Working-from-home is now the new normal. Now, we find careers that can both protect our family and give us a stable source of income indoors. But what options do you have?
If you have a strong background in SEO, link building might be for you. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) are practices on your website that adheres to Google’s algorithm to maximize searchability. It involves optimizing your webpages for keywords so that they will organically show up in the search results.
What is Link Building?
Interlinks are probably the most important SEO indicator. Interlinks are websites, either internal or external, that use your webpage as a clickable “reference” to their article or webpage. They hyperlink your website to let their readers know that you can be a good resource if they want to know more about the topic.
And Google sees this as a ranking signal because it’s an indication that your article is valuable enough. After all, why would many websites link to it if it’s not? That’s why link builders are there to supplement SEO efforts.
But it’s not easy to do; that’s why backlinks (or external websites linking back to you) are prized achievements. Here 8 essentials skills you should have to become a sought-after link builder.
Knowing Your Audience
The first step to marketing is knowing your audience. Who resonates with your products? What are their demographics? What’s their buyer’s persona?
It allows you to shortlist your target websites to pitch backlink opportunities. After all, there are fewer chances for a pet food website backlinking your aircon articles? You can have focused efforts when you have the ability to know and understand your audience.
SEO Skills
Backlinking is all for SEO visibility. You can’t become a link builder if you don’t understand SEO well. How does backlinking work? What are the SEO indicators to boost? What will you do with the 404 errors? Are you sure the link is a “do-follow” link?
It is a fundamental skill and prerequisite you should learn first before you become a link builder.
Analytical Skills
SEO is highly technical. And it involves numerous data you can use to create strategies for your team. It’s essential to have these analytical skills so that you can interpret data that can be beneficial. In this way, you would know what strategies are effective and recalibrate those that aren’t when doing your link building.
Industry Knowledge
Aside from the current analytics, you should also know enough about the industry you’re working for. It entails knowing the latest trends, industry know-how, and information repositories like blogs, forums, Reddit, etc.
In this way, you can pinpoint great websites that can possibly help when linked back.
Creativity
There is no hard and fast rule for link building. As a link builder, you should be creative enough to know which tools you can use. It can include email campaigns, giveaways, article directories, forums, guest posting, blog reach out, and more.
Know what can be effective and try out ways to build the links you desire.
Negotiating Skills
After building a list of prospective websites, it’s time to contact them. You should have the negotiating skills and a strong business sense to pitch win-win scenarios for both parties. It can be some sort of mutual benefit, or maybe payment is involved, depending on the results.
But how you communicate is vital to convincing them to build the link.
Confidence
And negotiating comes with confidence. How confident are you that you can really offer a win-win scenario for both of you? How confident are you that your company’s articles will provide value to their business as well?
You should be confident in your capabilities as well as the company you are representing to close negotiations better.
Persistence and Patience
But you rarely get a favorable response at the first contact. Should you quit and forego the possible backlink? The answer is no. Based on a study, successful backlinks happen at the third email exchange.
We’re not saying that you constantly bother the website owner without trying out new leads.
You still need to talk to new people but don’t forget to follow up with people you have contacted. Imagine if you gave up on the first contact? You wouldn’t have gotten a valuable link.
So have the persistence and patience to follow through.
Conclusion
There you have it! These skills will certainly help you in your link building career. If you are looking for a career as a link builder, check out this link for more information.
