5 Ways to Build Backlinks to Your Blog

What is a backlink and why do I need them?

The key way to get backlinks is to write great content! No one wants to link to sub-par posts or fluff. There are times though, where you can strategically share your good content with others and create backlinks to your site at the same time without waiting for someone else to link to you.

Definition: A backlink is whenever a website links back to you.

In a nutshell, the better your blog reputation (or blog post reputation) the better you will rank in search engine results.

Why is this important? It allows you to be found. Search engines such as Google, Bing, and Yahoo often use the number of backlinks that a website has as a factor for determining that website’s search engine ranking, popularity, and importance. The more backlinks you have, the higher your “reputation” is with search engines.

Here are several ways to create backlinks and the pros and cons of using each strategy:

5 Legitimate Ways to Create Backlinks:

1. Write for online sites such as Squidoo, Wizzley, HubPages, and Examiner.com.

These sites are platforms that allow users to write content based on their own interests. The goal is to to write quality content, make sales, network, and drive traffic to your other sites.

Pros:

1. You create legitimate backlinks to your blog by writing on a different platform (i.e. different blog)
2. You create additional articles around your niche which gives you more authority on your subject.
3. These types of sites usually take care of all the ads, and you share a part of the ad revenue, thus giving you an additional income stream.

Cons:

1. Each site has a learning curve which requires some time to invest in the site.
2. Some sites can seem a little spammy due to over-advertising.
3. You have no control over which ads are shown on your article.

2. Guest Posting on sites in your niche and outside your niche.

I write posts for our local museum. After each article I am able to link to my site in my bio. and occasionally organically link something from my blog into the article. I am able to reach a different audience than my niche this way. I spend more time guest posting on sites within my niche though. You have a better chance of gaining followers from sites with similar audiences.

Pros:

1. Reach a different audience.
2. Create more authority to your writing (build up your online writing resume.)

Cons:

1. Sometimes if writing too far out of your niche it is hard to come up with content.
2. Time spent writing on another site is time away from your own site.
3. Content written there is for them– driving traffic to their site via content.

3. Writing for Team Blogs

There have been seasons where I’ve been a part of team blogs. It can be a valuable blogging experience to be a part of a committed group. Before making any commitments, be sure you know the expectations of the group and what you are willing to do or not do.

Pros:

1. Camaraderie.
2. Seen as an authority within your niche.
3. Easy way to organically link back to your site.
4. Reach a larger audience (usually.)

Cons:

1. Sometimes hard to come up with content and meet deadlines.
2. Time spent writing on another site is time away from your own site.
3. Content written there is for them — driving traffic to their site via content.
4. Rules for monetization of posts (some sites don’t allow affiliate links, etc.)

4. Using sites such as Pinterest, StumbledUpon, LinkedIn, Google+, Twitter, and Facebook for backlinks and building authority.

Pros:

1. Reaching viewers outside of your niche who could be potential readers.
2. Opportunity for blog posts to go viral.
3. Help build authority in your niche. If you are sharing mostly #homeschool things, people start to look to you for #homeschool things (use hashtags when able.)
4. Opportunity to build community.

Cons:

1. Can be time-consuming.
2. Need to be careful what is shared. What you think is funny might not be seen the same by your followers and business contacts.
3. Can be a time-suck which takes away time for creating new content.
4. Certain social media outlets work better for different blog genres. Know where to spend your time.
5. Can be hard to keep up with the terms of service for each site.

5. Optimizing your Blog Posts for SEO and Including Internal Links.

Search engine optimization or SEO is a whole other set of blog posts!

You can get a basic understanding by reading SEO for Bloggers: The Basics.

When you have a post that you know is quality and worthy to be shared, you need to be intentional with your keywords in that post.

• Think about what a person would type in a search bar to find the information you are sharing.
• Try to include those words within your content, in headings, in the url and photo titles.
• Be careful not to over-do it. You do not want to seem spammy to your audience or to search engines.

While keywords are important, do not forget to add relevant internal links into your posts too. These would be links to past blog posts on the same topic from your site.

Why is this important since they aren’t backlinks? Search engines also give clout to what you think is important on your site. By creating internal links, you are telling those search engines what information you deem important on your blog.

I have utilized these strategies during different seasons in my blogging career. If you haven’t started working on backlinking, pick one strategy to implement this month.

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Maureen Spell is a former elementary school teacher who now has a classroom of 6 at home. She blogs at Spell Outloud sharing hands-on toddler and preschool crafts, activities, and free printables. With kids ranging from toddler to teen, she also highlights many varied homeschool activities and curriculum reviews.

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