Link building has become a very significant part of search engine optimization (SEO). As more and more people turn to search engines for information on the web, SEO continues to grow in importance and so does link building. As companies bolster their link building efforts, guest posting has emerged as a popular strategy for building these links. Typically these guest posting prospects are found through emailing various webmasters and asking them to write for the blog. While this can be a very effective strategy for acquiring links, there are some other more unconventional ways of finding link building opportunities.
Respond to Comments
Responding to comments on your existing guest posts is one unconventional way to find link building opportunities. This is something that you should do regardless of if you are looking for link building prospects or not, as it promotes engagement on your guest post which increases the value of that post and gives you a chance to connect with your audience on a personal level.
However, there are some potential link building opportunities to be found here. Oftentimes many of the people who comment on blog posts also have blogs of their own. These blogs are typically in a similar, if not the same, niche as the blog they just posted on so the relevancy should be good. Also, these people have taken the time to comment on your post which means they are familiar with your content and at least interested in it enough to read it. Not only is this an unconventional way to find potential link building leads, but it can also be even more promising than traditional forms of outreach as a relationship and familiarity already exists.
Social Media Interaction
Another great alternative way to find link building prospects is through social media interaction. Again, engaging with your target audience on social media is always a good idea, but many don’t take advantage of the opportunities that are available to find potential link building leads.
Joining and participating in social media groups can be a great way to discover some potential link building opportunities. Facebook groups can be useful for this, but it is perhaps Google+ that possesses the greatest opportunity. By interacting in G+ communities that are specific to your niche, you can find webmasters and blog owners who operate within your realm and have the relevant sites that you are hoping to link from.
Google+ also makes it easy to engage with these people as you can post questions directed towards them within the community or even send direct messages that only they can see. By actively contributing to these communities you can build credibility and show that you are a legitimate authority within your niche which will make these blog owners much more willing to feature your guest posts on their sites.
These are some of the more unconventional techniques available for finding link building leads that many link builders tend to overlook. Due to the high volume of spam that many webmasters and blog owners receive, often these strategies can actually be more effective than traditional means of finding link building prospects via email. While it is not necessary to completely abandon outreaching through email, it may be worth the time to explore some of these unconventional avenues for finding link building opportunities.
