People who get a lot of website traffic do two things very well:
1. They test and learn which hacks bring them the most traffic.
2. They double down and put all their resources into those techniques.
Today we are going to look at backlink building and how it can help increase website traffic to your domain. Backlinks, also known as inbound links, are hyperlinks from one web page to another – yours hopefully.
They help improve your Domain Authority, the ranking strength of your domain name and page authority. Having backlinks from other websites with high DA and PA sends quality and relevance signals to Google that you and your content rocks, but getting on those high ranking domains is tough.
Here are three backlink hacks to help you link with the best of them and get more traffic and eyeballs on your content.
1. Use the power of Quora to find backlink opportunities
Building backlinks is one essential task you should be undertaking weekly when you’re trying to build traffic and domain authority.
The best opportunities for backlinks come from people who have already shared similar content before. Quora is a great online tool to help you find them.
Head over to Quora and search for a broad keyword, like saas.
Find questions in your niche that have tons of followers.
Click on the people count and you’ll see all the people who are following that particular question. Now, click on their profile. Find someone with a personal website because they’ll be easy to reach.
Next, go to their website and find their contact information.
Here is a template to use for backlink email outreach. For bonus points, add value and offer a guest post. For lower rank domains, it does not need to be original content every time.
Subject: You should blog about [Insert your guest blog post topic]
[Insert their first name], as an avid reader of [Insert their site name], I would love to read about [Insert guest blog post topic], and I think your other readers would as well.
Your content on [Insert existing post from their website #1, insert existing post from their website #2, and insert existing post from their website #3] is great, but I think you can tie it all together by blogging on [Insert guest blog post topic].
I know you are probably busy and won’t blog on it, so I’m going to make you an offer you can’t refuse. How about I write it for you?
Don’t worry, I’m a great blogger, I’ve had my posts featured on[Insert previous guest post URL #1] and [Insert previous guest post URL #2].
Let me know if you are interested. I already know your blogging style, plus I understand what your readers love because I’m a fan.
Look forward to hearing from you,
[Insert your name]
If you shoot for a five percent conversion rate on these outreach emails, you’ll do just fine.
2. Use ‘Because’ in your email outreach to increase website traffic
Getting people to read your emails isn’t easy, but adding a single word could help you in your email outreach.
Dr. Scott Key of Northern Illinois University researched whether people waiting in line to use a photocopier would let someone use the machine before them.
When the person asked, “Can I use the copy machine before you?” only 61 percent of people agreed.
However, when the same person asked, “Can I use the copy machine before you because I’m in a rush?” 89 percent of people allowed them to use the machine first.
It’s not always easy to increase your chances by 45 percent, but this research proves that using the word “because” makes the request sound more legitimate. Start implementing this word in emails to increase your conversion rates.
3. Offer an incentive or add value
When you ask someone for a favor, such as asking to add a link to their website, people often respond better when you do something for them, too.
Infographics are a great way to do this.
Instead of asking prospects for a link just because, give them an infographic to post so they get something out of it as well. This is called the Guestographic technique.
Google devalues backlinks coming from infographics. So, be sure to use a contextual link, such as a byline or introductory paragraph, rather than the image itself being embedded from your site.
Let me know your thoughts and ideas on better email outreach when building traffic to your website in the comments below.