If your website’s traffic is lagging behind that of your competitors—or if you’ve only recently launched your business into the digital dimension—you need to know about link building. The simple definition of link building is when external websites link back to a page on your website. This helps to guide traffic to your website from that external site and can boost your website to a better rank on search engine results pages. This might seem simple enough at first glance, but accomplishing effective link building can be quite challenging and time-intensive.

Obtaining Referral Traffic

Getting referral traffic from one website to your own is one possible way of increasing your customer base. This is most effective when the two linked websites are relevant to each other, as it is more likely to result in a sale. For example, let’s say you’ve created a website to market your gardening tool company. An effective link would be between your page on your ergonomic trowel and an external blog’s post on easy ways of digging up weeds. A blog reader might be someone who is frustrated with the wrist pain that can result from using conventional trowels, and so may be looking for tips to avoid this problem. This blog reader would be more likely to make the purchase compared to a person navigating to your trowel page from a fan website devoted to discussing nature and garden themes in movies.

Building Credibility through Relationships

Better brand awareness is something that every smart business owner strives for, and link building can help you accomplish this. The process of obtaining links from a website often requires outreach campaigns directed at established industry leaders. By reaching out to the established brands in your industry and building long-term relationships with these influencers, you can help your own brand become more credible and trustworthy.

Separating High-Quality and Poor-Quality Links

It’s a common mistake for website owners to assume that, because one link might be helpful, a few dozen would be even better. In fact, search engine algorithms know the difference between high-quality and poor-quality or irrelevant links. In short, it’s best to focus on link building with credible, established websites. For instance, getting The Washington Post or The Cleveland Clinic to link to your website would be substantially better than getting Amateur Blogs “R” Us to link back to your website.

Effective link building is both a science and an art that takes time to master. At Pennington Creative, our team of digital gurus specializes in building online branding campaigns to help boost business’ online presence. Get in touch with us today to start building your brand’s web presence.

About the Author

Jacky - Digital Marketing Specialist, Copywriting
Jacky Gilchrist

Digital Marketing Specialist, Copywriting