Sensible way to plan to build Domain Authority

[SimmoSimmo]

Currently my Domain Authority is at 32.

What would be a reasonable DA level to set out to reach in the next 12 month period and what would be recommended as a sensible way to plan to achieve this?

[DougRoberts]

Hi Lee.

I don't think you need to be setting goals to chase one metric like this. Domain authority doesn't directly make you money!

Increasing your DA by 10 doesn't = 100,000 extra sales.

What are the goals of your site? With these identified work backwards trying to establish the things that you need to do to achieve these goals. As you work backwards make sure your goals are realistic with the time-scales, effort/cost constraints you have and whether they are truly achievable.

(It's all very well setting a goal to get 100,000 sales/month when you know that there are maybe only 150 prospects in the niche!)

Also consider the ROI you get from the effort you spend building/promoting your site. Consider the opportunity cost of the various tactics. (If I spend x hours building links it won't make much difference to my DA, but if I create another relevant piece of content instead....)

The reason for trying to increase your domain authority is that it's a reasonable measure of the competitive strength of your site. It only really means anything when you compare it against your competition.

Then remember to take into account the value and relevance of your content...

Remember you only need to be better than the next guy!

[LoganYard]

MyBlogGuest & HARO (Help a reporter out)

There's two for starters.

[Boodreaux]

Excellent Question!

My site started out at 18 and in 12 months I have increased it to 38 with the help of suggestions on this site.  My goal is to hit 40 by the end of the year.  I did this by

#1 Created 22 new root linking domains. (including a few paid from the list of suggested domains on SEOmoz.

#2 Changed my URL's to be more keyword rich

#3 Improved SEO on site with Optimization tools on SEOmoz

#4 Improved content

It has been fun and exciting.  I  know that if I improve on all the SEOmoz recommended metrics that it will help my search rankings and gradually help me against the competition.

New Things in process to get us to the 50 mark!

#1 Blog

#2 Better landing pages

#3 Web development

#4 More links to pages deeper in site

#5 Continued optimization of webpages on site. etc

Boo

[whitbycottages]

I have two businesses which I own outright 100%. I promote these two businesses over the Internet and my observation is that every single time I produce some very useful, interesting content which is taken time, honesty with the aim to be useful, it is judged by Google to be worthwhile listing is one of my most prominent pages.

My long tail keywords bring in lots of traffic now and I while it's great to be approved by links from prominent websites,  at the end of the day the actual content of your website has got to be the most important thing. Mr and Mrs Google I think are looking in the same direction.

[SimmoSimmo]

Thank you Doug - wise words. We are looking at our competitor set who have much more history to their sites and are overshadowing us with DA.

Totally take all the points you advise - some excellent advice for us to reconsider and put into the think tank as we continue to formulate our strategy.

Thank you so much,

Lee

[SimmoSimmo]

Your progress to date gives us real encouragement that we can realise our ambitions.

SEOMOZ has already given us the knowledge to make many quick fixes and wins to the structure of our site.

Your advice is very valuable - thank you.

And all the best for the continued success with your own site.

Thank you Boo.

Lee

[DougRoberts]

Hi Lee, they may be dominating you because of their DA, for the keywords you are in direct competition with. Is there any chance you can out-flank them, at least until your build your authority? Are there any ways you can connect to you customer that may be a little less direct?

Who are your customers and where do your customers congregate? What do you need to go to get your offerings/content in front of them (and build links) from these places. What are their particular needs/concerns? (Be careful not to project your own values and opinions!)

Can you exploit the real-world relationships you have with suppliers / customers etc?

There are lots of food bloggers online, could you not identify some bloggers with sizable engaged audiences (who fit your customer profile) and send them some free produce?

Assuming that were' talking about farmison.com I noticed a couple of things - when I visited the Recipes page it felt as if I'd fallen off the site - the navigation changed and I was unsettled for a moment. Eek! How do I get back to the main page! - I then stopped worrying and realised that I was on the community pages. Clicking on the logo didn't work though... had to find out the "back to Farmison" part of the logo was a separate link.

Looking at the recipes, I notice you're not using schema.org markup on your recipe content? Might be interesting to implement that (if you can technically). From experience with recipes in the past, freshness and of course seasonality can make a big difference. (Hope you've got those pumpkin recipes ready for Halloween!)

Also (drifting away from SEO a little...) - I don't see the conversion funnel here... you've got the recipes, you sell the produce, but there doesn't seem to be a link between the two. There's no way to add the ingredients to your basket (or at least a button to buy the ingredients from the main site.)

Taking a look at your blog entries. Lots of nice content there - but again, I don't see any links in the articles to other information or produce on your site. Maybe a missed opportunity here.

Going back to the main site for a second - on arrival I'm asking myself "is this for me? What do they do? What's in it for me?" I don't feel you've got a clear "promise" or proposition on your home page.

I did find "Farmison.com delivers the finest British produce directly from farmers who traditionally supply our Great British chefs and award winning restaurants." but it was a little bit hidden under a footer link called "why-us"...

The "Your Delivery Options" box is a little scary! It's aggressive! Looks like a warning and draws your eye away from everything else. I've not even looked at your produce yet and you're asking me to check my postcode? When I did check my postcode I'm told that

"Great News We Do Deliver to xxx Your Delivery Address is within Mainland UK"

If you deliver to (most of ) mainland UK, then why not tell me you do and let me worry about the details (and the price) later once I've seen your wonderful food and know if it's worth it to me? At the moment visitors are instantly developing the concern that you don't deliver to their areas rather than generating reassurance that you do!

[SimmoSimmo]

Absolutely on the money Doug!

Pleased to say I am aware of all the points you raise - all spot on!  By early November we are aiming to have a very large proportion of what you have identified dealt with.

Delighted with your feedback as it further justifies the focus of our development program so makes me confident that the changes will really matter.

We need to draw out to the Home Page all our hidden qualities.  We fail to make a number of parts of the user journey seamless.

Once again thank you for the top advice Doug - really reassuring and you have very quickly hit the issues for the customer.

Lee