Friday 24 November 2017
6 Content Strategies to Boost Your Digital PR & Link Building Success
5 Ways You Can Build Links Like a PR Pro
1. Find Your Influencers & Create Relationships With Them
SEO professionals are typically tech-minded. SEOs typically work to create scalable solutions that automate everything. No exception in link building. From e-mail scraping tools to private blog networks, SEOs will jump on any link building tool which promises to create links en masse that they control. Well, at least until Google bans those techniques and the tools start getting websites into trouble. I can tell you from experience that successful link building is more about quality than quantity. I’d rather have one link from the Wall Street Journal than 1,000 links from Joe Schmoe’s blog. But a link from the Wall Street Journal is difficult to obtain. You don’t have to go that big. Finding the influencers in the niche you are working in isn’t hard. It just takes time and research. Once you find those influencers, engage them. Not by spamming them asking for a link. Really read what they are saying. Comment. Send influencers helpful articles that have nothing to do with your site. When the time is right, they’ll be more apt to link to what you want them to, even if it’s not quite a fit. It’s the law of reciprocity – if you do something for the influencer, they will feel that they need to help you out. PRO TIP: Whenever possible, meet with influencers in person. Buying a journalist or blogger a beer typically has a very high ROI. PRO TIP #2: Limit your reach. This sounds counter-intuitive, but if you target everyone, you target no one. Identifying the top 10 or 15 best influencers and cultivating relationships with those folks is, in most cases, far more effective than trying to interact with 100 influencers. Everyone has limited resources. Use yours wisely. SEO PRO TIP: When looking at influencers, look at their search presence. If a decent influencer has a bad search presence, offer them some tips for free. Depending on the influencers, it can be profitable to even offer to fix their site for free. I can say, however, that I’ve turned influencers into clients with this tactic. Again, law of reciprocity.2. Look for Opportunities That Tie Into Current Events
Many SEO pros already do this, to an extent. But most write an article around something timely and then pitch it. For many of the top sites, that’s too late. Have your experts ready to go quickly. When a news story that affects your niche hits, have your list ready and offer expert commentary. Expert commentary almost always comes with a mention and a link. PRO TIP: Set up Google Alerts around key topics and people in your industry. That way you can know when a big story hits. PRO TIP #2: Practice getting the word out. Create “fire drills” with your team and client and act like a big news story just hit. This is a good way to get your team and client onboard with what you are doing so you don’t get blank stares or flat or refusal to participate when the real thing hits. This is especially important for SEOs who work with other PR professionals. Get the other PR pros involved in the process. That way they don’t feel like you are taking over their job – a common problem for SEOs who practice PR tactics for link building purposes. BONUS PRO TIP: Make sure you have your lists ready as much ahead of time as possible. SEO TIP: In most of these cases, it’s OK to ask if you get a link expert commentary. You don’t need to demand one. In most cases, you’ll get one, but influencers sometimes forget. Better to ask before their story goes out rather than trying to get the link from them later.3. Use Press Releases for Big News
A few years back, SEOs almost ruined the press release. We found out that a tool that has been used for decades by PR pros also worked to create links on a ton of sites. And so we use them, abused them, and almost “losed” them. Today there is still some abuse of press releases, but most legitimate services have increased their prices so that sending out a press release is not practical for every little piece of news. But when you have something big to say? The links are still there. But they don’t come from the syndication. In fact, most of the links that are syndicated are now nofollowed or carry no value. Like you (see tip #2), influencers are monitoring for new stories. They will see your press release. If you don’t get any calls, that means you either used the wrong service, didn’t use the right keywords in the release, or your news wasn’t big enough. PRO TIP: The “emabargoed” release, or a release that goes out to a few influencers before it is syndicated, is a great way to get an influencer’s attention. If you have one that you really want a link from, send them the press release beforehand and ask them not to put anything out about it until it goes live – but make sure to tell them when it goes live. In some cases, you can even let them break the story, which influencers love to do. PRO TIP #2: If you don’t embargo (or more likely don’t embargo to everyone), you can send links to your release in the sites that pick up the release through your wire service of choice. If you send a link from the Houston Chronicle or even the influencer’s local paper that has your news in it, you’ll get their attention. SEO TIP: If you work with a PR firm, ask to see their releases before they put them on the wire. That way you can insure that the keywords you want in there are actually in there. PR folks love language, and sometimes use different words than what is searched. Showing them the light in regards to specific keywords is a win for everyone.4. Look at HARO
Help a Reporter Out was founded by Peter Shankman initially as a Facebook group to help reporters find sources for stories. Shankman knew that most reporters are looking for sources, and PR pros are looking to provide sources. The Facebook group was such a hit he turned it into an e-mail list. Then Cision bought the whole thing for several million dollars. Today there are still tons of journalists and other influencers asking for sources for stories. There is a veritable linking gold mine in every issue of HARO. And there are three issues per day. PRO TIP: It takes some time to really read through HARO every day. If you can, assign someone on your team to be responsible for looking through each issue to see if there is anything relevant for your client or your company. PRO TIP #2: Follow HARO on Twitter at @helpareporter to see urgent requests from journalists. SEO TIP: There are frequent questions from reporters around search related subjects. Don’t forget to check it for yourself.5. Research Your Niche
Most PR pros are news junkies. Many came into the profession from a journalism background. Good PR pros always know what is going in their niche – from the latest rumors down to the competitor offerings. Most SEOs I know are news junkies when it comes to SEO, but not when it comes to their clients. SEOs miss out on so many link building opportunities when they don’t know the industry they are working in. For our clients, we try to become experts in their field. We may never know the business as well as the client does, but we can certainly become proficient enough to identify linking opportunities we would never find if we didn’t know the industry. PRO TIP: If there are publicly traded companies in your niche, read their earnings reports. You can learn a lot from earnings reports, and your influencers may not be reading them, so letting them know what’s up is a way to further the relationship. PRO TIP #2: If your niche is wide, try to narrow it. The more you can narrow the niche, the easier it is to become an expert. And once you learn one aspect of your niche, it’s usually easier to expand to broader topics. SEO TIP: Keep tabs on what your competitors are doing in search, what’s working for them, and what isn’t working. Don’t forget to look at their backlinks. By doing this, you will become better at optimizing your own sites.First DAISY Nurses of 2015 named at Meritus Medical Center
Chinese military tells Senior General it wants closer ties
Celebrities’ children forge individual identities beyond their parents’ moulds
WHEN Kaia Gerber strode out onto the New York Fashion Week catwalk for Calvin Klein in September, she cemented herself as a fierce talent we’ll no doubt see a lot more of.
At (just) 16 she’s already appeared on multiple magazine covers, including fashion bible Vogue, starred in a fragrance campaign for Marc Jacobs’ Daisy and walked the runway for Burberry, Moschino and Chanel — to name just a few.
But as much as she is being recognised for her talents, there’s no escaping the striking resemblance to her supermodel mum, Cindy Crawford.
Another celebrity offspring making a splash of his own and trying a range of vocations is Jude Law’s son Rafferty, 21. The younger Law’s likeness to his actor dad serves him well in modelling and an inherited sharp fashion sense from mum Sadie Frost landed him a place among GQ’s 50 best dressed British men. But it appears music, particularly working as a DJ, is his biggest passion.
How successful this crop of celebrity children will be remains to be seen but there are clues to how to succeed in the experiences of older generations. Dhani Harrison, with his narrow nose and penchant for unkempt hair, is the spitting image of his late father George. He also shares his Beatle dad’s talent for musical arrangements. After landing his professional start working on George’s final album Brainwashed (released posthumously), he went on to win a Grammy (2004), record multiple film scores and release albums with bands Thenewno2 and Fistful of Mercy, as well as a solo album.Others have shown similar dedication. Kiefer Sutherland may have grown up in the shadow of father Donald Sutherland’s success, but he’s arguably become as successful. And refreshingly, there appears no rivalry between the pair.
After appearing alongside his dad in the 1983 film Max Dugan Returns, he was quick to secure roles on his own merit, including cult vampire film The Lost Boys in 1987. He is now starring in the hit TV series Designated Survivor.