25 replies to this topic

[barbeluk1]

Hi there everyone,

I'm really keen to get more into SEO and have dipped my toe in the water with a client I did a web site for recently.

I think I've set up their site to be fairly organically SEO friendly (?), and am lucky that I run a site that is popular (so I've added a link from me to them) that seems to have shot them up the Google results.

I keep reading that the next step is to now start a link building campaign from high ranking web sites or blogs. I notice that loads of SEO professionals advertise a certain number of links per month. So how do you go about finding a suitable site to link from?! I've read that a lot of this is about writing unique content for blogs that you can link back from but I can't imagine any blog wanting an article on warehousing and storage space! How can these SEO experts come up with 10 links per month????

The website for the company is here:

http://dynamic-storage.co.uk

Can anyone help me with the next step please?

Many thanks in advance.

Cheers,

Andy

[Ken Fisher]

"..but I can't imagine any blog wanting an article on warehousing and storage space!"

You'd be surprised unless the landscape has changed with all these major Google algo changes. You could try Ann Smarty's site. I tried it a few years ago but didn't reach any parties that had sites worth writing for or were start ups. Perhaps there are more high caliber sites on board now?

http://myblogguest.com/

[DonnaFontenot]

How can these SEO experts come up with 10 links per month????

By running large networks of their own crappy directories and spam blogs. Don't pay money to these people.

I can't imagine any blog wanting an article on warehousing and storage space!

Time to get creative. Here's some off the top of my head thoughts for fun articles:

5 Unusual Warehouse Uses: (1. According to "?", evidence of alien invasion is stored at "?", 2. The world's largest rubber band ball is stored at "?", 3. Well, you get the idea...)

How To Freak Your Ex Out: (list several ways and then add: Make him think you've tossed out all his favorite things (but really you stored them away)

That's all I can come up with until I get some more caffeine in me, but you get the point. Get creative. And avoid the link spammers.

[jonbey]

How about "10 ways to save money when moving home" and target real estate sites. Hey, there may even be somebody here with such a site.

[tam]

How we helped suchandsuch business save £alot of money with our typeofstorage
5 problems self storage can solve
What to look for in a storage company

But, most of all, you need to look at your website!

I've thought about self-storage recently to see if it's economical for a few hundred books, what bugs me is the lack of details on company websites.

Reading your website, I feel that as a potential self-storage user I'm not important to you, just an after thought, all that information about business users and less than 100 words for me? I wouldn't make an enquiry with you, you're a bit intimidating, I'd think you'd be busy with the business people and not have time for me and my possibly stupid questions about how self-storage works.

Why? On your self storage page, you've used 100 words to tell me you offer self-storage but not a single fact about exactly what you offer that I could compare with other companies or even explain exactly what it is for someone who has never used it before. How big an area do I get, what does it cost, how can I access it, when can I access it, what security arrangements are there, what do you mean by transport facilities?.... And show me an actual picture or your storage so I can imagine it, not a stock photo!

All the extra information isn't just good for browsing customers, it's better for search engines too, all those detailed extra words are things searcher may type into google and google will be more impressed with your page (and may rank it higher) because it is obviously more comprehensive.

My rec - make a list of every type of customer you have, from big to small, new to experienced, then for each of those, think up every imaginable question they may have (ask whoever answers the phones and deals with customer enquiries for help with this) and then make sure all that information is easy to access on your website.

If you find something comes up a lot eg 'just how big a storage area will I need?' then write a blog post about it. In fact that would make quite a good youtube video/blog post - just how much can you fit in a 4' storage locker (or whatever a popular size is).

[tommr]

I have found there are plenty writers who are happy to write articles for free, or maybe a "by line" about anything.
New writers, students, people who are shut in are eager to help out.
I ran an ad on craigs list and the replys came streaming in.
The good thing is you retain the right to edit or exclude.
Be nice and up front and do not take advantage of people.

[EGOL]

That's all I can come up with until I get some more caffeine in me, but you get the point. Get creative. And avoid the link spammers.

One for white donna is out for coffee.

Explain how businesses can save thousands of dollars on their lease by getting a nice storage unit where their Christmas inventory will be delivered in late September. $1600 on that storage unit can save them $10,000 on leasing the same footage for the entire year.

[barbeluk1]

Many thanks for all the replies.

I guess I was hoping you'd say '...don't be silly, of course you don't have to write original content for other blogs!'

The suggested blog article titles all makes sense and I now understand, and can write copy to suit.

Can I ask a couple more questions?

How do you guys go about finding suitable blogs/sites to post your article? Is there generally a lot of communication involved with the site owner?

Also, is there a way to check the 'quality' of a potential site/blog from Google's perspective? I'm using Alexa for any stats at the moment...?

Tam - point taken. The text has all been lifted from their old site so an overhall is now on the list

Many thanks again,

Andy

[chuckfinley]

I guess I was hoping you'd say '...don't be silly, of course you don't have to write original content for other blogs!'

Not just guest posts on other blogs -- start your own blog and distribute posts to Centers of Influence (people that can refer business to you) and see if they will write a post that links to your article.

Business C-Level Employees and Managers care about 3 things -- 1) increasing revenue, 2) decreasing costs, or 3) mitigating risk. Write about those things and you will get their attention. EGOL's comment above is a perfect example.

The suggested blog article titles all makes sense and I now understand, and can write copy to suit.

Look here for ideas, i.e., what your competition is writing about on their blogs -->

Search on www.google.co.uk for -- product storage blogs

How do you guys go about finding suitable blogs/sites to post your article?

You will need to determine who your Centers of Influence are. Here's a suggestion -->

Search on www.google.com for -- inventory management consultant blogs

Also try searching on --> www.google.co.uk/blogsearch

Just a suggestion -- it may help if your website talks more about what you can do to help businesses solve "their" business problems rather than all of the capabilities you have. Talk about them, not yourself. I would provide your capabilities, just not make it the lead. Everyone is interested in "what's in it for them." Once they decide you offer services that will solve "their" problems, they will get interested in who you are and whether you have the capability to follow through on your offer.

Edited by chuckfinley, 15 January 2013 - 06:36 PM.

[tam]

I'm guessing you won't have much luck finding tons of blogs about storage. You'll need to go one step removed and go for blogs that your customer base frequent. For example, I'm guessing your customers come from a particular geographic region? So target blogs related to that area. If you get a lot of people using the storage services as part of a house move - target sites relating to moving, to moving into the area, finding property, estate agents etc. Perhaps decorating/design/home improvement blogs.

[chuckfinley]

I'm guessing you won't have much luck finding tons of blogs about storage. You'll need to go one step removed and go for blogs that your customer base frequent. For example, I'm guessing your customers come from a particular geographic region? So target blogs related to that area. If you get a lot of people using the storage services as part of a house move - target sites relating to moving, to moving into the area, finding property, estate agents etc. Perhaps decorating/design/home improvement blogs.

Exactly, great advice!

Check it out - I was surprised how many blogs showed up on the search for "product storage blogs", both in the US and UK.

[DonnaFontenot]

Now see...this just proves my point.

Can't think of something to say about storage?

Look at this picture.



Now, can you come up with something interesting?

[chuckfinley]

Can't think of something to say about storage?

Look at this picture.

Now, can you come up with something interesting?

[glyn]

dont follow you entierly donna.

It's one thing to write an article and another to write something that can help you as a business. Otherwise what you write just becomes too quirky or out of kilter with what you are trying to do. I think EGOL nailed it, writing about the savings that can be made through storage. But then if you're marketing to Elf's for sure the article would be right.

[TheAlex]

How do you guys go about finding suitable blogs/sites to post your article? Is there generally a lot of communication involved with the site owner?

There are loads of good posts about outreach. There's a great one I can't think of that I don't have to hand at the moment (I think it was on SEOmoz), but this one looks helpful: http://www.seomoz.or...o-your-outreach

Also, is there a way to check the 'quality' of a potential site/blog from Google's perspective? I'm using Alexa for any stats at the moment...?

Alexa is well known for its unreliable data. I'd judge the quality of a potential site based on some of the following:

• Are the current posts of good quality? Check existing guest posts.
• Is it regularly updated?
• Is it a well established or new website?
• Does it have an engaged user base (e.g. comments, social shares)?
• Is the audience a potential fit for your business?
• What sort of sites link to it? Put the URL into Open Site Explorer and AHrefs.

If you think from a human perspective instead of trying to think what Google would like, Google will end up looking favourably at your site anyway.

Once you've guested somewhere, remember to check back for and respond to comments. Promote your post too - if it's successful for them I bet the site owner would love to have you back.

[DonnaFontenot]

Alex, I'm not saying put a post about elf storage front and center on your site. But it is suitable for guest posting to holiday blogs, or even on your own blog during the holidays. Not every piece of content has to convert. Sometimes, people just want to know that a company has a personality and a sense of humor; something they can relate to.

[earlpearl]

I love basic businesses like this.

I'd get a list of vendors from the company and start putting out requests for links. You might be able to both write interesting copy for distribution and not only get links from vendor sites but get compelling copy on the values and services of your clients.

The business probably has clients for whom they have provided multiple tasks, wherein they provided one service, and then possibly found another area wherein they could help a client/customer. The staff at the business will know about those events and stories. I'd interview the staff looking for creative efforts that helped clients and possible ways they provided solutions. Those stories could well get testimonials from the clients. Those types of stories are worthwhile in a wide variety of business journals that not only can bring links but could get readership in areas where potential other clients will notice the articles.

I'd mix some of the creative ideas above with serious business info I'd want to see distributed in business areas where potential clients might see it.

The retail market for someone like TAM and for someone who might want individual offices are different than for businesses that purchase pallets or want to store tons of records....business to consumer versus business to business. As TAM suggested you might want to build out the retail portion of the website to be more inviting on those areas.

I'd think and act on the actual business operations: Can you get links from vendors or clients. Can you get serious references in serious business journals wherein you address ways your client solves other business's problems.

[barbeluk1]

Many thanks for all the replies!! Wow. This forum is awesome!

I clicked on Ken Fisher's sig link to http://myblogguest.com/ is this sort of thing worth doing do you think?

Also, does a link from this forum (in my post above) help, if I'd changed the anchor text to something SEO friendly like 'Order Processing in Bristol'?

I'm recently been made aware of 'Squidoo' (after looking at a another companies SEO offerings). I tried to create a Squidoo lens for one of my other sites but you seem to have to jump through loads of hoops just to get the thing published. It is worth the effort?

Thanks again for all the creative responses.

Andy

[jonbey]

Pretty sure links in this forum will not help.

MyBlogGuest can be good, although there are a lot of low quality blogs which bid for posts - a lot of people use it for free content and are not running very good sites. So do a thorough quality check before agreeing to hand over your article.

[barbeluk1]

I've just had an interesting demo from someone trying to sell me an SEO software solution (by pure coincidence). His software did all the reporting stuff you'd expect and analysed the on-site SEO of the demo site, but it also suggests and almost automates the process of adding links to other sites. The demo he showed suggested adding 5 links to the following:

Angelic Dir
Big Online Directory
Efficient Directory
The Aegis Solutions Dir
Triumph Directory

Are these legitimate sites or are they considered link farms??

Many thanks,

Andy