Link Strategy

Links to your website are important for two reasons: to bring readers to your website, who may be converted to being customers of your brick-and-mortar store; and to increase your search engine ranking, which can bring more traffic to your site. The more local traffic you drive to your website, the more new customers your business has.

Any link that brings traffic to your blog is a good link, yet as you want to convert your traffic to your customers, you will prefer traffic looking for what you sell. The flip side of the coin is also true: traffic from wholly unrelated links may increase your bounce rate.

Finding good links is time consuming but in the long haul will increase the number of people who read your articles who might be looking to buy your products or services.

Start with local links. After all, you’re a local business.

The more places you get your website listed, the more people will read it, the higher your business may rank in search results and the more prospects will walk in your front door and become new customers.

Local links are an important part of this.

Sources for links in your community include your merchants’ association, local Chamber of Commerce, area Rotary, Kiwanis or other service organizations you support and bowling, softball or other local sports teams you already support. Because they are all local, a website listing will increase top-of-mind awareness for your company in your core marketing area

These local links may not have a lot of juice with search engines, but each may cause a few people to think of your business or click a link to your business website. Enough of those will generate crowds of traffic visiting your store.

Talk to all your vendors. Many of them have websites. When people in your area go to your manufacturers’ or wholesalers’ websites, you want them to see your business name and link. As it benefits your vendors, it is in their interest to link to you.

As well, if you have anything at all to sell that has a category in CraigsList, list your business there with your URL. To limit spam, use their anonymous email system.

Contact your trade associations for your business to be added to their directories.

You will also want to include links from Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or other social media that you use as part of your social marketing strategy.

And you will want to cultivate forums and look for article directories in your industry.