How to Create a Link Building Campaign: A Beginner’s Guide
What is Link Building And Why’s There Such a Hullabaloo?
Envision the World Wide Web as more of a literal web for a moment.
Each string of the web connects to another, and then another, and so on, to form a complex system of information that feeds off different components.
Your website is one such component, and it needs to be connected to other websites for there to be a path.
In the context of your website, think of link building as the deliberate act of weaving your own string into this expansive web, carefully choosing which other strings to connect with. The better and more relevant these connections, the easier it is for ‘spiders’—in this case, search engines and users—to find and value your component in this intricate tapestry.
Now that you have a gist of what link building is in theory let’s cut to the chase and talk about it in more depth.
It’s essentially the process of obtaining inbound links that lead to your website. These links should come from vetted, high-quality pages and websites that either promote or refer to your website in different ways.
Link building campaigns are crucial to any successful SEO strategy since it’s what help you rank higher on SERPs and directly impact how authoritative and high-quality your website is considered.
That’s precisely why link building campaigns are a game changer for your brand.
What is a Link Building Campaign?
A link building campaign is a planned and strategic effort aimed at increasing the number and quality of inbound links that point to your website.
Now, before moving on to anything, it’s important to understand that not all links are equal.
Having low-quality, spammy links from sketchy websites, barter links, bought links, bot links, etc., actually does more harm than good. When it comes to link building, quality is definitely greater than quantity.
You can learn more about common link building mistakes in our other blog post as we walk you through the importance of this SEO strategy and the pitfalls that come with it.
It’s necessary to have a purpose-driven, intentional link-building campaign with clearly defined goals and outcomes, and while this sounds like a breeze, 41% of large companies believe that link building is the hardest aspect of SEO.
But boy, is it worth it. Here’s why:
But you’re probably wondering, “I still don’t know what the heck a link building campaign is!”
It’s just a concerted, conscious effort and approach that comprises multiple strategies and methods with one primary focus: getting that moolah—whoops, we mean links.
It uses structure, strategy, and clarity to not only get more links but also better links that lead to your targeted page or your website in general.
Recommended Read: Going Beyond Backlinks: Harnessing the Power of Shallow Link Building
So, How Do You Create a Winning Link Building Campaign for Your Brand?
Search Berg’s backlink campaigns and link building strategies are tailored exactly to your needs, focusing primarily on manual links.
Here are some steps we take to design your campaign:
1. Set Clear Objectives And Goals For What You Want To Achieve
This is a fairly obvious place to begin. You need to have clear objectives and goals for your campaign since that will set the pace for everything else.
Here’s what you need to consider:
- Campaign Focus: Are you looking to increase sales for a specific product?
- Target Pages: Are there particular pages on your website you want to promote?
- Keyword Strategy: Are there specific keywords you’re aiming to rank for? These will guide the kind of content you’ll produce and the type of sites you’ll try to earn links from.
- Engagement Metrics: Is one of your goals to increase user engagement? If so, you’ll need to measure metrics like time spent on a page, bounce rate, and social shares.
- Timeline and Milestones: Establish a realistic timeline for your campaign. Setting milestones along the way will help you assess whether you’re on track to meet your objectives.
- Monitoring and Adjustment: Be prepared to regularly review your campaign’s performance against your objectives. This will allow you to make data-driven adjustments as needed.
- Intended Outcome for Each Link: Every link you aim to acquire should serve a specific purpose aligned with your broader campaign goals. Having clear intent for each link helps in evaluating the campaign’s success.
Having a clear intent for each link that is produced is key. This way, you’ll lay a strong foundation for your link-building campaign, one that guides all subsequent stages, from strategy to execution.
2. Identify Worthy, Relevant Platforms And Opportunities For Yourself
As stated earlier, you don’t just need as many links as you can get. You need to find opportunities that are relevant to your niche, have high domain authority, are not considered spam, and are contextually relevant.
You don’t want to pay a lifestyle or fashion influencer to post your link for gas station equipment in a random blog and call it a day, do you?
A longstanding client of ours, CATECM, saw a whopping 296% increase in their top 3 keywords, and 90x increase in organic traffic, and a 1.5x increase in their DA thanks to a combination of link-building activities and mini-campaigns. Their campaigns helped them get featured on 25 web directories, 25 community participation platforms, and generate dozens of ads.
Why did it work so well? We knew where to post their content.
(Source: https://nickfthilton.medium.com/the-end-of-the-subscription-era-is-coming-ed197f252c6a)
As you can see from this snippet, the writer uses one of the most popular guest posting and blogging platforms, Medium, and ironically talks about the end of the Subscription Era, yet embeds a backlink to his own content and asks for subscribers to pay. Clever, right?
But of course, we’ll help you find these opportunities and openings for link building through backlink audits and help you with the next step.
With that being said, you also need link-worthy content that people will want to share and link to. Your link building campaign should focus on a healthy mix of methods and strategies that target the right audiences, too.
For instance, you don’t want to limit yourself to a single method only because it’s worked in the past. Different consumer groups will have different preferences and behaviors, while different goals also need unique strategies.
Once you know what their pain points, interests, shared qualities, social media habits, and preferences are, it’s easy to pick what works, including:
- Blogs and articles on a wide range of relevant subjects
- Tutorials that educate audiences and establish your authority
- Guest posts that can increase traffic by 2,000%
- Infographics, videos, unique data visuals, and more
- Research and data that is credible and valuable
- Fixing broken or bad links that are hurting your site
- Press Releases that share newsworthy information with the world
- Unlinked mentions from brands and websites that occur organically
Recommended Read: 4 Common Link Building Challenges for Small Business Owners
4. Reach Out To Relevant Pages, Platforms, Websites, Forums, And Individuals To Post Your Content
Unfortunately, great quality content isn’t always enough for someone to use and post your links, no matter how relevant the website or platform may be.
It’s not a one-and-done situation, and you will have to focus on outreach and building rapport with them. Whether you’re dealing with affiliate marketers, influencers, guest posting platforms, community forums, or any other platform, you need to reach out and follow up continually.
With clear link building campaign goals in mind, you can share why you chose this particular channel, express interest in their followers and features in relation to your assets, and include a call-to-action, too.
Usually, they’ll take the bait and respond—but if they don’t, persistence is key. We’ll help you follow-up and land successful links; don’t worry.
5. Evaluate, Re-Strategize If Needed, And Keep Learning From Your Wins And Losses
Even after your backlink is successfully posted, you need to be on your toes. Track, measure, evaluate, and re-strategize based on performance metrics and feedback.
Through manual and digital backlink analysis, tracking KPIs and metrics, and monitoring its performance during the campaign timeline, our team will share which links are doing well and which ones aren’t. This gives us a chance to ideate and innovate, fix errors, and address issues before they stagnate, allowing us to redesign and adapt your next link building campaign.
It’s Time to Take the Reigns—Choose Search Berg for All Your Link Building Campaigns
Search Berg is a full-service digital marketing firm that has the foresight, experience, and knowledge required to create a truly kickass link building campaign for your business.
No matter what you want your approach to be or what service you want to highlight, our backlink building service has what it takes. Reach out to us to learn more about our services, and our experts will walk you through the best strategies for your industry, business, and brand in particular.
Take the reigns and be in charge of your online presence—we’re right behind you.
