Off-Page SEO Strategies

       Perhaps you'll be a little surprised, but off-page optimization starts with the content (which is the king, as you remember). The very first step you should accomplish before starting any link building is quality content. Remember, it is much easier to get a link onto some amazingly creative or informative article rather than onto a scanty set of trivialities. Deliver the content and the qualtiy backlinks will become much more closer to you than you think.

Nevertheless, the content alone is not enough. You still need to put some efforts into your link building strategy. Here is the rough step-by-step:
1. Know your product
Seems stupid at first, isn't it? But surprisingly many people all over the world simply do not know what do they offer! They simply cannot explain what they sell, what product they deal with, what's its features, why do other people need this product and what differs this product from other 2567 products of that kind. They simply do not know. But you must know that! Think of your product or service. What's unique in it? How can it help others? Who are your potential customers? You see, you cannot offer your services or products to some average and faceless customers. You must clearly understand who your customers are and why do they need you product. Start with that, figure it out for yourself, then formulate it into words to explain this for other people as well.

2. Set objectives
Now as you know who are your target audience, you should set the objectives - what is the purpose for you in reaching that audience? Money? Fun? Word of mouth? Fame? Popularity? Why do you need those people linking to your site? Spare a few minutes (or maybe few days) onto thinking of it - that's worth it. Without that answer you won't succeed.

3. Research
The next vital step is research. Before diving into the link building, you should gather as much information on the market as you can. The key to the success is information. But the value of the info is inverse of its age. So investigate the market, find the fresh info on your theme, conduct some personal researches or experiments if needed, talk with specialists in your industry - that's all count. What's the point in writing an article if the story it tells to your potential buyers is old as your granny? Well, of course, there is always someone who didn't hear it yet, but some recent news will attract much more interest anyway and that mean much more inbound links too.

You should also probe the market - what is popular, what are alternatives, how much does it cost, what are the bottle-necks, what's the ROI and so on and so further. Base your link building strategy on the current trends of the market in your niche.

4. Build content
As it was said above, the quality content opens the door to many inbound links to your site. At this step you should already know who are your potential visitors, who do you target, what objectives do you pursue and so on. Also you have a handful of great, freshly squeezed information. Now it is time to clothe all of this into tasty marketing texts. If you can do it with your own strengths - that's great, do it! If you cannot write persuasive selling copy yourself - hire someone who can.

5. Acquire links
You can refer to the above part to learn what works in the current off-page optimization world and what not. One of the today's buzz words is link baiting. The term describes the way how the links are acquired. The technique does not intend to ask webmasters to put a link to you, instead it encourages them to do that. Just like the fisherman baits a fish to the hook, you can bait a webmaster with your website. Why whould a webmaster want to link to you? Because your site has some value. Because it provides some services that others do not. Because it has unique content. Because it is funny. Because it's authoritative and trustworthy. There are plenty of possible reasons. But what common about them is: the link bait is never an easy money! You need to thought it out well. The bait needs to be well researched. It must fill some gap in the market to attract high value links.

6. Keep working
Once again, as soon as you got some results of your link campaign (or even if you didn't get any) - do not stop. Keep working. Repeat the steps 1-5. Build content, acquire links and then build content again.