Link Building Tactics that Your Competitors Are Too Lazy to Try

Link Building Tactics that Your Competitors Won't Even Try

Links are still a large part of Google’s ranking algorithm and that’s never going to change. What has changed are the link building tactics to earn those links.

The days of hiring someone to write a article for $15, then {rewriting|spinning|revising} the shit out of it and submitting it to a few hundred article directories are long over. Between Panda and Penguin, that model has been killed. Highly scalable low quality links just don’t work anymore, and even worse, if Google catches you using those tactics, they will slap your website with a penalty that can take years to recover from.

Today, link building is simple, but it’s far from easy. Some people are still using outdated tactics that don’t work and will lead to penalties, while others have simply given up on link building entirely. It’s hard and it takes a ton of consistent hard work, but that detail creates tremendous opportunities for those of us who are willing to put in the work.

Building an effective link profile that helps you outrank your competitors depends on using tactics that they aren’t using.

So are you looking for a serious competitive advantage? Then suit up because you have a lot of work ahead of you and you’ll need to…gaspbuild real relationships.

Here are link building tactics that I guarantee few, if any of your competitors are using.

Interview professors

A simple way to earn .edu links is to interview professors on topics relevant to your industry. Most professors have their own page on the university website and will happily link to your interview from that page to bolster their expertise. Boom! Now you have one of those coveted .edu links everyone is always drooling over. There is no shortage of professors who love to talk, so this is a very scalable tactic.

Get interviewed outside of your industry

Everyone else is fighting for coverage on industry-related websites, so why not reach out websites out of your industry? Website owners are always looking for a unique angle, so that makes relevant pitches from outside their industry a perfect fit fro them and an easier win for you. USA Mobile Drug Testing has done a great job of this by focusing on human resource websites rather than drug testing websites.

Review relevant products

Everyone loves it when you say nice things about them and companies are no different. Write a thorough and honest product review along with plenty of images and video, and your vendors will usually be more than happy to link to your review. You’ll have to contact them about it—they aren’t exactly scouring the internet looking for reasons to link to your website. Boiler plate copy or a basic description won’t cut it here. Your review needs to explain explain features and benefits, exactly how it works, how to use it, and anything else they should know about it. After reading your review, they should feel like they’ve used it themselves.

Participate in local events

Whether it’s a charity event, a networking event, or even an entertainment event, volunteering in a leadership role can help get your name in the news, and can often lead to links to your site. Don’t expect to walk in an run the show though; you’ll probably have to spend some time doing grunt work before being trusted to take a leadership role.

Develop high-quality, useful content in a digestible format

I’m not talking about your typical blog post here; I’m talking about extensive research distilled into an easily digestible format. It’s going to take a LOT of time to develop this type of content, and that’s exactly why most of your competitors won’t try, and since it’s so rare, it tends to earn a ton of links. Moz’s Local Search Ranking Factors is a perfect example. Rand and the team at Moz go through an extensive process of developing a set of questions/hypotheses, interviewing hundreds of the top industry professionals, then distilling that data into a beautifully designed and easy to understand webpage.

Interview industry experts

Has anyone ever published an interview with you on their website? If so, I’m willing to bet that if you had a website, you linked to the interview. Guess what—just about everyone else will do the exact same thing. Unless someone works for the CIA, chances are they want more publicity and validation, and if you can give them that, they’re usually more than happy to link to that interview to leverage even more publicity and exposure for themselves.

Guest lecture at a local university

Universities may link to the websites of their guest lecturers. Ideally, you should create a profile page on your website with your head shot and bio for the university to link to. They may not link to the homepage of a commercial website, but few would refuse to link to a non-promotional profile page.

What do our clients say about Spartan Media?

We could talk all day about how awesome we are, but we know you’d rather hear what our clients think, so here’s what they have to say about what we’ve done for them and the impact it’s had on their businesses.

Kim Kiyosaki

Kim Kiyosaki

Co-founder, Rich Dad Company

Jeremy’s strength is matching your message with the most effective media outlets and spot on audience demographics. He is very strategic, extremely diligent, does all the heavy lifting, and he makes you look good. If you want PR results that go above and beyond, then I’d definitely go with Spartan Media.

Matt Andrews

Matt Andrews

Entrepreneur, Investor, Venture Capitalist

I own multiple businesses in the real estate and marketing spaces and the only PR team that I’ll use is Spartan Media. It’s really important that I get exposure in the right media outlets and that’s exactly what Jeremy and the team at Spartan Media help me do. They are the best in the industry and I highly recommend working with them.

Christina Krause

Christina Krause

Founder, Postal Impact

I can’t tell you how many times someone has said, “I saw an article about your company and it reminded me to circle back to you.” That has been a really interesting component of our relationship. We certainly have increased our presence, but it’s really interesting how many people we already know that have reached out to do business with us directly as a result of seeing us featured in the media.

Dr. David Phelps

Dr. David Phelps

CEO, Freedom Founders

Working with Spartan Media has been a real pleasure. They make the connections, craft talking points, and always make sure I’m prepared—and they do all the heavy lifting to make it easy for me. So we get it together, it’s efficient, it’s dialed in, and it makes me show up as an expert. Credibility and authority is everything in today’s space and Spartan Media does it better than anybody else. 

Tatiana Zagorovski

Tatiana Zagorovski

Founder, Trio Realty Partners

Working with Spartan Media has completely transformed the way people see me and my business. They’ve helped me get in front of the right audiences and share my ideas and expertise across the nation—and the results have been incredible. I’m now being recognized as a trusted authority in my industry, and people are reaching out to me because of the exposure and status they’ve created for me.

Jason Keyz

Jason Keyz

CEO & Principal Broker, KEYZ Group

I don’t have the time to reach out to the media, and it’s one of those things where if you actually tried to reach out yourself, you’d be met upon deaf ears anyway. So working with the team at Spartan Media, that specializes in exactly this and does it on a daily basis, is the best way to go. Plus, their white glove treatment is exactly what you need because it let’s you focus on running your business.

Nicole Espinosa

Nicole Espinosa

CEO, The Short Sale Queen

My experience with Spartan Media has been amazing! I’ve been featured in Inman, Entrepreneur, Benzinga, Fox Business, and so many more because of them, and that’s opened a lot of doors for me. They do a great job of positioning you and helping you craft the perfect message. I totally appreciate that because I think as entrepreneurs, we often feel like we know everything.

Trey Taylor

Trey Taylor

Founder, Trinity Blue Consulting

I love that while I’m focusing on what I do best, Spartan Media is consistently getting me featured in the media. This helps give me more exposure, but more importantly, helps me to be seen as more authoritative in my industry, so more deals come my way and I close them faster and more easily. I feel that Spartan’s PR services are one of the best investments you can make as an entrepreneur.

Ready to get featured in the media?

If you’re already an expert, we think you deserve to be recognized as one—and to be blunt, your prospects deserve to find and work with you instead of your less qualified competitors who just happen to be better at promoting themselves. So get in touch to see if you qualify.

Authority Declassified