Blog Links Need to be Earned

I recently had some friends and readers review my posts and offer their opinion. I’m thankful for their input! But, a consistent question from them was, “What are you doing to get links into your blog?” and “Have you started emailing everyone for links?”. I don’t have two feet to stand on in the link discussion – there are others with much more experience at linking for SEO purposes, but I can offer my thoughts from a blogger standpoint.

A salesperson rarely gets business from walking into a brick-and-mortar company they’ve never talked to before, displaying their product and a smile, and leave with a purchase order. Rather, some of the best relationships built between salesperson and customer is one where much effort has been made to build a relationship. Over time the salesperson can show how their product or service can help the customer.

I feel this is the case with blogging. My goal is to provide useful content that readers enjoy and come back often to read. Hopefully, over time, they’ll find reason to link to my blog – and vice-versa.

In the meantime, please take the time to read Danny Sullivan’s post on Search Engine Land. He breaks down the details of a recent Google post.

Monday Morning “Marketing” Quarterback

As a Minnesota Vikings fan, Monday mornings are a great time to play Monday Morning Quarterback. There are always many instances in Sunday’s game that can be reconstructed, second-guessed and talked about around the water cooler.

But, I encourage you to also play a round of Monday Morning Marketing Quarterback. I’ve made the habit of grabbing a cup of coffee, opening my results tracking spreadsheets and figuring out what worked and what did not from the week before. Which banner ads got the most clicks? Which Google Ad converted the most new customers? Which text seemed to connect most with its intended audience? I check all my landing page URLs and check to see which had a high bounce rate and which sent the prospect deeper into the site. I’ll count up leads and where they came from – giving me an indication of which ads hit the mark.

As a small business marketing manager, results tracking is key to any program you run. Otherwise, how do we know what worked and what did not? What spend was worth it and what was not?

I came across an article on iMedia Connection by Reid Carr talking about metrics and how analytics programs can give you insight as to how your web site is running.

So, take some time this morning and learn from last week – and of course check ESPN to see what the future holds for your team as well.