You're a SEO manager for a new company working on a new site. Where to?

[Martin_S]

So, you've recently begun as a SEO manager for a new company who's just launched a lovely, gleaming corporate site to boot. The onsite stuff is taken care of and your attention turns to link building.

Now you've been in the game for a few years. You've seen things change in that time. Directories are out. Link networks are done. You're not going to embark on reciprocal linking either because it's bad and looks horribly tacky. Black Hat, White Hat - you know the score.

You're lucky that the company produces a page or two of news a day - it's original, informative, is great for keeping your clients informed and you punt this on Twitter and FB. A bit of link bait, eh?

But there's a rub: your competitors, with their bigger budgets, and industry clout, have been around for a some time longer than your company has been. They've snapped up all the good (industry-related) sites to get links from. You've approached all potential targets with the offer of good, relevant content and affiliate partnerships but they aren't having any of it. You're simply out-sized by the big boys next door - you can't compete. They're rich kids.

There just seems nowhere to get links from. Do you just go the route of press releases and articles? Do you use paid blogging services? Grovel at doorsteps. The industry you're in is incredibly commercial - no meek altruist is going to take pity and give you  a couple backlinks out of kindness.

What do you do? What indeed...?

[semshah143]

Hi TCE,

Best of Luck For New Role in New Company.

Start with a company blog, find a particular niche in what your company is doing and start writing things about that.

Invite one or two good industry writers for writing on your blog. So if you cant write they can help you.

Start following good blogs, twitter accounts of your competitors, industry vertical and other influential of your business area, so you can have the idea and news about the new and current things which is shaping your industry. It also become a thought for your blog post.

Do some local, participate in some events which relates to your business, help them to promote by mentioning in your blogs.

Dont search for where to get links, strive for the good content from your industry. Ask your offline marketing department give you some hint about core value of your company and product so you can write it down.

Create a video interview of your owners, customers publish them.

Gather a data of industry and try if you can make a good infograph.

There are a lot more things you can do with new companies, ask others to share their experience why they join this new company and so on..

I hope this will help to you.

Thanks

[MalcolmGibb]

This is one of those scenarios where you just have to be creative, tgood content, linkbait and social connection will be key here. Build up a good social following through twitter, facebook, google+ etc.. where you can reach out to users, follow industry specific blogs and become part of the conversation.

Once that following is built you can start syndicating creative linkbait - think of original content for your industry that your followers will appreciate and want to share themselves - think infographics, Whitepapers, video, unique captivating content. This is the kind of stuff that people will start to talk about, link and share themselves on the social and blogospheres building you natural links. It may be hard to achieve, but without a big budget it may be your best option.

Article and PR syndication rarely works, usually it results in low quality, spammy articles with 1 exact anchor link per 250 words. Looks tacky and spammy, and I am sure it looks the same to Google.

[EGOL]

What do you do? What indeed...?

Become an expert at PPC and attack ALL of the long tail keywords.

Make a case to the boss for the resources needed to wage war at the level needed to become competitive.

You can also look for a job doing SEO in an industry that is not as highly developed or as cut-throat.  I know of a lot of industries where I would not want to be an inhouse SEO.

[Martin_S]

Ye, I've made the plea but when resources are limited there's only so much you can you I suppose. I'm also going to see what the useless PPC man is up to - perhaps throw more of my 2¢ into the fray.

Being selective as at which industry I go into next has become more and more apparent. Probably good advice for any SEO with enough experience who can afford to be selective.

[MalcolmGibb]

I don't think that is good advice at all, those that think that SEO is not worth doing or impossible in certain sectors either are too lazy or do not know how. Simply throwing money at PPC is an option, and does provide short term benefit, but it's not a long-term solution for continued ROI.

[EGOL]

Wow, you saw PPC and didn't read any further. 

[MalcolmGibb]

I saw "look for a job in an industry that is not as developed", I agree totally with you point regarding attacking long tails on PPC. This is a good strategy, but to recommend looking for a new job in a less developed industry is almost like saying just give up and try something easy.

[EGOL]

Thanks.

I see how my sentence allowed longtail to be merged with PPC.  I actually wanted that to mean going after long tail with SEO efforts.

This is a good strategy, but to recommend looking for a new job in a less developed industry is almost like saying just give up and try something easy.

Some people can interpret it that way.

I think that it is a mistake for an SEO to accept jobs that are above his ability level or jobs where the resources that the company plans to put into an effort are not adequate to become competitive.

A lot of SEOs are selling the $500/month package to business owners who really should be spending the $5000/month needed to compete in their industry.

One of my favorite quotes is... "It's not the size of the dog in the fight, its the size of the fight in the dog."

But even with that powerful attitude a smart chihuahua will stay in his weight class.