Often we focus our online marketing efforts on things we publish online. That’s great, but we also need to expand our audience to optimize on the impact of our content. Links increase our audience and help with search engine optimization (SEO).Here are the steps to follow for a successful link building strategy.

Good Links Defined

Good links help get more traffic to your site. Good links are at sites that generate traffic to your own site.To get good links:

1. Get to know your audience

2. Make a list of websites which appeal to your desired audience

3. Write amazing content

4. Match content to websites

5. Reach out to site owners

6. Use social media to amplify your content

Focus on Your Audience

You need to know your audience well to build effective links. What do they care about? What places do they go online? The answers give you a sense of the links that will get attention, and where they need to be.

Develop a List of Valuable Websites

List the websites that could help you reach more people in your target audience. Find the websites that already appeal to them. You can do your research on Google and also look at the websites that people in your audience share on social media.

Focus on Great Content

You knew I would get to this, right? It’s always all about great content. In order to get other websites to link to your content, your content has to be a worthy addition to the site’s content.

Ask

Now that you have target sites AND great content, you need to ask for links. Take time to find one or more places at the site where a link would make sense.Don’t bother making a general ask like “please link to me.” Be specific: please link this page and this content to this page at my website. The more specific you are, the easier you make it for the receiving website to act.

Assess Results

Use your web metrics to determine which links drive traffic to your website and the behaviors of the users. This can help you determine the most effective links and give you insight into your ongoing link building efforts.A successful link building strategy should always be aimed to bring new valuable visitors to your website who engage with your content and your brand.