Best Practices for Creating Back Links from "Thought Leader" Content

[Kingalan1]

What is the best way to use articles from a "thought leader" to build high-quality links to my website?

I have heard that it is possible to pay bloggers to post business articles that link back to a website. That assuming these blogs have domain authority this is a good technique to improve ranking. Is this in fact true, and if so where would I find blogs to post our content. The purpose would be to promote real estate brokerage website.

Any suggestions? Is this possible, advisable, best use of quality content?

Alternatively, where else can we post engaging content to create links back to our site? Social media? The nature of the content would be such topics as how to find the best value in Manhattan office of loft space rentals, etcera.

Thanks, Alan

[brettmandoes]

To quote John Mueller, "The goal should not be to have a natural looking link profile, the goal should be to have a natural link profile".

Purchasing links would be inadvisable and against webmaster guidelines. Some of the best link building strategies I've seen have revolved around creating really great content and sharing and promoting it through social networks. Passive link building through content marketing is honestly the best way to create positive link equity without running afoul of Penguin.

[Kingalan1]

Hi Brett:

Makes sense, thanks!!

So let's say I have a useful article about renting office space in Manhattan. Would I be best posting it on a social media site with a link back to our site? Or better to add the article to our blog and then promote it on social media like Twitter and Googe+ and then like back to the article?

Thanks,

Alan

[brettmandoes]

The best course of action is going to vary. Generally I'd say promote your content everywhere you can until you find what works. Maybe the content you're producing is best on Instagram, or maybe it gains more traction on Pinterest. Maybe your tweets have more engagement than your Facebook posts. Should videos go on Snapchat or YouTube?

It's really difficult to say what you should be doing without any knowledge of your products, services, content, brand voice, etc. If you're considering paid promotions then Facebook is probably your best platform for its ability to target very specific segments. And it just has massive reach. But otherwise, try to match up your content with the right platform through discovery.

Once you've got that nailed down, definitely give the content a home on your website. This gives people something to link back to.

You can get pretty creative with how you target people for link building campaigns, so you don't need to take this strategy as link gospel, but it's one option for you that I think is a bit more ethical and probably more effective in the long run than paying bloggers individually to link to you.

[Kingalan1]

Interesting that you mention video. Do you think, that if well done that attracts interest that is equal or better than an article? Also, as a B+B service, do you think that Snapchat would be appropriate for posting? Are links that originate in Facebook and Snapchat "follow" links? I know that YouTube is no follow. As a B+B business (commercial real estate) I am hoping to find the best sites for posting information. Recently we have been creating promotional videos of listings and informational videos of neighborhoods and are trying to figure out where to post them. From what you are saying it is key to post these videos on our website. Our few experiments have been on YouTube.