One of my favorite types of link-baits is a good, old fashioned resource list. Resource lists are great for a few reasons:
- They Have Built-In Syndication – With any linkable asset there’s an element of risk in creating the asset first and promoting it second – with most link baits (infographics, guides, free tools) there exists a possibility that you may either get very few links, or not get enough links to justify the costs to create the asset. With a resource list you can design the list to have some built-in, easy to get links: the people and organizations you highlight as great resources!
- They’re Useful – There is so much “noisy” content being produced on the Web that even Google is struggling to come up with algorithmic solutions for finding high quality answers from highly reputable sources. Human curation, as a result, is “making a comeback” as people seek out trusted information from quality sources.
- They’re Authoritative – Resource lists are the very links a lot of SEOs are looking to acquire because they frequently live on authoritative sites that produce valuable content. Any time the content you’re producing looks like an edu link you’d covet, you’ve probably created something authoritative that will pass the sniff test with man of the more trusted sites you eventually want to get to link to your resource list.
So obviously resource lists are good linkable assets – how do you create a great one?
Creating Your Resource List – Consider Your Audience
With any linkable asset you might create, you want to think about your “linking audience”. The same way you wouldn’t create a landing page without considering the type of traffic/prospects you’re sending to it and what might motivate them to convert, you shouldn’t create a link bait without first considering who you want to link at it and what would compel them to do so (seems obvious, but I frequently see failed link baits where it feels like the creator was focusing more on what he/she personally would find interesting or useful than the linking audience). Here we have, at a high level, two types of potential linkers to think about:
- The Resources Themselves – Depending on the type of list you create, you have a really good chance of getting the actual resources you’re listing to link to you. As you think about the type of resources you want to list, you need to think about which are the more likely linkers. For instance a list of blogs will likely have quite a few linkers as bloggers are more likely to do a quick write about your awesome resource and link off to it. A list of academic resources may net you a couple of higher quality links, but there’s a better chance you’ll strike out in actually getting anyone to include a link to you.
- Outreach Targets – After you tell the folks who were actually resources about your content, you’ll obviously want to approach other folks who might be likely to link to your content. You also need to keep this linking audience in mind as you choose what types of resources to include – would they be more likely to link to a list of really high quality, academic resources or a big list of blogs?
This balance between identifying the resources most likely to link to your resource list and your traditional link prospecting targets is crucial. Another key balance to strike is that of the volume of the resources: including a high volume of resources means you have a bigger number of folks who are likely link prospects, but this also means that the group you do select won’t feel as exclusive, and if you get too lenient with the qualifications for being included you risk lowering the quality of your resource (you’re no longer performing as valuable of a curation service). Here is a (dramatically oversimplified) visualization of this balance/dilemma:
Deciding how best to walk this line is somewhat dependent on the niche, but here are some thoughts on both types of resources and volume of resources:
- Types of Resources – Look at your niche: is there a large quantity of high quality blogs that link out? If you’re considering doing a resource list aimed at academia, are there links to be had there? Some things to look for are press pages for authors/Universities you’d include, about pages with links to interviews/media mentions, etc. Remember that the link you get doesn’t have to be (and in many cases won’t be) from the resource itself – if you include a list of the best video content on a subject, you may not get a link added to the page you’re linking to, but the person who created the video may have a press or about page.
- Volume of Resources – This depends on your niche, but I tend to err on the side of being more comprehensive. You obviously don’t want to include any garbage sites (think MFA, broken English, etc.) but really digging deep and being comprehensive lets you generate a higher volume of resources, and while you might not be adding as aggressive of a layer of editorial oversight, you are handing readers and potential linkers a long list of resources.
To make this a little more “real” let’s use an actual example and say I’m a major cat food vendor. I want to create a great resource list that has something to do with pet care that will attract tons of links. Since I don’t really like cats (not sure how I got this gig) I’ll have to investigate the niche some to get the lay of the land. Here are a few ideas to get you started:
- Top Blog Lists – These already exist in most niches, so you can go and find a quick list. As you search you’ll typically filter out noise if you use a number as a modifier; so rather than “top pet care blogs” something like “top 50 pet care blogs”: http://www.google.com/search?q=top+pet+care+blogs. This is a pretty good starting point to get an idea of what blogs are in the niche, whether they’re likely to link out, etc. Other good resources here are sites like All Top, Technorati, or a variety of other ways to find blogs in a niche.
- Query Prospecting – Do some inurl:.edu spelunking (among other operators) to get an idea of what types of authoritative content sites exist and to get an idea of what kind of academic folks might link to you. It helps here to know what a professor in your field would be called. For instance you might use this SERP: http://www.google.com/search?q=inurl:.edu+veterinary+medicine+press to find pages like this: http://www.vet.uga.edu/news.php which might help you decide to lean more towards creating something full of great academic resources.
- Amazon Author List – (Hat tip to Wil Reynolds’ awesome Affiliate Summit East Keynote for this idea – he was suggesting it as a tactic for finding interview topics, but it’s valuable here too) A great place to find experts is Amazon. You can look up your niche and see who has published books. Often times these folks will also have blogs and Web based content you could include in a list, and you can also check these sites for news and press pages.
This is a lot of legwork, but the good news is you can leverage a lot of what you find for other link building activities like general blogger relationship building, interview series, etc.
Making the Most of Your Resource List: Add Some Accessories
Once you’ve settled on a high level approach to building your list, you want to try to flesh it out in a few different ways:
- Meaty Content – Take the example of a “Best X Blogs” list – there are almost certainly some (if not a lot) of these in your niche, but many of them will just have a link with a quick line describing the blog. Go a little further and add some things like a unique, in-depth description of what each blog is all about, highlight three really good examples of the types of content people will find there, and what types of readers would find it interesting. Bonus tip: be sure to include the names of anyone associated with the blog who is appropriate (not just the main point of contact) in your descriptions – in some niches most of the people you mention might have an alert set up for their own name, and find your content that way.
- Shiny Objects – As with any content you’re creating, where appropriate include some visuals – with the blog example this might be screenshots of the blogs with each listing.
- Useful Tools – If you can add some cool tools to your resource list that can be another differentiator for the list from other lists, and can also provide a lot of real value for visitors. One that I find works well is to create a custom Google search engine or Blekko slash tag – both are really quick to get set up and can be highly valuable for anyone looking for answers in cutting through the noise, as they’ll just be getting information from the folks on your list.
You also want to be sure to remember to help the resources themselves share your content and gain even more exposure – whip up a quick badge for the list if it’s appropriate, create a Twitter List for everyone who made the list, and/or create an OPML file so folks can quickly subscribe to all the blogs at once. Get to Promoting! Obviously the last step is the actual outreach – the day you first launch the resource list you can start to do outreach to the folks who made the list, and over time you can also promote the list itself to link prospects. I won’t go into best practices for link prospecting, content marketing, and outreach here but if you’re curious here are some excellent resources:
Link Prospecting Tools & Content:
Content Marketing Outreach Tips & Tricks:
Regardless of what methodology you use for link prospecting and outreach, your link acquisition efforts should be a lot more effective because you’ve created the right type of resource list for your niche.
