How to Build Links, Increase Traffic and Exposure

How to Build Links, Increase Traffic and Exposure

By Justilien Gaspard, Search Engine Watch, Feb 11, 2010

Searching for a way to steadily build links every week while increasing traffic and exposure? Get your content published on other Web sites.

This marketing technique has been successfully used in print publications and works even better online. Here’s how to streamline the process.

First, set a specific goal of how many unique pieces to get published every week or month. It’s important to start small so you don’t feel overwhelmed and can make sure all the resources are in place.

A specific goal keeps everyone focused. Once the process is flowing smoothly, increase the targeted goals.

Hire a Writer

Unless you’re a passionate writer with a lot of free time, hire a professional writer. This will save time, keep things focused, and make it easier to scale. It’s also key to streamlining the process.

This could be a professional freelance writer or someone in-house. If you plan to hire a freelancer, make sure the person is knowledgeable of your industry. Tip: find an unemployed, or underpaid, industry journalist.

I won’t even get into the debate about whether your writer should ghost write for you or be listed as a company representative. That’s a decision your company needs to make.

Hire an Editor

Another way to streamline the process of selecting a writer is to hire an editor to review the writing samples. They can narrow down your choices based on the writer’s engagement, voice, and writing ability.

An editor will also be essential if you want to get published on high-quality Web sites. Everyone’s writing needs to be fine-tuned.

Where to Publish

Guest blog postings are a good place to start. These types of postings can deliver good traffic and exposure. Search for niche blogs that cover your industry or demographics.

Article sites are another place to get published. I’m not talking about the free for all sites. Find the ones that review the work, make editorial changes, and rank well in search engines. Buzzle.com is an example of this.

Knowledge sites are great. This could range from Work.com to Squidoo lens.

Let’s take the example of Work.com. Aaron Wall created a piece on Work.com about learning search engine optimization. It ranks number one in Google! That’s with Google personalized search turned off. If it’s worth the time for an industry expert like Aaron to create this page — trust me, it’s worth your time.

What to Write About?

You want to get as much traffic and exposure from this as possible. Design your content based on what people are searching for. If you don’t already subscribe to a paid keyword research tool, check out the free versions such as Google’s Adword Keyword Tool, WordTracker and Keyword Discovery.

Use common sense with these tools. They’re only estimates. Look for those terms that suggest people are searching for an answer to something (e.g., “how to,” “how do I,” “learn,” “advice,” “fix,” and “repair”).

Another starting point for content designed for consumers: ask your sales and customer services staff about questions commonly asked. Discussion forums and e-mail list are another great place to find topics.

Take it to the Next Level

Once you’re comfortable with this strategy and confident in your writer, take it to a whole new level. Start focusing time on getting published in professional publications and industry sites. These include industry organizations, journals, magazines, and top tier blogs. It may take months before you get something accepted — yet it will be worth it.

Getting your company’s content published on third-party sites is a great way to build links and increase exposure and branding. Remember, good link building is just good marketing.

http://searchenginewatch.com/3636452

http://onlinebusinessstrategist.com – Having an online presence isn’t an option, it’s a necessity

Be careful with your tweets and facebook posts

Be careful with your tweets and facebook posts… read this article we found on CNBC

Tweeting Your Way Out of a Job
By: Aman Singh

Remember the sheaf of papers you signed off on when you started work? Somewhere in there was your company’s official Ethics Policy.
Yeah, feel the yawn coming?
And that’s why nine out of 10 new hires simply sign off on that paper without given it more than a cursory glance.

But today this policy may be under attack.
At an event hosted by The Conference Board last week on Business Ethics & Compliance, I heard ethics and compliance officers from different industries discuss their industry-respective takes on regulatory reform and challenges of instilling ethical behavior in the workplace.
And somewhere in the middle there was suddenly a confession from one of the panelists.
One that surprised me not only because of their acknowledged bafflement with it, but also what followed as an honest confession of not knowing how to deal with it.
They were referring to the new phenomenon called social media.
With Facebook and Twitter blurring the line between personal and private, companies have to deal with a new challenge for their ethics policies, including confidentiality, privacy policies, and reduced productivity. How much company information is it okay for someone to post on their Facebook status, if at all? Is discussing their daily work on a public forum considered a breach of confidentiality? And what if this includes a client name or a product in the making? Lawsuit written all over it?

But the No. 1 concern, according to the panel—which comprised of ethics officers from PricewaterhouseCoopers, Lincoln Financial and PepsiCo—was where to draw the line between personal and professional. One of the key speakers was Jude Curtis, the chief ethics and compliance officer at PricewaterhouseCoopers, who discussed his team’s efforts in putting together an official “Social Media Policy.” Curtis also added that PwC considered their employees’ presence on social networking sites serious enough to set up a Social Media Steering Group, which is tasked with continually reviewing their policy as the field evolves.
Pepsi’s VP of Compliance, Stephen Noughton added yet another dimension to the discussion by expressing his concern: Does a potential candidate’s presence on social media deserve a place in the traditional background check? While the jury is out on this one, as a jobseeker, does that worry us? With industry experts citing social media key for your career success, I’m willing to bet yes on that one.

Finally, the last segment to this conversation:
We are all asked to sign a “Code of Conduct” at work, however, what happens when we flip this?
What about the board signing an ethics policy that asks them to adhere to the triple bottom line principle when making any strategic decisions?
Sound untraditional?
Well, it is, but it might not be for too long as corporate social responsibility gets concretely defined across board rooms and shifts from pure advocacy quests to instrumentally changing strategic direction at corporations.
Ethics will soon have to bridge the gap from being solely an individual responsibility to a conscious common denominator in our business decisions as well. If you’ll understand this better in business terminology, it’s also called sustainable capitalism.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/36825872/

http://onlinebusinessstrategist.com – Having an online presence isn’t an option it’s a necessity