We can’t ignore SEO. As part of the journey of growth for most businesses today, search engine optimization (SEO) proves to be one of the viable sources of revenue.
If done right, search marketing can help you achieve your business goals.
With so many complexities in SEO, one can simplify processes and make the campaign sustainable for the business.
One process that all SEO agencies and professionals are challenged with is link building. It is an initiative with no rules involved, yet must have a strategy and execution to get the links a brand deserves properly. The best link building agency knows exactly when, what, and how to build backlinks to their clients’ websites.
Creativity is part of the execution. That’s why content marketers with creative design skills have a huge advantage in securing high-quality links for their brands.
So, here are three actionable link building tips using content design.
1. Invest In Interactive Infographics
With more and more businesses getting involved in content marketing initiatives, the competition for people’s attention rises.
A simple content asset cannot stand on its own without creativity and differentiation. Even publishing infographics has become a norm these days.
That itself brings us to increasing the capacity and elevating the ability of content designers to produce higher quality content assets.
If you’re an in-house SEO for an enterprise brand or working for an SEO agency with multiple clients, one type of content that you can consider is interactive infographics. Interactive infographics provide a much better experience than a generic infographic with multiple data and information on them.
While the cost is higher than what an average content designer can do, you can’t ignore the fact that interactive infographics can pave a long way to generate more attention from its target audience. This involves getting backlinks, brand mentions, and social shares from not just interested people but high-tier publishers in your industry.
Get buy-in from your superiors, executives, or whoever is involved in the investment decisions for SEO. Let them understand the value of interactive infographics by showing direct and indirect impacts on the business’s bottom line.
2. Ask To Create Image Versions of Best Content
Link building is challenging given that it takes persuasion for link builders and SEOs when they interact with potential linkers.
Without content and the right value proposition, getting people’s positive responses and actual links is challenging.
Most people nowadays will just provide guest posts — which has become a norm over the past decade.
To differentiate your link building pitch, one way is to create an image version of the site’s best content.
Here is a quick overview of the process.
Start with identifying top-tier websites in your vertical. Look for the ones with high authority — you can use link analysis tools like Ahrefs to get quick metrics for this one (e.g., Ahrefs Domain Rating 60+).
Make a list of these websites. Then, plug them individually in Ahrefs and go to Top Pages.
There you’ll see all the top pages of the website based on traffic and traffic value. These are good pages that are driving a significant amount of traffic to the brand.
Your offer won’t be a guest post but instead an image version of one of their best content. You pitch that the value is an additional way for their readers to consume their content — visually.
Executing this link building strategy may require you to top up your resources, as it involves a higher need for content designers.
3. Collaborate With Industry Publishers For Visual Content
Two is better than one, and this is true for content marketing.
If you can collaborate with similar non-competing publishers, you can absorb following from other brands and gain more benefits such as links, social shares, and brand mentions.
Visual content marketing is expensive, yet when done collaboratively, you can lower the costs involved in content production.
Find businesses in your space whom you can collaborate with to publish co-marketed visual content.
You can get information, data, or any input from any brand or have data gathering outsource to someone else.
After you publish your visual content, invest time in promoting it to your target audience.
Make a list of all websites that have linked to similar content; it could be of the same type (visual content) or listicles (“list posts). Then, you use Ahrefs to reverse engineer similar content assets for linking pages.
Gather contact details for each of the linking websites and start reaching out to them.
The way to establish your pitch value is by demonstrating how useful your co-marketed content is to their target linkers’ audiences. Include any unique angles your content has been able to provide with its audience — differentiation matters in pitching linkers.
Creativity Brings More Backlinks
Content design helps increase the quantity and quality of backlinks. Make sure you leverage your team’s creativity, especially your content designers, get them involved in content production.
And the more you maximize valuable inputs from your team for content ideas and content promotion, the more you can expect links flowing to your content and your site as a whole.
