audience, increase your Google ranking, and generate more traffic for your website.
But how can you easily get backlinks?
That’s the billion-dollar question. Let me teach you. All I need from you is 15 minutes of your day, so you can unlock the secrets digital marketers use to create backlinks and help businesses like yours grow. I’ll guide you through the whole process of finding backlink opportunities, how to contact the website owners, and creating your pitch that will be approved.
I bet you’re interested now, so let’s get started.
Guest Posting
Guest posting is exactly what it sounds like. You post an article or content on a person’s website as a guest, preferably on a website within the same niche.
Guest posting does help generate traffic to the website owner, but there are some potential benefits for you as a guest poster.
Guest posting allows you to get your content to a new audience that may never have heard of your company before. This will help you create relationships with other companies. Once you have landed one guest posting on their website, they are more likely to have you come back. This will increase your backlinks.
You will definitely increase your reputation if people see that other companies like what you are offering and what you have to say about your particular niche. You will look like a leading source of knowledge on the subject.
There are plenty of guest posting opportunities. Here’s an example. OnCrawl is a digital marketing website and they actively search for new SEO content. If I want to guest post on their website, I would find their guest post tab and fill out their form.
Now that you know what guest posting can help you with, here’s how you can create backlink opportunities.
Strategy 1: Ask Google!
Google has the answer to everything. Whenever I have a question I would simply ask Google. In your case, you’re trying to find guest posting opportunities. But you need to figure out the best way to ask Google in order to obtain the best results.
The best way to ask Google is to type these into its search bar and when you hit “search” you will definitely see millions of guest posting opportunities.
[Your Topic] guest post
[Your Topic] submit an article
[Your Topic] bloggers wanted
You can try each of these phrases to find different opportunities.
Once you decide on the website that you want to guest post on, find the section where they are requesting guest blogs. You can typically find this by going onto their blog tab and scroll to the bottom. There should be a section that says “Are you an expert in [Your Topic]? Want to write for [Website’s] blog as a guest blogger? Learn more.” or some kind of variation of this. Click on it and you will be directed to a page that contains their guest post guidelines and a simple form to fill out.
The form would ask you for basic information like your name, email, company, subject, and a small pitch. The pitch allows you to present your idea. Don’t hold back. The pitch section is where you want to wow the website’s editorial team, so they would approve your application. Once you’re done, you submit your application and you will receive a confirmation email shortly. Typically, you would have to wait at least a week in order to be approved or not.
Some websites are even easier and do not require you to send them a pitch. They might simply need some examples of your content. If you have a website with some established content written by you, then you will be approved in no time.
Estimated Time of Completion: 15 minutes
Strategy 2: Take Advantage of Guest Posting Lists.
People love lists and you should too. There are billions of list articles.
But how can this possibly help you with guest blogging?
Well, if you go on Google and search “top [Your Niche] guest blogs”, you will be provided with an endless list of potential guest blogging opportunities. Not all of them will accept your guest posts, but it provides you with a great starting point.
I just did this for my marketing niche and the first link provided me with 28 guest blogging sites. That’s 28 places where I could ask for backlinks. It’s that easy. Imagine how many opportunities are there for your niche.
Estimated Time of Completion: 5 minutes
Strategy 3: Utilize Social Media
Everyone uses social media like Facebook to entertain themselves or kill some time. But what if I tell you that using social media to find guest blogging opportunities is our next technique.
Twitter is definitely a place that most people either are unaware of or undervalue the power of Twitter. It’s an area where people share the latest news, what they like, and their opinions.
You simply go on Twitter search and type in “[Your Niche] Guest Blogging” or any other similar variation and you will find guest blogging opportunities. Twitter is great because it is normally updated faster than Google. This means you will find blogs that are actively searching for guest posts.
Try messing around with the categories of “top” or “latest” on the bar above. In my opinion, these two fields generate the best results. What’s tough about searching through Twitter is that you might experience some spam or irrelevant posts. You would need to take your time and sift through the numerous posts, but you will definitely encounter some gems.
You can compile a list while you are scrolling down checking out all of the posts. Then you can apply to each of them.
Estimated Time of Completion: 15 Minutes
Strategy 4: Make Friends
You were taught since childhood that making friends is beneficial. Well, this isn’t preschool, but making friends will impact your efforts in finding guest blogging opportunities and backlinking.
Make sure to engage with your audience in the comments section. These people are actively engaging and interested in the same niche as your business. Often times, the people commenting have their own websites.
Maybe the next person you chat with will offer you a guest posting spot on their website.
Once you discover that a known blogger is interacting with your content, they are warm to your ideas and understand that you are producing great content. Therefore, they will more likely accept your guest posts. Be proactive and reach out to them.
There’s no specific “time of completion” when it comes to this. You should always be actively engaging your audience. Set aside 30 minutes in your day and respond to your audience.
Estimated Time of Completion: 30 Minutes
Strategy 5: Reverse Image Search
Reverse image searching will make you feel like a spy. This strategy requires you to find someone that writes a lot of guest blogs. If you are actively reading blog posts for your niche, a couple of familiar names will pop up in your mind right about now.
First, you will need to find a picture of the blogger. You can find their picture in the bio section of their post which is most likely found at the bottom of the article. Then copy the image’s URL and paste it on Google’s reverse image search. You can also simply left-click on their image and select “Search Google for Image”. You will see a list of websites this particular author has posted. That was super easy! Now you would only need to find their “Write for us” section and apply.
This technique is definitely fast, but just like the first strategy on this list, the longest part is waiting for approval by the website editors.
Estimated Time of Completion: 2 Minutes
What to Include in Your Guest Post Content
Now that you have learned how to find guest posting opportunities, you have to write content for them. As you can see in the strategies above, simply finding guest posting opportunities is easy and only takes 30 minutes at most, but creating approval-worthy content will take the brunt of your time.
Here are some tips to create content that will be accepted by any blog.
Before you write any content, remember that guest blogging means that you are posting on someone’s website. You should prioritize writing high-quality content that they can’t say no to. It needs to be content that adds value to their blog. Don’t focus solely on creating backlinks. The website owners can spot the difference and might not allow your content to see the light of day on their website.
Now that you have the right mentality there are some simple rules to make good guest blog content.
1. Only submit original content. The website doesn’t want to have content that is stolen from other blogs. This will look bad on them, but most importantly on you. Once you are labeled as a thief, it’s hard for that website to forgive you.
2. Know the blog’s content. It is your job to research what their audience likes and doesn’t like. If your content is tailored to the guest blog website, your chances to be featured there will skyrocket.
3. Write well! Blog hosts will be salivating over your content if they are written beautifully. Everybody wants to add well-written content to their website. That’s a no brainer.
4. Don’t overemphasize your brand. This includes constant backlinks to your own website.
And this is the most important rule: Follow the rules. The blog owners have established rules and most likely physically wrote them down on their “Guest Post Wanted” landing page. Follow these rules and the ones I stated above and I believe you will have a high chance of getting your content on a guest blog website.
Broken Link Building
Broken link building is one of my favorite techniques because you can score some easy backlinks.
Not every website knows that their links are broken. If a reader sees that a link is invalid, the website loses some credibility. This simply looks bad and ruins the entire reading experience.
Websites hate this and love to fix this issue whenever it appears. They will definitely appreciate it if you notify them of this problem. This is where you can swoop in and suggest your content to replace this empty void.
Everyone wins. You get a backlink and they fix their issue.
Broken link building is better than other backlink techniques because you are the one to offer a helping hand. Most of the time you are the one that has to reach out and ask for a favor. In this case, you have the power.
Here are 2 options to find a broken link.
Strategy 1: Chrome Extension
I would suggest using Ahref’s tool to search for broken links, however, this is a paid tool. Let’s stick with free tools. You can keep your credit card in your pocket this time.
A free alternative is to use a Google Chrome extension called Check My Links.
Using this Chrome extension, you would need to first find relevant sites within your niche. Then the extension will tell you which links are broken.
Click on the extension on the right-hand corner of your Chrome browser and the extension will instantly highlight valid links in green and invalid links in red. It will also display the number of valid or invalid links in the corner, so you would know exactly how many invalid links that you can help the website owner fix.
The extension does have its problems of taking up valuable time due to tedious website researching, but it is a free tool that you can utilize.
Estimated Time of Completion: 15 Minutes
Strategy 2: Wikipedia
The second broken link technique you could utilize is with Wikipedia. Everyone uses Wikipedia and they would often link to it resulting in many links for one page. Wikipedia has a high density of links, therefore there’s a higher chance of having broken links. This is just simple math.
In order to find broken Wikipedia links, you would first go on Google and type: site:wikipedia.org [Your Niche] intext:“dead link”. This will produce a list of Wikipedia sites with at least one broken link.
Scroll down to the reference section on the bottom of every Wikipedia page and you’ll find the broken link when you see “Dead Link” next to the URL.
I don’t recommend replacing that link with yours because Wikipedia takes editing their pages seriously. If you do change it, Wikipedia generally removes your link within a couple of hours.
If this link is broken, it is also broken on other websites. Now with that broken link in hand, you can go to Neil Patel’s tool, Ubersuggest or others like it and you can find additional websites that have used this broken link.
First, go to the menu section and click the backlink tab.
Then you can paste the Wikipedia acquired link onto the search bar. Remember to switch on “URL Exact URL” and click search.
This will spit out a list of websites that uses the same link.
YOU HIT THE JACKPOT!
Get to it. You have a lot of websites to contact about their broken links.
For both of the strategies, remember to offer them something similar to the broken link. Voila! You’ve done it. That’s how you find and fix a broken link for a backlink in return.
You can find what the article was supposed to look like by pasting it into archive.org. Although you can copy the old link, I definitely don’t recommend it. Instead, you should use it as a template in building something even better.
Estimated Time of Completion: 45 Minutes
Reclaim Your Links
You might be losing out on easy backlinks without you noticing.
Some websites might mention you or your company without linking back to you. But don’t worry because this problem has an easy solution.
First, find any mentioning of your company that is not linked back to you.
Then you email them asking to link back to you.
It is that easy. Most of the time, the author would say yes and that’s another easy backlink.
BuzzSumo is a tool that can help you find any mentions of your company. Use it to check if they linked back to you and if not send them an email.
This little technique helps you create backlinks without a lot of effort.
Bonus Tip: If you have great infographics, people probably used them in their content. To reclaim your infographics, you can use Google’s reverse image search to find a list of websites that are using your infographics.
Estimated Time of Completion: 15 Minutes
Write Your Pitch
Now that you know how to find backlink opportunities, it is time for you to pitch to them.
Emailing a stranger is intimidating at first, but the worst thing that can happen is that they will shut down your idea. There’s always a chance that they will say yes and you can get a free backlink. Don’t be afraid to take advantage of this chance.
With practice, pitching your backlinking ideas will definitely become easier. It is just like lifting in the gym. In the beginning, you can only lift a measly 5-pound dumbbell, but if you put time into it and practice consistently, you can one day look like Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Now that you are ready, how do you write your pitch?
First, you would need to master the subject line. It doesn’t matter how great your email is if the recipient doesn’t click to open your email.
There is no right way of writing a subject line. Make sure you write something that will catch your reader’s attention. Don’t let them discard it as spam.
The body is the second most important part of your email. This is where you do the bulk of your pitch. Approach it in a friendly manner, but always remember to state what is in it for them. Provide immense value because, at the end of the day, people are selfish. They need to know what benefits them.
The entire purpose of the pitch is to suggest to them a better alternative and see if they will return the favor with a backlink.
Remember to keep it short and simple. Your reader doesn’t have all day, so don’t take up a lot of their time.
Here’s a template that you can follow.
It’s easier to pitch a backlink if it is for fixing a broken link because the website has a problem and you have a solution. The pitch is different, but you can still follow the tips above.
Here’s a template for a broken link pitch.
Don’t be discouraged if they ignore your email or reject your request. There are plenty more backlink opportunities out there. Continue honing your backlinking skills and I will guarantee that someone will say yes.
Estimated Time of Completion: 60 Minutes
LIGHTNING ROUND!
Here are some easy backlinking tips. They might be short and simple, but not a lot of people are aware of these techniques. This will definitely add some value to your backlinking arsenal.
Don’t scroll too fast or you might miss out on these great tips!
1. Write Great Content.
I can’t stress this enough. Remember to write great content. Content that is written beautifully and adds value because people will be more inclined to backlinking your content. Check for misspellings, grammar errors, and readability. If you have great content, social shares and backlinks will come to you naturally.
2. Case Studies
People love facts and numbers. Create case studies for your niche. Don’t forget to do research, acquire data, and prove results. Blogs often link case studies to help prove that their content is accurate and supported by facts.
3. Join a Podcast
Podcasts are definitely a popular trend in 2019 and they aren’t going away. People are no longer just interested in written content. Audio content has recently gained a lot of buzz. Let’s use this as an advantage for you. Join a podcast. Often times, the person will establish a backlink for you and give you a shoutout.
If you are knowledgeable in your field, why not reach out to podcasts in your niche? You get a chance to teach people something new and increase your company’s exposure at the same time.
4. Create Your Own Guest Blog
In one of the techniques above, a great way to gain a backlink is to find some guest blogging opportunities. Now you can switch roles. It’s time for you to create your own guest blog. You’ll get fresh new content for your audience to read. It’s also a no brainer that the guest blog posters on your blog would share your website on their social media and website.
Conclusion
It is your turn to practice. It is difficult at first, but with enough practice, you can easily create multiple backlinks in a day.
Backlinks help to spread the word of your business. With every backlink you create, you have the potential to bring thousands of new potential customers to your website. Isn’t that enough for you?
You don’t need to be an excellent writer to create backlinks. You just need to go out there and try.
What is one of your backlinking strategy that you use the most?