Why Your Small Business Website Needs Backlinks
If your small business website isn’t getting the traffic you want, then it’s time to work at developing backlinks to your site. A backlink, also called an incoming or inbound link, is a link to your website from another site. Getting backlinks may be one of the most important factors in getting people to visit your site.
These links will generate traffic to your site in two ways…
1. Direct Traffic
The first way is through direct traffic. A person sees your link while they’re visiting another site. It peaks their interest and they click your link to visit your site. If you work on getting your site listed on other Websites, you could generate a substantial amount of traffic to your site, maybe up to 10% to 20% if done right.
To generate direct traffic like this a number of factors are involved:
| 1) | Your link must be found on a lot of other Websites. Not just one or two, but dozens or even hundreds. This is a numbers game to a certain extent. |
| 2) | Your link should be found on Websites that are relevant to your business. If you are a local butcher, a link to your site is not likely to generate much interest if it’s located on a Website related to used cars. However, a link in a community directory, on another local merchant’s site or on a Website about meat is much more likely to result in visitors to your site. |
| 3) | Your link should be placed on pages that people actually see. Having a link is one thing, but if it’s on a page that no one ever visits, it’s really of little use in generating direct traffic. |
| 4) | Your link must grab people’s attention. It’s not enough that someone sees your link; they must feel compelled to click on it. No click, no visitor. To grab attention, don’t just hyperlink your domain name, i.e. www.xyzmeatshop.com or your company name, i.e. XYZ Meat Shop. Instead, give the viewer a reason to click. For example, a link like this, Toronto butcher reveals five tips for perfect BBQ ribs, would likely get people clicking to your site. It incites their curiosity and gives them a clear benefit for visiting your site. |
2. Increased Search Engine Traffic
The second way incoming links create traffic is by boosting the ranking of your Website in the search engines. This may be indirect, but it’s probably more important than direct traffic from links.
The quantity and quality of inbound links are a very important factor that search engines use in determining how to rank your small business Website. The reasoning is quite simple: If lots of websites are referring their visitors to you, then you must be an important site and you deserve to be found by searchers.
For this strategy to be even most effective, the links to your site should contain keywords that people would typically use to find your site. Continuing with our example, links containing the keywords Toronto butchers, Toronto butcher shop, Toronto meat shop, etc. (like the BBQ ribs link above) would be most useful in assisting the search engines to determine the relevance of your site.
Again, the reason for this is relatively obvious. When text like Toronto butcher is used to link to your site, it’s a very strong indication to the search engines that your site is a Toronto butcher site. So if someone types those words in a search box, then your site is the obvious choice to place at the top of the search engine results.
Although you will want to take every opportunity to increase the number of backlinks to your site, the quality of those incoming links is equally important. It’s important not just to have lots of links, but to have those links on Websites that are related to your business or industry. For example, a massage therapist would want links to their Website to appear on massage Websites, health Websites, as well as local community Websites.
How Do You Get Backlinks?
There are numerous ways to get incoming links to your small business Website and some are more involved than others.
The easiest way to get backlinks is to submit your website to industry directories and local community directories. Many directories are free, although you may find some important directories require an annual fee for listing.
To find these directories, go to any search engine and type in the keyword associated with your business, for example, "massage therapist", and the term "add url", "submit site", "add link", "submit url", or "suggest site". This should bring up a variety of submission pages for sites related to your industry. Do the same using your city name as the keyword to find local directories.
If there are sites that are particularly important in your industry without a directory, contact the Webmaster directly and request a link to your site.
Publishing articles online and distributing press releases through online press services are other useful strategies for generating incoming links and we’ll look at both of these in a future radio show and article.
The process of developing backlinks is important and should be an ongoing part of your marketing efforts. You’ll see increased traffic to your site and more customers directly through an increased presence on related sites and indirectly through improved ranking of your site in the search engines.
About the authors
Paul Rochford and Eric Brown are The Two Web Guys and are dedicated to helping small businesses get more customers through the power of the Internet. Listen to their weekly radio show, learn more about their services and sign up for more FREE tips like this one. Visit http://www.thetwowebguys.com.
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