Content Marketing and Link Building Strategy in Industrial B2B

[Zippy-Bungle]

We struggle link building because engineering sector has few blogs and is much more traditional than many industries.

I've just had a new idea on how to do this and wanted to bounce it off people to help refine it and improve it.

1. Search LinkedIn for "content marketing" or similar
2. Refine by Industry etc
3. Ask people on resulting list to guest post on our blog - which is focused on engineers in our sector
4. Then.....

For us it boosts our blog content with high quality posts that are interesting for our audience and maybe some traffic benefit. For them it provides SEO benefits and possibly some market exposure.

How can I parlay this into getting a link back as well?

What else can I do to make it more effective?

Cheers

Denis

[Rajaindiain]

Hi,

I think this is a good approach, and will be giving it a try.

For getting the links from them I would try and offer some useful content that they can publish on their site.

[DennisSeymour]

Hi Denis

I would definitely go the whitepaper or infographic route here.

Even the most boring of niches can find ways.

Aside from that, I would look at the existing links of your competitors to further drill down other opportunities. You won't really run out of places to put links to. Broken link building has worked wonders for the eng niches Ive worked on.

[Zippy-Bungle]

We're working on the white papers and have some ideas for the infographic.

But man, mot companies in the industry have ten linking domains or less; Industry associations, directories (and we add to the relevant ones), and the sports team or local park that they sponsor. Thats with having gone through hundreds on my saturday mornings with OSE

The industry/sector isn't in the internet age - for example I just did a quick study of 60 leading brand of 10 leading companies with sales of $100 billion or so. 30% of the brands had 1st place in serps. 20% were on the first page and more than 50% of their brands didn't appear on the first page.

The customer base is similar so I'm looking for different approaches and ways of doing things.

[DennisSeymour]

Totally understand where you are coming from. It's always a challenge.

Those charities are also goldmines, local groups, events.

If you can find an author in the local online magazine scene, then that would be gold as well.

Try looking at brands (same niche) outside your area. See where they get their links from.

Look for other companies your company works with, they probably have something to link to you.

[KeriMorgret]

Here's a couple of things I would add to the process.

2a) Look at what the person has written before you ask them to write. Nothing like asking them to write for you, then needing to decline once you see their post.

3a) Have a good reason for them to post. The person doing the writing needs to get paid. If they are a freelancer, you're competing with other people who are willing to pay them for their time. If they are at a company with a boss, they need to convince their boss that it's worthwhile for them to donate their time to write for you, instead of writing for their own site, or doing something else to generate their company money.

4a) Don't push your luck with asking people to write for you for free and then also link to you.

[PaulEastTeak]

I know this is a bit of an old topic but I had a similar question and here have been some of the things that have worked for me.

1. Case Studies with good visuals

2. See if customers might be able to link back to you if they have blogs

3. provide beginner information that customers or people in the same industry might be interested in.

4. I find product and/or material comparisons do very well.

5. Make sure your linkedin and twitter are optimized.

6. Look at doing videos explaining concepts or products on youtube

7. Look at other technical service providers that are industry leaders and see what they are doing.

It is definitly a challenge. We are a building and manufacturing material supplier and it is hard to find customers who are web savvy and at the same time try not to attract the DIY types.

Let me know if you have anymore ideas other than what I listed above.

Thanks

Paul