Link Building for extremely niche industry

[janc]

I understand that when getting links into your site, they need to be good authority but, importantly, also relevant to the information on your own website.

I've seen examples for people to find guest posting opportunities on many sites, but these have been for popular industries with mass amounts of people discussing it (travel blogs, fashion blogs), making guest post opportunities more readily available.

The company I work for provide doc storage, scanning and paperless solutions. As you can guess, when following these guides to find blogs on our industry, I have come up short with places to ask to guest post on!

So, how would SEOmozzers approach building quality, relevant links for a very niche industry such as ours?

Also, we'll be building pages for extremely specific types of files (e.g. Microfiche Scanning, A0 Scanning....). For these pages, how will I be able to find relevant pages on these topics to get a link to, because these will obviously be even more niche than doc scanning?

Thank you!

[Bryan_Loconto]

Hi,

Spying on your top competitor, can help. Find out what they are doing that is working, and see how you could add value to the same users.

Find out what social networks they are in (if any) and where they are earning links from.

There are many ways to buld links, have you checked out: http://www.seomoz.org/blog/the-noob-guide-to-link-building

Hope this helps.

[Branagan]

Maybe you just need to think a little outside of the box. For example, an article about scanning could be an useful resource for students, in a design blog, or even in a photography one, just think of all it's possible uses and stay creative!

Also googling the terms will get you a good place to start, check the SERP for 'Microfiche Scanning' for example, I'm staring at a few good linking opportunities right there.

Good luck!

[janc]

Thanks Bryan.

I have read that competitor link analysis is important, and have begun making a list of their back-link profile of competitors ranking highly for the most sought after keyword terms.

That being said, what would be the criteria for a link which is good enough to have coming into us?

(e.g. Minimum PR, Minimum Page Authority......)

I'm asking because high ranking competitors may have links which we could get a link from which on their own might not be very good to have coming into us.

Thanks

[KeriMorgret]

Who uses your services? Libraries? Law firms? Newspapers? Do any businesses and individuals use it for keeping track of their own paperwork?

If newspapers used your services to scan their old issues, seems like you could make your site become the best resource ever on scanning. How to choose which scanner to use, how to hire someone to do it versus doing it inhouse, etc. Make it the place that everyone in that industry would go to for information.

I can empathize with niches. My husband runs a business that sells kits for model warships that shoot and sink each other. The number of people in the world who participate in this hobby is in the hundreds. We do have the "cool" factor going on, but really understand about the fun of being in a niche.

[janc]

Keri,

Thanks for your input!

The problem is we don't sell scanners, we are a B2B company selling the service of scanning records for companies and turning them into a digital format. It is because of this which makes posting tricky, because we can't post about 'Top 10 Scanners' or 'Top Scanning Companies'.

[Bryan_Loconto]

How we look at the site in  steps:

A)Relevancy - the site must be as relevant as possible for users (similar terms on the site)

B)Back Links/Natural Linking - then we check to make sure the site has a natural linking profile and not over optimizing.

C)Authority/Page Rank

D)Social Media - does the site have a blog with real interaction, comments, likes and shares.

A and B must be done first and if they are not good proceed to the next link.

If A and B are good, steps C and D will help you evaluate the links actual value.

[DanielFreedman]

B to B is tough. But there is always a way. Is there a trade magazine or website you can identify  ?

If so, the secret is cultivating relationships with the editors. You might start by following them on Twitter and perhaps answering questions. Or you could comment on blog posts.

The idea is that when you ask to do a guest post or send in a press release, it won't be your first interaction.

For one B to B client, we started with a target list of about 10 websites and publications. Initial results were disappointing: no response or rejection. But last week, we kinda hit the jackpot. A guest post was accepted and they asked for a whole series on other topics. And one of my client's experts  will be doing some related webinars.

Another often neglected idea is speaking engagements by company executives. I actually look at the SEO value of trade shows and even local business roundtable sites and make suggestions with those in mind. Another client is a graduate student and fitness expert. i suggested he arrange a lecture at his own university that would be listed on the university website.

And what about profiles of company employees? It doesn't have to be the usually sucky profiles of Mr. Big. A sales or customer service rep who has been with the company for years often has great stories to tell about the changes he's seen. Write this up for your own blog, them send it to your new trade pub buddies. They will often do their own interview and story.

Hope this helps.

[KeriMorgret]

Can you write case studies of how a business improved x and increased efficiency and reduced costs by having their company records scanned and available in a digital format? Perhaps subscribe to HARO (Help A Reporter Out) and look for reporters writing about topics where your service could be of assistance.