You’re not alone—it’s not unusual for owners of small- to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) to feel nervous about the convoluted field of link building. Even in today’s digital age, many small businesses are just starting to capitalize on what the online world can do for them as they set up social media accounts and create their blogs and other websites. It’s understandable that, when faced with the idea of investing time, money, and effort into website promotion, they might feel hesitant, seeing that it’s not their area of expertise.
However, SMB owners shouldn’t worry about link building. They might not realize it, but they may already possess the most important skills needed for a successful link building campaign.
What Does It Take to Be an Excellent Link Builder?
As search engines like Google use the volume and quality of links pointing to a website to figure out how popular and good that website is, SEO experts capitalize on this to make a website rank higher by using processes that get high-quality inbound links that funnel traffic to your website. The more websites link to yours, the better your chances of showing up higher on the search engine results pages (SERPs).
Google has long ago cracked down on websites that try to cheat by buying links. This means that using good, old-fashioned link building methods is crucial for you to make your website rank higher.
When it comes to traditional link building, social skills are key. Being good with people matters more than technical skills. If someone trying to build links can’t make friends online or convince others to link to their website, it’s tough for them to succeed.
That’s why small businesses might find link building easier. Here are three reasons why.
1. SMBs are innately good at establishing relationships with their clientele and the public.
For small and medium businesses, connecting with clients and building relationships has always been easier. They can mingle with other businesses, including competitors. That’s why SMB owners are good at building relationships and gaining trust from other websites. This is crucial for getting long-term links from sites with high rankings.
2. SMB owners can easily form online networks.
Since SMBs often belong to various clubs and social/business circles, they have many business contacts who can also become their online contacts. If these have blogs and other websites and/or social media accounts, they can provide additional inbound links.
3. SMBs have higher chances of getting featured in media stations and publishers.
Local newspapers, radio stations, and news channels like to share community news. Small businesses can get their attention by joining community projects, sponsoring events, or running holiday promotions. These activities might be talked about online or in the community, which can lead to links to the business’s website.
Even if they don’t focus a lot on search engine optimization, small businesses can benefit from building links and rapport with media men and people who matter in their industry. Having a high page rank helps more people see their products and services online.
Understanding Link Quality and Relevance for SMBs
All links are not created equal. Some can significantly enhance your website’s credibility and visibility, while others can tarnish your site’s reputation.
Link quality refers to how trustworthy and authoritative a link is. When you build links, you must ensure they’re of good quality. Low-quality ones from spammy or irrelevant websites can hurt your site’s reputation and ranking on the SERPs.
Relevance is another key factor. A link is more valuable if it comes from a website that shares related topics or themes with yours. For instance, if you run a ramen website, a link from an Asian food blog or cooking website is more relevant and beneficial compared to a link from a radio repair site.
When acquiring links, SMBs should emphasize quality over quantity. It’s better to have a minuscule volume of quality, relevant links than a deluge of low-quality ones. And while it’s true that building a strong network of relevant links may take time and effort, it does pay off in the long run as search engines begin to deem your website as an authority.
Small- to medium-sized businesses should also be wary of black-hat SEO tactics, processes that search engines deem as gaming the system and as such, illegal. These include participating in link schemes and buying links in bulk. These can result in penalties that harm your website’s ranking.
Instead, these businesses should focus on acquiring quality, relevant links. When enough of these links to their websites, search engines advance their ranking up the SERPs, improving their online visibility, and, consequently, attracting more potential customers.
Managing Link Building Budgets for Small Businesses
Managing link building budget plans for small businesses means planning and spending money wisely to get more people to notice your website. But for small businesses with not a lot of money, it’s important to be smart about where you spend.
First, you need to find the best ways to get links without spending too much. This might mean writing articles for other websites and/or asking other websites to link to yours. But be careful when buying links to make sure they’re from good websites and related to what you do.
Begin with the end in mind: You need to decide what you want to achieve with your link building. Do you want more people to visit your site? Do you want to show up higher on Google searches? Or do you want more people to know about your brand? Knowing what you want will help you spend your money in the right places.
Keep an eye on your link building campaign. Look at things like how many people are visiting your site, where you show up in search engine queries, and how many people are buying things. This will help you see if your money is being spent well or if you need to change your plans.
Managing link building budget plans for SMBs means being smart about where you spend your money to get more people to see and trust your website.