This week, I’ve authored several posts on appealing to those folks who provide natural links and those who link due to successful viral marketing campaigns (linkbait):
- The Secret to Ranking at the Search Engines (on why appealing to link-savvy demographics is important)
- Creating Content that Appeals to a Link-Savvy Audience (on topic foci that can draw in links)
- Making a Site Link Friendly (on how to improve a site’s chances of earning inbound links)
For my next piece in this segment, I want to emphasize and explain why these tactics are universally applicable and explore some ways to entice natural links. While many marketers feel like they’re left out of the linkbait game because of the content focus of their sites, I’d posit that even the most boring, unsexy sites can both appeal to linkerati and create great viral content.
Let me walk you through the process of identifying linkerati in the most link and web-unsavvy market possible. That’s right… I want you to imagine yourself as the owner of a new Seattle catering company, let’s call you Sally Skibinski’s Source of Sustenance (catchy, eh?) or SSSoS.
SSSos is launching a new website to help promote their catering business. As a reader of SEOmoz, you’ve done your keyword research (yes, I’m shamelessly linking to the paid guide), and you know that the most popular, relevant phrase that you need to rank for is (surprise, surprise) – Seattle Catering. Taking a peek at the SERPs, things don’t look promising:
The competition is stiff and the first dozen links are direct competitors – you’ll have a tough time getting a link out of any of them (make no mistake, people, catering is a cutthroat business in the Emerald City). But, despite their success, the top ranking sites have made one, fatal mistake – they didn’t read SEOmoz (I’ve always wanted to write that).
So how do you do it? How do you build a site that crushes the competition – one that ensures your utter dominance in the field of baking cakes and shlepping latkes? Simple. You build not only for your customers, but for the linkerati, too.
Step I: Know Your Linkerati
Ask yourself – who are the visitors to a regional catering website most likely to provide a link?
- Restaurant & catering critics working for local media publications
- Local directory creators like Yelp, Citysearch, YellowPages, NWSource, Seattle Weekly, etc.
- Foodies with blogs
- Local message board participants at places like Craigslist, Seattle.About.com, TheStranger.com forums, etc.
- Recipe seekers who tag and share content through social media sites
- Businesses that employ your catering services in a partnership (or just on a regular basis)
Step II: Broaden Your Reach
Just because the catering industry is somewhat boring on the web doesn’t mean you have to be – broaden your horizons and imagine some of the most relevant areas your content could expand.
- Recipes
- Food photography
- Food presentation how-to’s
- Customer service tips
- Small business & startup tips
- Ingredient testing and comparisons
- Bulk food shopping
Step III: Brainstorm Content Ideas
With your audience in mind and an expanded sphere from which to operate, get to work creating ideas for specific content pieces that your site can support.
- AJAX-driven catering menu creator that provides pricing and photos
- Photography of the incredible meals you can provide, including recipes for how to make at home (in small quantities) and ingredient lists with sourcing (where you get each of your products)
- Directory of the best places in the city to buy food – which farmers provide the best produce during each season, where to buy in bulk, what fishmonger to deal with, which butcher, etc.
- Signature dishes presented in an America’s Test Kitchen walkthrough style of how you tested and refined the recipe until it was absolutely perfect
- List of tips for sharpening the presentation of home-made dishes to look like professional quality preparation
- Videos on food prep, recipes, presentation, catering menus you’ve built
- Interviews with famous chefs around town about their own work
Step IV: Create a Site Architecture that Allows for Inclusion of Your Content
A standard 5-page catering site like most of those atop the current SERPs won’t suffice. You’ll want a blog, a section for video tutorials, special articles, a directory of vendors, and a recipes collection along with the usual list of services, photography, and testimonials.
Step V: Build a Phenomenal Site
Hire a designer who can make your site look like something that belongs on CSSRemix, WebCreme, or CSSBeauty. Implement your robust site architecture with easy-to-use navigation and clear presentation of content. Read Steve Krug’s book and follow his tips religiously. Obey the rules of standard search-friendliness with clean URLs, good title tags, well written meta descriptions, and properly targeted content pages.
Step VI: Launch & Promote
When you launch, you should be submitting to those design portals, writing posts about your new site on NWSource and TheStranger.com forums seeking input, connecting with local food bloggers (they have their own get-togethers, for goodness sake), requesting that all the businesses who regularly use your services link to you on their sites and promoting your site to every fan of every bite at every meal you serve – “I’m so glad you like it – the recipe’s on our website – sssos.com.”
If you can do it for a subject as dry, un-techy and digg-ignorant as catering, you can do it with anything. Don’t let your hangups about who the linkerati are or how linkbait works for a site like SEOmoz or Drivl stop you from getting creative, getting inspired, and following this path to search success.
