I don’t know what everyone else’s client roster looks like, but for us it’s all over the map, both literally and figuratively. Not only have our clients allowed us to fulfill our dream of manifest destiny (almost), but they range from billion dollar corporations to one person start ups and everything in between. Obviously, the means and the goals of these types of businesses are drastically different, and from our standpoint they each require us to use different “SEO muscles.”
For our smaller clients that don’t have the budget, resources, or sometimes the need to continually create fabulous content, a large burden falls on building links through relationships. Now, there’s nothing I hate more than people casually using the cliche of “relationship building.” It makes my skin crawl. It reminds me of every sleazy, overzealous salesperson I’ve ever come across.
But as much as I hate this cliched term, there’s definitely something to be said for it when it comes to effective link building. It can be so easy to fall into the trap of thinking about links transactionally. Do what you need to do to get the link, then on to the next target. This is a pretty limiting approach for both you and your client, however.
Recently I’ve been doing a lot of this type of work, and particularly in the world of small to mid-sized business, there’s a lot of education that needs to take place as you approach link targets in adjacent markets. People want to know why you want a link and what the value is. If you’re experienced in the game, you can likely give these folks a fairly canned but convincing response, get the link and move on. However, I’ve been pushing increasingly to help educate my targets as to what I’m doing, the benefit for my client, and the benefit for them. Most often, I find that they appreciate the knowledge passed along, and in some instances, it even opens the door to opportunities for gaining a new client, either the link target themselves or one of their business contacts. Even without that benefit, I’ve found some of my targets become increasingly willing to refer me to other good link targets, and having established that relationship makes gaining that next link that much easier.
This is terribly fundamental, but sometimes I find the fundamentals are the easiest things to forget. Just go golfing with me some time, you’ll see what I’m talking about!
