Recently, I had the privilege of chatting with marketing and outreach guru, Mark Samms.
Mark and his Ninja Outreach team provide their customers with a truly awesome product – an all-in-one lead prospecting and outreach software.
When Mark talked with me, we discussed something that has confused quite a few marketers: how to get great backlinks.
How People Have Gone About Getting Backlinks in the Past
A lot of people go about trying to get backlinks in two ways that don’t always work very well.
Here’s an overview.
1. Focusing Only on High-Authority Backlinks
Focusing on getting high-authority backlinks can seem like the most logical way to achieve Google ranking success. It can also seem like the best way to paint yourself as an authority in your industry.
However, making this your only focus can slow your ranking progress to a snail’s pace.
Not only that, getting higher DA backlinks can be even more difficult depending on your location, business type, relationships/connections, and the number of employees you have.
For instance, a solopreneur with no connections living in a small town will have a harder time getting those backlinks. It won’t be impossible, of course – it will just take extra time.
2. Not Concerning Themselves with High-Authority Backlinks
Then there are those who go to the other extreme. These folks don’t worry about the DA of their backlink sources. While every little bit helps when it comes to backlinks and Google rankings, not having a plan at all can leave you struggling to rise.
Ideally, you should get a mix of high-, medium-, and low-authority backlinks. The reason for this is because every little bit will help with your Google rankings, particularly if you’re a smaller business or don’t have a lot of high-authority connections.
Of course, getting those high-authority backlinks will raise your rankings faster, but when you’re just starting out – you have to work up to the high-authority backlink goal.
Mark’s Backlink Recommendations – How You Should Get Them
What does it take to get people to backlink to your website?
Mark Samms was gracious enough to share some of his top ideas for getting better backlinks.
1. Reach Out to People You Already Know
This is the best place for everyone to start.
Do you know someone who already has a blog? You probably do. Because content marketing is one of the top marketing formats available – and blogging is a huge part of that – more businesses are focusing their marketing efforts on their blog.
Reach out to business owners within your community that you admire – whether they’re in your online community or local community.
If you’re a small business owner in a small town, reach out to other local business owners whose blogs reach people in your niche. It might help to write some guest blogs for them, and vice versa.
Remember – it doesn’t always have to be about competition. Focus on providing your readership with the most valuable content. They’ll appreciate it and it can result in loyal followers.
2. Reach Out to Influencers in Your Space
Mark calls your “target market” your “space.” Within that space are influencers/leaders and followers. At some point, we’re all followers – avid readers of blog content that addresses our needs, desires, and questions.
As a reader, have you come across some bloggers who you really resonate with, who address the issues you have and provide helpful answers? It may be these very people who have inspired you to start a business in this particular space.
Whatever the case may be, these influencers can actually help you when it comes to backlinking.
There are many bloggers out there who are busy entrepreneurs just like you and are looking for people to write some guest blog posts for them.
Reach out to these people. Ask them if they would consider letting you write for them.
Even if they aren’t looking for someone right now, they may in the future – and at this point, you’ve started a relationship with them. You’re now on their radar, and with time they may reach out to you.
3. Look for Broken Backlinks
This process is a time consuming one, but it can be a goldmine. It definitely shouldn’t be your only way of getting backlinks, but occasionally looking for broken links can lead to great rewards.
There are two ways to go about doing this.
The slowest way is to read articles by a business that could benefit from your product or service, or maybe it’s their readers who could benefit.
Read their articles and check out the backlinks that they provide.
If you find a broken backlink to a business that provides a product or service similar to yours, contact the company that wrote the article. Let them know that their backlink is broken and that your company offers a similar service. They might change out the broken link for a backlink to your website.
Another way to do this – one that’s a bit faster – is to Google “broken backlink checker tools.” These tools will help you find the backlinks in a more efficient manner.
Great Backlinks Are a Mix of High-, Medium-, and Low-Authority Links
Instead of going to extremes and focusing only on high-authority links, the best thing you can do is go for a good mix of high-, medium-, and low-authority links.
While it may seem like the best thing you can do is focus on high-authority links, this will take some time to achieve. In the meantime, try to get some other backlinks. Every little bit will help.
This mix is a sure way to progressively move your blog and/or website up in Google rankings.
Try some of the steps above and you’ll slowly but surely begin to see progress. Don’t worry if you don’t see progress overnight – that never happens. But as Mark kept pointing out – it will happen with consistency.
Are you interested in the latest marketing strategy techniques? Follow Mark on Instagram or Facebook for helpful tips. And don’t forget to read the Ninja Outreach blog for even more awesome info.
ABOUT MARK SAMMS
Mark's got a big heart and even bigger dreams - he's the main motivator behind NinjaOutreach and keeps the team together.
NinjaOutreach is the brain child of three internet marketers who saw a need for better outreach marketing tools.
For years people have been researching influencers, collecting valuable data and contact information, emailing and tweeting, and building out client reports.
Except they were using a dozen different tools to do so.
We put our heads together and asked ourselves one, simple question:
Can we do this all in one?
The answer, of course, is yes.
And so, like ninjas, we did.
Ninja Outreach is now a blooming software business, which also offers digital marketing services ranging from prospecting to entirely done for you outreach campaigns.
Contact us to inquire about our services.
