I was explaining how Search Engine Optimization works to a local Connecticut Small Business owner on a call earlier today.  He had a lot of questions about what link building is and what it has to do with SEO.

So what is Link Building?  and How does it help my SEO?  (what is SEO?)

Now that makes SENSE!  Thank goodness for Infographics! (made those on piktochart.com in like 5 min)

It's literally building links from other websites that LINK to your website.  

Featured above we have 3 websites:

• TheDanburyReview.com
• ConnecticutBusiness.org
• DanburyChamber.com

Having links pointing to your website from the sites mentioned above will greatly improve your SEO, Web Presence and how many people find you online.  

You can go ahead and join the Danbury Chamber of Commerce for an easy link.  It's only $300 a year.  

Oh, by the way you'll need a few hundred quality links to rank your website in the Search Engines.

Sounds expensive right?

Here's a couple easy ways to build links!  Pressed for time?  Check out the quick videos I recorded about how to build different kinds of links.

Link building is a great way to get backlinks which will "power up" your website.  A turbocharged website attract more traffic, leads and customers for your business.  

Here's a little recap of what was discussed in the video:

Head on over to the Google Search bar and type in:

Niche + "2 Comments"

Look through the list of websites that pop up.  See if there are any websites with blogs containing at least 2 comments in here.  Make sure the blogs you find have a recent post in the last year or it'll take forever for your comment to actually be approved or not!  Find the most recent comment and click their website.  

Put their website into Majestic to see their Trust Flow and Citation Flow.  Trust Flow and Citation Flow are two big metrics used by Majestic to judge whether a website has authority in the eyes of google.  Dive into their backlinks to see if they have that same blog giving them a good link or not.

When you find their link take a look to make sure that the Trust Flow and Citation Flow are about even.  If so, go back to the original page and put your comment up.  Given the fact that this whole process already took 10 minutes make sure to write something RELEVANT so it's actually approved by the site owner.    

Head on over to Google and type in:

Niche + Directory

Take a peak through the list of websites to see what pop up.  Go through the list of websites to make sure you grab one with that's from the USA.  Some SEO specialists grab directories from other countries, but I'd rather not.  Look through the directory to find a website that's from a directory link.

Grab that website's URL and put it into majestic.  Look up the strength of that backlink and build away. 

Four important things to note when building links through directories!

1. If the directory is FREE... stay away!
2. If the directory wants a reciprocal link...  don't do it!
3. Make sure you're paying for a link from the directory.  Most directories cost about $10 - $49 a year.  The good ones are lifetime links.  Never pay more than $50 for a link!  
4. Be certain that less than 30% of your back linking comes from directories!  As you can see this is a very easy way to build links.  Google will flag your website if you've got 100s of directory links and no other links coming in.  

Building Links is one of the best ways to improve your search engine optimization, web presence and therefore get in front of customers looking for your business.  Link building with blog comments and link building with directories are just two of the many ways to get links.

Through the years we've compiled a list of blogs with high trust for commenting purposes.  Likewise we've also searched through the internet for months to find the very best directories.

I'm going to give out 10 of my top blog comment links and the three local directories that I use with all my clients in Connecticut.  Just email us at will@willpowermarketing.com receive 13 links you can build right now!  Each month I'll be sending you tips & tricks for SEO, Marketing, Lead Generation and Click Funnels.   

If you want to increase your map pack ranking you should definitely have these 10 local citation sources completely done.  It's imperative that you have your citations done to be able to compete with other local businesses.

Citations are crucial for your SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and website visibility.  In some cases citations can also help your business grow because they aggregate web traffic.  A few of the most popular citations are Facebook, Yelp, Yellow Pages, and Foursquare.

Surely, you've heard of Facebook and Yelp, but how about Manta, EZlocal, Connecticut Business, Superpages or Trip Advisor?  There are over 500 different citation sources throughout the web.  We're going to narrow it down to the Top 10 Citation Sources for your local business. 

Citations are simply mentions of your business's name, address, and phone number.  There can occur throughout the web!  I can hook myself up with a Citation right here:

Will Power Marketing
23 Backus Ave #3254
Danbury, CT 06810
(203) 697-8227

Certain SEO Bloggers believe that you don't even need the phone number in the citation for it to help your online visibility.

White Spark has a great list of citation sources, but our SEO Specialists have found a much more complete list of citation sources.

Our Top 10 Local Citations Include:

• Google My Business
• Yelp
• Facebook
• Chamber of Commerce (not your local chamber)
• Superpages
• Hotfrog
• Trip Advisor (if your business qualifies)
• Instagram (very powerful)
• Hotfrog
• Angies List

Focus on these 3 things every week and your business's online presence will greatly improve!  You can do these three easy tasks every week to grow your online visibility over time.  A couple benefits of greater online visibility include: more website traffic, increased leads and more customers.

Here's 3 Easy Things you can do RIGHT NOW to improve your online visibility. 

Time to Complete: 2 minutes

Ease of Difficulty:  Very Easy

Google loves when you use what they have to offer.  By modifying, updating and adding to your google my business listing it shows them that you’re an thriving business. 

So go ahead and take a picture of yourself in your work uniform, a new dish you serve, or happy client of yours and add it to your google my business listing. 

**If you have trouble finding your google my business section…  You’re not alone!  Recently they removed it from the other apps so you’ll have to login to your gmail account then type in the browser business.google.com to bring up the business listing section.

Time to Complete: 10-15 minutes

Ease of Difficulty:  Moderate

Treat your website like a baby.  Nurture it with new content, back links, citations and social signals so it can grow.  Many agencies push massive amounts of content to rank websites.  Simply type “elephants” into the search bar.  Notice how Wikipedia pops up first.

No one will ever read through those 10,000 words about elephants, except for google!
​
Take 10-15 minutes and slap together 250-500 words about your business, city, or related topic.  Throw that new content on the homepage, about page or simply add another page.  

Time to Complete: 5-7 minutes

Ease of Difficulty:  Easy

Citations are basically your businesses NAME, ADDRESS and PHONE NUMBER listed in different directories across the internet.  The more often your NAP (Name, Address, Phone Number) is listed the more powerful your map listings will be. 

Example Citations:

Take 5 minutes out of your day to get add on a citation or two.  Make sure you grab the Top 10 Citation Sources first.  

Take 20 minutes today to bang out this easy list of tips to increase website's online visibility.  The first time you create a citation or crank through 250 words of content it might take longer than 20 minutes, but within a couple weeks of consistently doing it you'll be powering through the work in 10 flat. 

As always, if you have any questions about your website's online visibility feel free to contact our website specialists today.