To say that I have lost faith in building backlinks for SEO would be a huge understatement.
I have watched time and time again something rank using the standard link building practices only to watch it lose rank with an algorithm change.
The “system”, “blueprint”, or whatever it is they are calling it these days is broken; maybe not today, but it will break eventually… just give it time.
The issue isn’t building backlinks though.
The issue is the common strategies, in which we build them.
One of the harder lessons I have learned in my 10 year+ marriage with online marketing is that most marketers are putting the cart before the horse in terms of building a business online.
They think in terms of one way link building, when they should, in fact, be thinking in terms of people network building.
I’m going to give you a real-life example of networking to build your business and I think that after everything is said and done, you will agree that building a network is way more stable than building links for SEO… and much more efficient to boot.
1. Your Network Starts with Who You Know…
…who knows you…
…and who they know.
Most online marketers start with keywords and then work their way backwards into a niche that isn’t very competitive.
Then they will expand their reach by creating more content based on keywords they think are attainable and will spend the majority of their time building links to rank in search and bring in SEO traffic.
A networker will start with their existing network and determine who in their network can push their message across other channels.
As their reach grows, so does their influence in the social clusters within their ever-expanding network.
The majority of their time is spent adding value and helping others get what they want.
Real-Life Example of the Power of Networking
I have a small design company that designs websites for musicians and artists.
I don’t have any “visibility” online (no website), nor do I have it offline (no brick and mortar business).
However, I do have a friend in my network who happens to run a non-profit for musicians.
By networking with that non-profit, I am able to find business easily.
Since I am referred by a trusted source, I don’t share a portfolio and don’t really even need an elevator pitch to sell my service.
In fact, most come pre-sold.
The cost of this “agreement” was a 45-minute meeting with the board, in which I pitched the benefits of my services for their network.
Lesson:
Look toward your existing network for help first.
Think in terms of value you can bring to your network for the biggest ROI.
If you don’t have anyone in your network that can help, brainstorm reach-out strategies to those who could help you, but format the “pitch” in a way where they can understand the ROI for them as well.
What they are getting in return has to be just as valuable to THEM as what they are giving to get it.
For more ideas on how to grow your network, read this post on how to build a popular blog (the way Ana did it).
2. Network Expands Exponentially at the Vertical Gateways
Link acquisition for SEO purposes expands at a rate of one in most cases.
What I mean by this is that for every link you get, you have to work at the submission process.
This means that however long it takes you to do that guest post, write that snippet, or post that tweet, in all likelihood, the link is still going to be worth 1 link.
This is especially the case for links that are meant exclusively for SEO.
Network expansion however works differently.
Here’s an example:
Most design companies would target musicians at the base level (the musicians themselves), if at all.
But what if you expanded your network through verticals?
For instance, for every 50+ bands, there is a publicist, a booking agent, a club owner, a manager, a recording engineer/producer, etc.
If I spend 50 hours working with 10 managers and each manager manages 10 bands on any given day, then my network expands to 110.
Of course, it all boils down to reaching an agreement with these verticals.
If you were in the web design business, would covering the costs of a website makeover be worth the 100 bands that recorded at that recording studio?
What about a manager or publicist that build press packs for musicians?
What about the club owner who deals with bands at the local level?
What would you give to reach those musicians?
In all fairness, some link builders understand that link acquisition at the gateways is a far more superior strategy than link acquisition on the fringe.
However, it’s much harder to generate interest from the gate keepers when there is a flimsy relationship.
Plus what’s at stake from a cost/benefits frame of mind for the gate keepers is usually not in their favor.
For most link builders, it’s not about creating the most value for the visitor…
It’s about creating the most links to make the page visible.
But with that said, all the data I have accumulated in regards to link interaction have pointed strongly to the fact that in-context referrals get more traffic than guest posts or links you have built yourself.
In other words, from a networking standpoint, someone referring you is always going to give you a better return than you referring yourself.
Lesson:
If you attack your network at the gateways, your efforts may be rewarded exponentially.
If your network is your referral center, then they will almost always bring you more traffic than if you are your referral center.
Trust comes quicker from referral gateways because people trust people they know and respect….
3. With Networking, Results are Quicker and More Predictable
One of the biggest advantages of networking is the predictability factor.
As someone who has managed SEO campaigns (both my own and for clients), I can fairly accurately predict that if I continue to build links, I should eventually rank.
When that happens is another story altogether and depends on a variety of factors.
But networking is more predictable.
For example, a client of mine recently held a seminar for their organization, in which 100 people attended.
After the seminar was done, I placed a page for it on their website with accolades to the speakers and pictures of the seminar itself.
My client then sent an email to the speakers telling them that they were featured on the page and told them they were free to share it with anyone they wanted.
Some did.
Some didn’t.
However, the resulting traffic generated more leads for my client, which in turn should spell out more sales down the road.
4. Networking Stacks Opportunities
Perhaps the biggest advantage to networking over link building for SEO is the fact that the opportunities become stackable, if you plan it right.
Here’s an example.
I do some online work for a regional trade magazine that’s trying to go national.
The website is more of a lead generation hub for the magazine.
As their online presence grows, more opportunities will transpire naturally.
- For instance, the magazine should be able to draw more writers that are location-based, which will increase the website’s reputation along search.
- Trades and agreements for advertisement to local email subscribers for third party seminars can be made.
- More networking opportunities for advertisers for the magazine from major firms will come out of seminars.
All of this will expand a network exponentially without having to deal with the irregularities of the search medium.
Marketing Takeaway
Networking may be deemed harder than simply establishing link points for SEO.
However, the advantages allow for a stronger base strategy, in which you can grow a real business that isn’t dependent on search engine whims.
Ironically, building a strong network first will almost always guarantee higher rankings, because you wind up building natural links from others within your network.
As someone learning the art of link building there’s plenty of food for thought here Leo, The Word of Mouth idea for Marketing is very good. how would I go about identifying gatekeepers in my local businesscommunity?
Carl,
Locally, your best bet is still old school…networking outside the internet…
You can try social media platforms but the best bet locally is kissing babies and shaking hands. Plus, face to face networking does so much more for credibility.
Great article Leo. I love your point about seeking links a little higher up the food chain, instead of at the bottom. Just like in offline networking, developing relationships with those that can send you lots of referrals is well worth the effort. Interesting that you applied this concept to SEO and link building.
I have found that it’s best not to put all of your eggs in one basket when it comes to “marketing”. I have a method that seems to be work pretty well for clients (and my own website) whereas I use a mixture of different platforms to build links - Google seems to like this as well. I always remind myself it’s about people first, search engines second. Thanks for the great post.
sunny
This is a great article on building networks and relationships within our niche. I agree that it is easier to grow and expand if we focus on the key players in our current business model.
It kind of reminds me of how mom and pop stores have survived in our tech age. Simply because they have built a loyal customer base and word of mouth have made them sustainable.
I was thinking of how this concept could be applied to Internet Marketers, webmasters and freelance writers and what comes to mind is that it would be crucial to find “forums” and “blogs” related to our industry and connect with the those who have a wide influence in our niche, that way there will be this constant interchange of ideas and resources that will last longer than any SEO tactics would.
Thanks for the informative article Leo, I will bookmark if for later reference.
Hey Leo, Looks like you covered it all! SEO is important I agree. But what I find is getting out to many different groups and organizations, other blogs, articles etc. is a must if you want to brand yourself.
No matter what your business is, people buy people is a golden rule. It can be off line or on line. We must build relationships to be successful.
Thanks for a wonderful post.
Donna Merrill
Interesting and the example given makes perfect sense but from an online perspective what sources would you use as the gatekeepers so to speak in say an internet marketing niche?
Steve
Steve,
“internet marketing” is a blanket market that covers a variety of niches and is too large for the casual marketer to address. Yeah, there is a lot of money for covering such a general term but the problem is by covering that many topics, you are reducing the size of available gatekeepers that wouldn’t be directly competing with you.
If you drill down into the niches within this market, you will be able to find pockets that are condusive to your business and find gatekeepers in verticals that wouldn’t feel as threatened by your presence.
John
Leo, I like what you say about coming “pre-sold” to some clients. I’ve experienced that to be true as well. If they come to you on a strong referral, you usually have to do something to screw it up to not get the job.
John,
A lot of marketers don’t understand that selling (regardless of whether it is products or services) becomes so much easier when you can foster relationships not only with those who have bought from you before, but those who actively promote you for no other reason than they like you.
The trust factor goes up…way up….when someone you know and trust recommends stuff. (hence, why list building works so well.)
Stephen Jeske
Leo, that’s a great explanation of the benefits of networking. The specific example you provided really hit home and made it much more down to earth and practical. I agree with you that just building links alone doesn’t make much sense. Relying solely on one way to build a business will eventually lead to a dead end. Establishing connections with real people is an investment that will at one point pay dividends, as you have shown. Linkbuilding is an expense that can pay off, but only if you earn the favor of the Google Gods!
Leo, strong interpersonal relationships of course are valuable but it’s difficult to maintain meaningful relationships with the hundreds and thousands of people Google now requires for page ranking. Guess the best method is to build an e-mail list that can re-establish connections. Last time I checked Google doesn’t control e-mail. 🙂
Hey Astro,
What most people don’t get is that if you are using the web for business, you don’t need hundreds or thousands of people daily (or even monthly). Most businesses use the internet as an advertising medium for leads. Almost all businesses don’t depend on one-and-done sales…Almost all need recurring income from those who buy from them in one form or another.
If you break that down and actually understand that, then the focus doesn’t become how many people can I get to view my page ….it becomes how can I get the right people to view my page and erase as many predispositions to turning them to sales as I can
People get enamored by numbers. You don’t need big numbers. You just need the right audience.
Jon
Excellent advice for all marketers. Why work hard when you can work smart? Or to borrow the Zig Ziglar quote: “You can have everything you want in life if you just help enough other people get what they want.” Obviously a degree of SEO is necessary but many seem to forget that search engines don’t buy our offers - people do.
Some very valid points, Leo.
When Looking at link building in that broader context, it does take on a altogether different perspective.
Just from seeing how many people I know do business off line,
Networking is based(built) on relationships.
The people I know that have done very well with whatever pursuits they have chosen, spent in many cases, just as much time having to build connections(Relationships) through networking, as they did doing all the practical(Physical) hands on work.
To say they were involved 24/7 would have been quite close to the mark.
Hi Leo,
Great post, most internet marketers and online businesses forget that no matter if your business is online or offline it all comes down to people and relationships, they should really read your post to understand the importance of networking and the huge difference it can make…
Kevin
I love an example with musicians and their managers. It illustrates the whole concept very well. Thank you for sharing this post. From now on it complements my marketing strategy!
Leo,
I think anytime you access a network of people, starting with those that you know and spreading out to the people that they know, you get more leads and more exposure. These leads and exposure will also be very targeted to what you are doing rather.
Great points and ideas.
Dee Ann Rice
Hi Leo,
What you’re saying is something I can truly relate to. I have so many examples of things happening because of relationships, and usually this is where the money is. I have had business clients come to me, solely based upon a recommendation from a friend of mine, and they haven’t even looked at my site, and they have no idea about my experience. They have contacted me, because of a relationship.
To me, relationships are even more important now than ever before. And it’s a lot easier to build strong relationships, because of social media especially. We just need to focus on building them, instead of spending most of our time to climb Google. I believe we need to do both, but not just focus on seo.
Awesome post Leo.
From my experience, bookmarking sites are a great way to get traffic to your blog and are a more reliable source. Remember how Digg used to work. Bloggers loved digg until they messed up the network as a whole. Anyway, in my openion, I’ve seen results from sites like blokube, blogcatalog and more.
Lately, one thought that has really stayed at the forefront of my mind is:
“Google can’t de-index or devalue relationships.”
What I mean is that no matter how Google changes their algo in the future, your site won’t be affected as much if you took the time to build real relationships with your readers and niche peers.
As long as you make a lasting impression, people will find you regardless of your ranking in the search engines.
Hey Robert,
“Google can’t de-index or devalue relationships”
Awesome point. And the reality is that as you grow these relationships, there are opportunities to bulk SEO up for your website (assuming someone has one).
Josh Garcia
Hi Leo,
Great article! I do agree that networking is a very important part to SEM.
However, the search engines are still putting heavy weight on the backlinks. Of course, they are looking at the backlinks to make sure they are coming from relevant sources. Those days of just slapping 1000’s of backlinks to a site has changed a bit.
The game hasn’t changed. The only thing that changed is the players playing the game.
Have a great day…
Josh
Nice to see you back in my neck of the woods, Josh; it’s been a while!
Josh,
There is no denying that backlinks still matter just as there is no denying that companies, personalities as brands or simply websites with large networks behind them do better than those who don’t.
Same coin….different sides 😉
Great post Leo although I do have to disagree with part of the article. I build links on a daily basis and am still getting great results today.
The only thing that is changing with Google is that they are improving the quality of the results that show up. Which at the end of the day is a great thing. If you as a user of Google are looking for something you want Google to display the most relevant and useful information possible.
And as a marketer if you are able to supply the best and most useful information for the keyword you are targeting you will be rewarded. On page optimization and great quality content is more important now then ever before.
Also a VERY targeted visitor coming from Google can convert just as good as a warm offline contact and if your content and copy is great they’ll buy without you even having to talk to them over the phone. 🙂
Hi Joshua,
Strangely enough, I agree with all your points. And this is especially true if you are dealing with niches that are simply not referred that often. But let’s face it….
Most link builders don’t think in terms of traffic coming from the links. Instead, they build links to manipulate the SERPS…this is the very thing that search engines fight against….and the reason why the algorithms eventually discredit those types of links or even penalize them.
From an efficiency standpoint, if I was to build links, the links that generate actual traffic are simply more efficient and you get a two-fer out of the deal- Immediate traffic that is somewhat targeted and SEO traffic as you start to rank.
You are correct Leo. I like to work WITH Google and give them what they want instead of trying to deceive them. With their latest 3.3 update it’s obvious they are weighing the relevancy and quality of content over backlinks.
So things are definitely changing but for the Good. Spammy SEO’ers are running out of road 🙂
Hi Leo,
Thank you for this post. Yes you are right about the strong points of networking. The thing is that at some point each one of us often starts for zero…that means that when we start we know nobody and nobody knows as….maybe this is not always the case but if I take my own personal experience it is the case. In that case we need to start from zero and build everything…the business, the network and the links. Everything from scratch!
Lenia,
If it makes you feel any better, we all start off at the same point, networking wise. 😉
I did it once but quit altogether, too time consuming and not so effective. Also I guess search engines don’t really count links coming from RedGage, Esnipsly, Best-Reviewer and similar places. Now I just rely on commenting and StumbleUpon with the occasional visit from Twitter. It works well especially taking into account the time needed to do it.
Andrea,
“Also I guess search engines don’t really count links coming from RedGage, Esnipsly, Best-Reviewer and similar places.”
They may…they may not….who knows? The thing that makes building links for links sake is that no one can put a price on a single link. When you create a link, there is no way to determine the ROI from the time spent getting it. That’s the issue most link builders run into and usually they over-compensate and create ridiculous linking schemes when honestly, the time could have been spent doing something more measurable.
I am not a hater of backlinks. I just don’t believe in creating backlinks for the sake of SEO solely. If you are a website, you need backlinks.
I agree, that’s why I focus on reading and commenting on other blogs, I learn and I get backlinks. 🙂
Good stuff Leo! As they say, the best form of advertising is word-of-mouth.
Though I’m not Christian, Jesus was able to create a MASSIVE following, merely because of his message. Imagine if Google existed back then!!
When God speaks, we listen.
Hi Leo,
You are so right on about this. I was just talking today to a friend who is about to publish a book and who was telling me how Jack Canfield (Chicken Soup for the Soul) was telling him how it’s all about networking. Who you know and who they know… so forth and so on. They sure didn’t talk about link building 🙂
After reading your post, I am so glad that I just don’t do link building just for link building. Thanks for this 🙂
All marketing is really about creating relationships, nothing less, nothing more. Any relationship, large or small, professional or personal, middle men or women or your ultimate consumer (or reader).
Hi Sylviane,
Yeah, people don’t understand the degree of connection when you start to get into the upper tiers of a market, especially when the brand is a personality.
If you want to be a nationally known SEO, you need to go to conferences where other SEO’s are and network with them. If you want to be a writer, you need to find people who are in the writing business and network with them….
Everything kind of connects. There are very few personalities and businesses that did it all themselves.
Kathleen Krueger
I absolutely LOVE this post. However, I would disagree a bit with your comment here about focusing your networking around people who are in the same business as you. You can learn a lot that way, but you’re not as likely to get clients through them.
I’m a writer, but my networking isn’t just with other writers. It is with arts organizations, website designers, marketing companies and a variety of professionals who have messages they want to get out, which is what you point to in the article. It’s important to broaden your network focus beyond your own peers to tap into those personal referrals that are the most exponential.
Hi Kathleen,
We are actually on the same page here. I’m just calling it “vertical markets”. For instance, while I don’t necessarily target band managers, they are close enough to my market and deal with people within my market so they are a good option to explore.
Totally offline example would be if you were in the weed killing business. Finding a landscaping business that didn’t have a license for lawn pesticides and negotiating a deal with them would leverage more opportunities for that business.
The point I am trying to make is that people look at networks in a kind of one dimensional way and because of it, they miss opportunities that are staring them in the face. (which is kind of what you are saying too 😉
Thanks for the comment!
REally great post here. I love the take on networking. I have told people for a long time that what other people say about your business will do more good than anything you say about yourself. Whether you are doing it through blogging, social media, or other sources, your primary goal should be to network with successful business owners and get them talking about you and your brand.
Leo, you make a good point, especially for my business (which is web design). However it’s hard not to want to show up first for my local area, when the person that does show up first makes awful websites, overprices but ten times as much work. I have no problem getting referrals, but I’d love to get more work. I know if people visit my site before the competition, they will choose me over them, just for the fact that my site looks much cleaner and better, plus my prices are much more reasonable for the market in this area.
The problem with me using your method of basically referral’s is that I don’t know a lot of people in the area to network with, so right now I’m depending on google’s ranking :/
Thanks for the read!
Hey Travis…..ranking locally is great and as you say, it isn’t especially hard for a local website to rank. Networking, on the other hand, is harder because you have to put in the work to find others who may spread your message (and business) around.
I can understand where a general web design business may have a hard time networking because it is not as tight of a niche.
I think the niche makes a huge difference when it comes down to networking.
Not that you can’t or shouldn’t do it for ANY niche; however, the approach is completely different.
For instance, in my case, gate keepers would be power bloggers, social bookmarking sites, etc.
I do understand what you mean about SEO rankings, Travis - if it’s a low-hanging fruit, why not, right?
Hi Leo,
Very good point! When I was reading down the lines this quote by Robert Kiyosaki popped into my mind…
“The rich look for and build networks. Everyone else looks for work.”
If you build a network of people who know, like and trust you, you will have a constant base of customers to draw from because they will be only too happy to refer you within.
And here’s another quote by Bob Burg, author of the “Go Giver” and “Go Givers Sell More” …
“It isn’t just what you know, and it isn’t just who you know. It’s actually who you know, who knows you, and what you do for a living.” -Bob Burg
I think that covers it 🙂
Cheers and thanks for sharing your great insights!
Ilka
Thanks for the Quotes, Ilka. I love them!
If you give love, you’ll get love in return.
- Link love, that is - this particular trick doesn’t always work if you’re talking about human interaction and emotions, 😉
Marketing is SO MUCH Harder than just building links…
But it is the true path to success.
Your human connections will look forward to spreading your message.
Search Engines don’t care if they spread your message.
Really great article Leo.. Thank you!
Ryan H
I appreciate it Ryan.