Boost Your Rep!A Marketer's Approach to

Getting Inbound Links

Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mero/1299997898/

Who We Are

Amanda O’BrienVP of Marketingamanda@hallme.com

Hall Web Serviceswww.hallme.com

• 10+ Years in Business• Online Suite of Tools

• Use GoToWebinar “Chat” or “Ask a Question”

• Twitter with @hall_web

Got Questions?

About You:

What You'll Learn:

• Why links are important, really• What types of links exist and the values of each• How to find good linking partners• How build relationships and get people to start linking to you

• You own or manage one or more websites• You know that links are important to your website• You aren't sure how to get them

Understanding Linking

• We link a lot!

• Search engines findpages through linking

• The text you use in a link tells search engines what the link is about

• Search engines trust your word!

Understanding Linking

Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ittybittiesforyou/3422796884/

• Robots crawl your site

• You have to tell them what they are looking at

• Establish authority with inbound links

• click here

Linking, Before and After

• As many links as possible• Relevance doesn't matter• Pay if you need to!

• Quality over quantity• Who links matters a great deal• Paid links = bad

Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/baylorbear78/3345338501/

Linking = Marketing

• Press releases• Qualified business directories • Partners, vendors, customers, etc.• Bloggers and publications in your industry

Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/96dpi/3371440496/

Content as Link Building

• Create something awesome, unique, valuable • Tell the right people

Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/will-lion/3278091563/in/photostream/

What to Create?

What content to create and market will depend on you.

• What are your skills in-house? • What are your customers always asking you about?• Where can you contribute to the conversation?• What did YOU wish you saw more of?

Create Content for someone else

• Guest blogging• Link back to your site• New place to reach a new audience• In your industry• Specifically your niche to a broader audience• Completely out of your industry

Share All of Your Content

• Social media profiles• Democracy sites (Digg, Reddit, StumbleUpon)• Blog list• Email newsletter

Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ibizadj/323305938/

No Follow Links

• HTML attribute• Should not influence the link target's ranking • Social Media Sites• Blog comments

Inbound Marketing and Social Networks

• Not the links but the relationships• Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn etc.• Stumbleupon, Digg, Delicious, Technoratti

Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/silvertje/3582813518/

Building Relationships

• Social Networks – Twitter• Email• Friendly Linking• Discover new blogs (Google Blog Search)• Blog Comments

Blog Comments

• Thoughtful• Valuable• Links

• Get the most out of comments

• Profile

• Manage your comments

Establishing Yourself as an Expert

• Content (website is just home base)• LinkedIn Answers and Groups• Narrow your niche

Assessing Results

• Yahoo Site Explorer: http://siteexplorer.search.yahoo.com/• Google Webmaster Tools:https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/• Referring Traffic (Google Analytics)• Wordpress will ping you automatically!

Re-cap

Photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/5-0_og/1304841776/

• Links are very important• Quality Vs. Quantity• A Work in Progress• It's marketing• Building relationships• Establish yourself as an expert• Don't cheat

Learn More!

• Vision Blog - http://www.hallme.com/blog

• Webinars – http://www.hallme.com/webinars

• What is a Web Strategy and Why do I Need One?

• Follow Hall on Twitter - Hall_Web

• Call us! 1-877-425-5932 (HALL-WEB)

• Inbound Marketing by Brian Halligan and Dharmesh Shaw

• amanda@hallme.com