Campaigns**
**by Garrett French**
What is it about your website (or your organization) that is truly
linkable? What's the most effective way to structure a link building
campaign? What is the most effective first task for a link builder?
By creating an inventory of link building assets, you lay the
foundation for a sustainable link building campaign, whether you're a
one person business or leading a link building team at an organization
with thousands of employees, and hundreds of thousands of website
pages. The most effective way to structure a link building campaign is
based on the organization's linkable assets, and the most effective
first task for a link builder is to create a linkable assets
inventory.
We'll begin with a working definition of link building assets, follow
with a process for creating a linkable asset inventory, and then
provide resources and encouragement for turning your assets into
links. We first advanced the link building asset idea in 21 Link
Builders Share Advanced Link Building Queries
<http://searchengineland.com/21-link-builders-share-advanced-link-building-queries-29848>
.
Link building assets defined
A linkable asset is a person, web page or other resource capable of
inciting a person or organization to create a link. We've identified
two broad types of assets: the tangible link building assets on your
website, and the intangible link building assets of your
organization.
Download the Link Building Assets Inventory Worksheet >>
<http://link-building-tools.ontolo.com/LinkBuildingAssetsInventoryWorksheet.html>
Inventory the link building assets on your website
Start your assessment with the website. Because the site's pages and
functions already exist, these tangible assets can result in links
with minimal reliance on others within the organization&or even with
the sole work of the link builder. These asset types are high-level
suggestions to get you started thinking along these lines.
What pages currently attract links? From whom? Why?
Pages on your site that already attract links are the most likely to
attract more links, and with the least amount of effort. Understanding
why people have linked to these pages can help you when you're
crafting your outreach link request emails. You can, using the Yahoo
Site Explorer
<http://siteexplorer.search.yahoo.com/search?p=http://yoursite.com&y=Explore+URL&fr=sfp>
(YSE) data in the SEOBook Toolbar
<http://tools.seobook.com/seo-toolbar/>
, identify the pages on your site that attract the most links. You
can also pay a fee (or register your site and get that data free) to
use a tool such as MajesticSEO <http://www.majesticseo.com/>
to download link data about your site, it has a report that orders
your pages by the number and quality of links. YSE data seems fresher
(and is FREE, while supplies last), but tools like Majestic are much
faster. We outline a method for identifying most-linked pages of a
site here.
<http://searchengineland.com/how-to-research-create-and-distribute-highly-linkable-content-22416>
Tab-by-Tab site navigation linkability assessment
Asking the owner or marketing manager what's linkable on the site is
a great place for linkbuilders to start. However, nothing beats a
systematic, tab-by-tab nav and subnav exploration. In this assessment,
the link building strategist thinks laterally and or creatively
about each core section of the site& the question is: is there a site
out there that would want to republish, reuse or mention this
particular content.
High-quality, well edited and moderated forums and blogs are the more
obvious examples. Jobs pages are one example of a site section that's
often overlooked for link building potential, as are upcoming events
pages, white papers, webinars, and so forth. Test whether an asset
actually has corresponding opportunities with a few quick queries. If
anything turns up, put that page or section into the asset column for
deeper queries.
Widgets, free apps and other forms of content?
Though these should show up in either your tab-by-tab assessment or
the YSE site dig, definitely ask the appropriate folks in your
organization if any of these assets exist. We found a
highly-linkable 300+ page free ebook that was part of an old lead
generation campaign during one linkability assessment phase for a
client. This little treasure was worthy of its own dedicated
prospecting and outreach campaign. Ask people internally, and ask
across departments as much as possible to dig up any assets that may
escape your attention otherwise.
Brand, organization's good reputation in industry are unique value
proposition
Sometimes, some companies truly are linkable simply for being
themselves. Bloggers and other analysts writing about a competitor
really aren't having a complete discussion without mentioning industry
leaders. People who compile lists of similar organizations but leave
this company off have presented an incomplete view of the industry. In
these occasions of obvious omission, link builders should strike up a
genial email conversation and lead the page owner towards the only
obvious course of action a link!
Data points for your linkable asset inventory:
Here are the spreadsheet columns we recommend for documenting the
tangible, linkable assets on your website.
Asset Type
Linkable pages/site section URL
URL of sample link target for this particular asset (note: it's not
an asset unless there are link opportunities!)
Query used to find this particular topic
Suggested queries for deeper prospecting
Total number of distinct queries per asset
Inventory the link building assets within your organization
Assessing an organization's intangible linkable assets is a bit more
tricky, and typically involves a bit more conversation, fact-finding
and general back and forth internally than identifying the tangible
assets. Knowledge leadership is one example of an intangible linkable
asset; however, you have to get this asset to perform an interview,
write an article, or get on a podcast at a specific time. When it
comes to intangible assets, by and large you're creating more work for
someone. It should be understandable that you have to convince them
that their work is worth the effort or even the cost.
At least 5 hours of link building work a week
An hour a day link building investment adds up, and in time can
translate into a steady flow of quality links. If you have determined
the strategy and processes of your link building campaign, from
prospecting for opportunities to qualification to outreach, then 5
hours a week will go to good use. If your hours can extend to writers,
developers and/or designers within your organization then all the
better. Most web design and marketing roles in an organization can and
should be viewed as link building assets.
Innovation creators and thought leaders
If your organization's thought leaders already write a blog or
publish articles consistently in your industry's media, then your job
gets simpler: find them more opportunities for relevant and valuable
links through article placement and interviews. Selling the value of
this kind of media participation isn't that hard, but getting someone
to buckle down and actually write or even set aside an hour for an
interview can be tough if they're not already in the habit. Make very
sure you have buy-in before finding and confirming placement and
interview opportunities. Further, make sure you know and capture the
data (monthly traffic, target audience, etc.) that will help your
thought leaders decide where to put their efforts.
PR department
If your organization has a PR department, or even if they have
someone who occasionally handles PR functions, link builders should
learn more about their capacity and willingness to help out with link
building. Make sure press releases have followed links with
appropriate anchor text, and make sure that they place the press
release beyond the standard submission sites. Many industry vertical
media sites freely publish press releases. If the PR functionaries
write or manage thought leadership creation, they may be eager to
learn of more quality sites that accept content submissions and
publish to a relevant, targeted audience.
Any department that consistently publishes or updates onsite content
Is someone posting new jobs, products, events, software updates,
technical usage updates, pod casts, videos or other content as a
regular function of their day-to-day work? In many cases, there are
sites that aggregate and publish this information and provide followed
links. These assets should have shown up in your tab-by-tab assessment
above; they're included here because in some cases you can and should
put the burden of acquisition on the departments creating the
opportunities especially if by creating a feed they could
set-and-forget their link building.
Partner relationships, licensed technologies and vendors
Are your partners linking to you? Do the companies who you buy from
have a link to you? Have you created your Powered By badges? All of
these relationships are potentially linkable assets. Get the partner,
licensee and vendor lists and investigate their websites be sure to
proceed with caution and through appropriate channels for outreach
though. Many of these relationships are likely to be very personal,
and ideally and link request should go through the person most
familiar with the organization.
Budget
Is there available budget to pay for directory listings and other
sponsorships? If the organization already has directory links, find
out which ones& many industries have ten or even tens of high quality
directories that could drive relevant traffic, not to mention a
rankings increase.
Data points for your linkable asset inventory:
Here are some columns we suggest for documenting the intangible,
linkable assets of your organization.
Asset type
Name of person or department considered to be a linkable asset
Sample URL demonstrating asset's linkability probably this will be
a competitor, or someone who has used this asset for link building
Demonstrate the existence of link prospects (sample queries, lists of
vendors, etc)
What quality and quantity of links could be expected?
What support, deliverables, resources will be required for
execution?
How quick or easy to execute (scale of 1-5).
Inventory to action: prospecting, qualification and acquiring links
Remember that throughout your linkable asset inventory (download here
<http://link-building-tools.ontolo.com/LinkBuildingAssetsInventoryWorksheet.html>
) the end goal is action that will result in more links. The point of
the inventory though is to outline the scope of your opportunities,
and help you to create a campaign that will best support your
marketing objectives and resources. Choosing where to start can be
tough. Here are some ideas, assuming you don't need to create linkable
content.
Some thoughts on selecting a starting point:
Build more links to your most-linked and/or most-linkable assets
Start with opportunities that require the least work (for you or
other departments)
Start building links to assets with the highest number of quick
opportunities for links (based on your test queries)
Start with the departments you're most connected with start with
internal allies
Start with the assets and prospects that interns can execute on
effectively
Start with link-oriented outreach that supports a product or service
launch
Having chosen a starting point, you still face considerable workload
and campaign structuring in order to execute effectively and meet your
link building objectives. Here are some tools, resources and guidance
for making link building an ongoing, asset-driven practice at your
organization.
Keyword-Based Prospecting for Link Opportunities
Create your list of asset-oriented link building queries
<http://searchengineland.com/21-link-builders-share-advanced-link-building-queries-29848>
.
Look at the SERPs occurrence frequencies of your target keywords
<http://searchengineland.com/the-link-builders-guide-to-analyzing-serp-dominators-for-link-opportunities-21076>
to find opportunities.
Harvest your competitors' backlinks with large-scale backlink data
collection processes and tools
<http://ontolo.com/blog/b-back-link-data-collection-processes-and-tools-for-large-scale-link-building.html>
.
Qualify your link opportunities
Read and implement the Guide To Qualifying Link Prospects For
Relevance, Value & Potentiality
<http://searchengineland.com/a-guide-to-qualifying-link-prospects-for-relevance-value-potentiality-17637>
.
Also consider some other values for qualifying link prospects
<http://www.searchenginepeople.com/blog/the-beginners-guide-to-qualifying-a-link-prospect.html>
.
Outreach to acquire links
Read and implement the Link Building Outreach Guide
<http://searchengineland.com/link-building-outreach-5-steps-to-maximize-the-value-of-every-opportunity-24687>
.
Read 9 Tips for Effective Link Acquisition
<http://ontolo.com/blog/b-9-tips-for-effective-link-acquisition.html>
.
Bill Slawski's Creating an SEO Content Inventory
<http://www.seobythesea.com/?p=2832>
sparked the linkable asset inventory concept for us. That article
includes a content inventory spreadsheet.
Opinions expressed in the article are those of the author, and not
necessarily Search Engine Land.
Garrett French <http://searchengineland.com/author/garrett-french/>
is co-founder of Ontolo <http://ontolo.com>
, a link building agency and co-author of Link-Building-Guide.com
<http://www.link-building-guide.com>
, which leads motivated readers through the methods and processes of
large-scale, crawler-based link research, link acquisition and
linker-targeted content strategy.
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