Let’s be honest, obtaining new links for your business isn’t always the easiest thing to do. Easy or not, link building is an important part of a well executed marketing strategy. An in-depth analysis confirms that links not only still matter, but are just as important for your website than ever and I’m going to give you some practical ideas on how to increase your businesses link profile.
Why is link building important? When you have relevant links pointing back to your website or content, it is a vote of confidence in the eyes of search engines that you are an authority in your subject matter. The thing that I want to put emphasis on is relevant links. The days of buying 10,000 links from a shady directory are long over, and if you dare to venture that path there is a good chance that your site will suffer the consequences.
15 Ideas to Build Relevant Local Links in Houston
So, how do you get relevant links? I’ve put together 15 link building ideas that are sure to increase your brand’s awareness and help you gain more attention online. Let’s check them out…
- Newsjacking Local Events. There is always something noteworthy going on in your city. Grab that info, put a unique spin on it and ride the short wave of internet fame that comes with it.
- Offer an “Ultimate Guide To” for a local event or popular city destination. These are almost always shared as they are a one-stop place for valuable information.
- Set up a scholarship. Build a page on your site where people can apply, and then submit that page to local universities. College is expensive, and students could use all the help they can get. A link from a .edu site will help your business, and the scholarship awarded to a student in need will help them as well.
- Set up a fund benefiting a local organization, school or non-profit. It’s a great way to give back to the city that is already giving your business so much.
- Submit your work to be nominated for an award. You are already doing great work right? So why not get recognized for it?! If you win, you are almost always guaranteed a publication online with a link back to your website.
- Sponsor a local Meetup group. Many local Meetup groups (like one of our favorite Houston marketing meetups, SearchHOU) are on the hunt for sponsors, and these low cost sponsorships almost always include a link to their benefactor.
- Sponsor or donate to a local club or organization. Much like the Meetup sponsorships, these will also usually list you on their website as a benefactor.
- Build relationships with local influencers. If you scratch their back, they will be much more inclined to scratch yours–helping you get in front of their audience.
- Leverage your current business relationships by asking for a link to your website. You’ve already built that relationship offline, why not make it official online?
- Make sure your business is listed in every local citation possible. Citations are essentially the Yellow Pages of the internet for your business.
- Become a member of a recognized business organization like AMA Houston. There are often opportunities for members to be publicly recognized at events – in person and online. And you may even build some relationships that could turn into links in the future.
- Leverage your Jobs/Careers page. People are always looking for a new position, which makes this an easy page to gather links.
- Reclaim and fix any 404 pages you may have on your website. Sometimes things get broken, and sometimes those broken things are easy fixes.
- Get your own Wikipedia page. These almost always rank on page one.
- Contribute to a Wikipedia page. Contributors often get cited which contains a link.
Links Are the Spark to Any Local Houston SEO Program
The above 15 ideas are just a small sample of link building ideas that have the potential to benefit your business. Some are easy, some take a little strategy and others some financial investment but all are great wins for your business!
If you are looking to build authority for your brand online, and aren’t sure how to execute the above ideas…don’t worry, we do this stuff every day and would love to help you!
