We can all agree that gaining inbound links from other sites is a great strategy to boost your site’s link popularity and, in turn, your site’s traffic. That’s not news, but since Google and the company have begun penalizing sites with unrelated links and penalizing those that engage in reciprocal linking, it’s more crucial than ever to build 1-way INCOMING links from sites that are relevant to your specialty.
A travel site, for instance, would benefit from a link from a vacation rental service, airline, or car rental agency but would gain absolutely no traction from a link on a site offering online gambling or one of those spammy Viagra sales sites.
One of my customers (who owns a luxury accommodation site) asked me how he could generate high-quality one-way connections to his place, and here’s what I suggested:
It’s preferable to have a one-way link leading to your site rather than needing to exchange links with the referring site. However, success in this endeavor is becoming increasingly challenging.
You’re asking a potential rival to send traffic your way by linking to you when they’d rather have that searcher find them. The value of reciprocal connections in overall link popularity is also declining. Most sites’ two-way links aren’t as valuable as a single inbound link from a relevant resource.
I think the best strategy to maximize the number of one-way links pointing to your site is to offer website owners a compelling incentive to do so. I think the best approach to do this is to revisit an idea I previously proposed in an email:
To stand out from the plethora of competing sites that provide similar information or services, you must provide something of value to your visitors that makes them want to book through your area rather than any of the others, including the accommodation’s official website.
As I mentioned before, you could give discount certificates to local attractions to everyone who books a room through you, which would benefit both the hotel and the visitor. The more promotions or discounts you provide, the more likely someone will book their trip with you.
You might convince some businesses to provide freebies (free wine samples, free food samples, etc.) to attract travelers to their locations.
Instead of cold calling them and asking for discounts, you could advertise their business at no cost to your customers in exchange for a link from their website (formatted as we specify and ideally placed in a halfway decent area of their website).
Perhaps an illustration will help clarify this…
Suppose you have a place to stay in Sydney. You contact all the local establishments in the area that provide a service that could interest tourists. Places like wineries, eateries, vehicle rental agencies, movie theaters, pharmacies, etc.
Make them an offer they can’t refuse: in exchange for a link on their website back to yours, you’ll provide them with free advertising for customers you refer to their business while they’re on vacation in Sydney. Tell them you will compile their information into a PDF and send free copies of the document (akin to a digital voucher system) to anyone who books a room in the region so they can print it out and use it during their stay.
Anyone can download the PDF from your site only by providing a link. Get their information (name and email address) by filling out a short form, and then add them to your (promised):- email newsletter. Even if you don’t get a booking out of it, you may still collect email addresses by offering vouchers for the destination of their choice in return for them.
Try to convince them that it will bring in free advertising for their business. All you need in exchange is a one-way link back to your website; they don’t even have to run any discounts (though if they do, that’s great for you and the client).
I can’t say your chances of success, but I’d be amazed if it was lower than 1 in 10 or 1 in 5 firms willing to say yes. In addition, over the next 6-12 months, you can contact lodging hubs across the country and pitch this idea to secure an increasing number of one-way links to your site from local businesses.
Oh, that’s a minor yet significant detail. Have them supply the copy and artwork for your voucher. Helps you save both time and money. Assuming that most of these establishments already have brochures, advertisements, etc., you only need to ask for a high-resolution photograph to be emailed to you.
Explain that you will need them to email you their voucher entry (perhaps specify the size and format, etc.), and you will drop it into a Word doc (for example) and turn that into a pdf when you have filled it up if they see the value in doing this.
Deal them exclusivity if they come up with a great unique deal for your customers, as some establishments may be worried about being included in your voucher “book” alongside their competitors, which may (in their view) devalue it for them. Having them pay for the exclusivity when someone uses the voucher rather than upfront is mutually beneficial.
In my opinion, this is the most cost-effective strategy for attracting one-way links from similar websites. The ultimate goal is to have your site appear higher in organic search results generally, which it will do as your page rank improves (for both your home page and various internal pages).
So there you go. This concept is adaptable to any industry (not just lodging) and can quickly start bringing in quality links from related sites.
One final piece of advice is to send direct mail to potential link partners if you want to hurry things up. Then, quickly, you can connect with tens to hundreds of potential customers and only work with those interested in what you offer.
I wish you the best of luck with your link-building strategy and would like to remind you that anything worthwhile online takes time and effort. Don’t expect overnight success; it will take more than a week.
WCR Internet Marketing is an Australian Search Engine Marketing firm, and Charles Ryder is a Consultant there. Visit [http://www.wcr-internet-marketing.com.au/contactus/freesiteanalysis.asp] now for a free site evaluation.
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