By Dan Blacharski.

Backlinks are the most needed and most misunderstood tactic used by marketers today.

The biggest mistake being made by marketers is thinking of these inbound links as commodity items and focusing on ramping up numbers quickly rather than placing those links in proper context.

“Inbound links are extremely important,” said Jessica Thiele, marketing manager at Virtual Logistics. “They’re part of the social cues algorithm that Google uses to help determine the relevancy of links it provides in any Google search. That’s why it’s so important for businesses to be genuine in their link building efforts. This, of course, takes a lot more effort compared to just paying some black hat SEO ‘expert’ to ‘work their magic.’ But the payoffs are long-lasting and positive, as opposed to risking being blacklisted by Google where your website won’t even show up in search.”

Roman Kowalski, vice president of marketing for KidsToyStop.com said marketers face “a conundrum” when creating a backlink strategy. “On one hand, everybody needs them, and as many as possible. On the other hand, Google doesn’t want you to actively build a body of backlinks just for the sake of SEO.”

The solution lies in acknowledging the true definition of a backlink. SEO specialists claim that a backlink is nothing more than a do-follow hyperlink which is placed in a third party website. “By that broad definition, backlinks can be anything from an entry in a list or a directory, to a link in a spammy article in a private blog network,” said Kowalski. “The theory there is that any type of link, in any outlet and regardless of context, is positive. It’s clear now that it is not. An inbound link without appropriate context is useless and potentially harmful to the brand.”

The rules of the game have changed.

Attorney James Goodnow of the law team Lamber Goodnow at Fennemore Craig, said, “The rules of the game have changed. If you think you can rocket to the top of Google by paying a ‘tech geek’ who can outsmart Google by building a backlink profile that will rocket you to the top, you are flat wrong.”

Goodnow describes a three-step process for organic link building:

1. A comprehensive content campaign is developed. Innovative, cutting-edge, industry-leading ideas are developed and used. This is the most important step because it’s the foundation for everything else you do. If you don’t have an amazing idea or informative content, you will not get amazing, legitimate links.
2. A comprehensive content strategy is developed around that idea that includes articles, video and more. This is how people learn about your game-changing ideas.
3. A targeted and sustained communications strategy is realized. A targeted, sustained, non-internet based communications strategy is developed. This includes presentations within your industry, authoring articles, sharing ideas on industry newsletters or forums, speaking with industry authors and touching base with key media contacts.

Goodnow shares a real-world example of how it worked for his firm. “When iPads first came out in 2010, we were among the first legal teams in the country to use them as a client communication portal and to present video presentations for opposing lawyers that relied heavily on computer-generated images (CGI) and animation. We spent a lot of time and a lot of money developing apps to allow us to be on the bleeding edge. And the product we created worked, leading to strikingly strong outcomes for clients. The word of mouth buzz generated by this led to presentations we gave on our new use of the iPad.”

Those presentations led to a feature story in the Arizona Republic newspaper. The article got picked up on the wire, which led to a larger article in USA Today. Following the USA Today article, Apple contacted Goodnow’s firm and profiled it on their website. The Apple profile led to articles and features from legal publications around the world. “In each step of the process, we gained more and more links and citations from authoritative and real sources,” Goodnow said.

It’s the context, not the inbound link, that matters.

To frame the discussion of context, it is important to look at it as a byproduct of the post-dotcom era of “dotcloud,” defined by Cloudipedia as “the emergence of a new class of born-in-the-cloud startups which are driven by an imperative for speed, convenience and personalization on the part of the consumer, and which are built on as-a-service infrastructure, software and development tools that allow a more agile startup cycle with low initial capital requirements.”

With barriers to entry lower than ever — and more websites competing for eyeballs — simply placing links with no context and no attention to the quality of the site where they are placed is a recipe for failure.

Chris Brantner, founder of CutCableToday.com, uses a backlink strategy that has helped him reach 500,000 to a million visitors a month. “Most of that traffic can be attributed to the impressive backlink profile we’ve put together,” said Brantner. “The fact is that Google still values links to your site more than anything. You just have to make sure you get good, high quality ones. I achieve this through connecting and engaging with industry reporters and offering my two cents when applicable. I’ve also been building my name as an expert in the field, which has landed me with important contributor roles at Business Insider, VICE and others. Each of these roles allows me to get my name out in front of a new audience, which ends up sending more traffic to my site.”

There are plenty of backlinking tactics that just don’t work that well any more — forum spamming, contributing to websites that exist only for SEO, link exchanges, private blog networks, directories and “friends” lists. These tactics are likely to backfire and result in being downgraded or even de-indexed by Google. Plenty of SEO providers still use those tactics, and at a tempting low cost, but those budget providers may wind up costing you more in lost business.

“I am currently working with a client who used an overseas ‘cheap’ SEO company for her SEO and linking strategy,” said Kate Walker, freelance SEO strategist and content writer. “I’ve had to undo links that were bringing her down in SERP, because they didn’t follow good practices. Now we are beginning to develop some quality links that will benefit the company, boost its ranking in SERPs and stand the test of time. My advice is, don’t shoot yourself in the foot trying to do things the easy or cheap way. Cheap and easy hasn’t been good since you dated that cheerleader in high school, and it isn’t any good now. Quality is all that really counts.”

By Dan Blacharski

Dan Blacharski is a thought leader, advisor, industry observer and PR counsel to several Internet startups. He has been widely published on subjects relating to customer-facing technology, fintech, cloud computing and crowdsourcin…

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By Tallat Mahmood.

Every business needs a sustainable influx of customers if it wants to be successful.

In reality, there are literally hundreds of potential ways in which you can win new customers, but I want to highlight seven of the most practical, applicable and impactful.

1. Know your customer

If you have a clear understanding of who your customer is (and is not), then you can target engaged, interested prospects and improve your ability to win new customers.

Understanding the age, geographic location, education level and job title of your customer base also allows you to speak in the appropriate language that resonates and strikes the right chord. This is known as creating an avatar and will give you insight into where your customer hangs out, either online or offline.

I would encourage you to spend some time to think through who your most likely target customer is; what would they look like and what problems would they have that need solving? Be as detailed as you can so you can clearly imagine who will most likely buy from you.

Related: How to Acquire Customers Without a Marketing Budget (Infographic)

2. Incentivize existing customers

The best ambassadors for your business are existing customers. They have already bought from you, and there’s no greater stamp of approval than when people put their money behind their opinions.

Incentivizing existing customers — through discounts on products in exchange for referrals, for example – works so well because those customers can tell their friends, who trust their taste, about you. This leads to quicker and higher conversions of prospects to paying customers.

3. Networking

Even in the digital age, effective networking remains one of the most powerful ways to bring in new customers and grow your business.

Networking in your niche is powerful not only because it allows you to understand changes in your sector, but it also puts you in touch with people who serve same customer base in one form or another. Hence, you can easily get introduced to new customer groups while developing a better understanding of exactly what it is they are looking for.

Related: What’s the Best Way to Acquire New Sales Leads?

4. Explore different sales channels

Too many businesses fail to take advantage of online opportunities. For brick-and-mortar businesses, these opportunities could come in the form of online sales of their associated products. For example, if you are a local coffee shop and brew particular brands of coffee, then you might be able to sell globally via the internet.

However, for many businesses that sell exclusively online, selling offline can provide invaluable customer feedback in real-time and introduce you to a totally new customer base, typically on your doorstep.

5. Secure high-quality public relations

The right public relations (PR) strategy can be like stardust for your business, leading new customers directly to your door.

The appeal of the right PR is that it can reach thousands (or even millions) of prospects. Just make sure you identify the right forum on which to seek PR. Identify key publications in your niche and reach out to the editors to see if you can talk as an expert in your field and add value to them while, at the same time, raising the profile of your own business.

Related: How to Make a Personal Connection with Customers

6. Explore different pricing models

Within your target market, there will always be prospects at different stages of their buying life cycle. In addition to those who are ready to buy, there will be those for whom what you offer is too expensive.

In such instances, figure out how you can acquire these customers: Having a lite version of your product, with less functionality and a smaller price tag, could help achieve this objective.

Deploying different pricing models can be a simple way to increase your overall customer base relatively quickly.

7. Paid advertising

In addition to the traditional TV, radio and press advertising, there are also online options such as pay-per-click and social media marketing.

Paid advertising can guarantee new customers to your business, but it comes at a cost. Hence, you should always start by identifying your objective from any paid advertising campaign. Is it to sell a product straight away? Add a prospect to your email list? Get people to engage with your website or content?

Once you have the objective identified, it is easier to allocate a budget and create realistic expectations for campaigns.

Whatever the size of your business, rest assured the companies you admire have utilized at least some of the above tactics. They can certainly help you as well.

By Tallat Mahmood

Tallat Mahmood is the founder of The Smart Business Plan Academy, his online course on building powerful business plans for small and medium-sized businesses to help them grow and raise capital. Tallat has worked for more than 10 years as a small and medium-sized business advisor and investor.

Sourced from Entrepreneur