Content is all-important these days, just as it was way back when. Producing content that is engaging, helpful, and well-written is what SEO seems to be more about than anything, but backlinks haven’t gone away. You’re supposed to be getting them by people just linking to your killer content, but we all know that waiting for that to happen probably won’t get you where you need to go.
So, how do you get the backlinks you need?
I’ve found several ways. Building backlinks from blog comments is one way. Though most of them are no-follow links, they still count. Sometimes, you’ll have a nice blog meister, who does allow spiders to follow the links back to your page, but what else I find valuable is the traffic that blog commenting brings, too. Plus, useful, well-written comments ARE content, too.
The other way to get backlinks is by guest posting on other people’s websites. It’s not easy to find places, if you’re working in a small niche, but I have a way that might help you…
My personal page includes blogs from Joost deValk, TechCrunch, Mashable, Shoemoney, CopyBlogger, SEJournal and many more. These are blogs I follow to stay current in my niche and you can find blogs to stay current in your own.
If you find a blog that you may want to guest post on, become part of the community. Read it every day (or every time a new post appears) and become part of the community. Make yourself known to the people who edit the blog. You’ll have a much better chance of acceptance for your own posts, if they know something about you. Plus, you can say to them, “I’m an avid reader of XYZ blog, and I think I have some content you may be interested in posting.”
I get guest post requests all the time, mainly for the SEONewsBlog, and I often accept them; however, I have gotten articles that are poorly written, too vague, and even… yes… some duplicate content! Nothing makes me angrier. So, if you want to guest post in areas where you have some expertise, be sure that you’re writing solid, helpful content that is unique and that targets the readers of THAT particular blog. People won’t post what won’t be good for their readers.
Content is all of it now. Make sure that your content trail leads to interesting, valid, and important information.
