Landed my first client, Only complication: I REALLY can't grasp how to get started with backlinks
Good evening lads, I have finally started materializing my learnings and have been working with a client, to build a portfolio before touching the freelance market.
The client is a travel agency, and the intent is to take it to the level of a brand so its a long haul While i can out do the competitors on onpage and blog posting due to there being mediocre competitors and there being room for out doing them, Something i struggled with and still do is: HOW do you even start with backlinks man
Do i start reaching out to random bloggers? How do i offer them value as a beginner?
Thank you so much for your time
Edit 1: the client is literally FREE, I'm working 6+ hrs just to refine my own skills. Its beyond disappointing how clearly some of you are in the market for 10+ years but have puked your biased judgements on beginners solely because they asked for perspective 45 💬🗨
erren Hi. I'm a travel agent (actually a tour operator but much of a muchness.)
I'd say historically the best backlinks we have are from offering an emerging destination. Not only is that going to give you less competition in search but when Conde Nast writes an article about it then there you are to link to.
Multi destination "listicles" are better than articles about a specific destination. A destination article will also link to your competitors but a listicle like "10 places you must visit in <year>" will probably only have one link in your territory. Doesn't matter if a company offering Saudi Arabia also gets a boost if you are not competing with them.
Put prices on everything that you can. Travel writers want to inform their readers. "Dave's Travel offers 7 night yoga retreats in Waikiki starting from $2100" If you don't have a price they'll find someone who does.
Blogs: keep your posts very specific to your service, steer clear of "weird facts about Alaska" or whatever. Lots of our competitors have stronger backlink profiles than our company but their traffic is trash and they don't rank for good relevant keywords. Sure BuzzFeed might give you a backlink but your site will get loads of traffic about Inuit seal burgers.
Bloggers: We got an early link from a blogger and it did no harm but most blogs are low authority.
Influencers: really the value of a backlink is seldom worth the free services they want.
Look at companies that you think are competitors and you'll see quite a few have fairly high value backlinks that are quite attainable.
AitchY ✍️ Thank you so much, this will help alot I'll definitely think over these all since i was just finally getting started with lists/blogs of that sort!
And yes i have a few companies in sights who have lended backlinks to literally all the competitors. They're not extreme by any means so I'll definitely be looking into how i can overcome them with the stated advices
erren Getting a backlink that all your competitors is not really giving you a search advantage though is it? Not if all the others have the same backlink. You are at best catching up.
The more I think about this, the more I realise that content is really key. If you have good, engaging, well structured content then backlinks will come organically, people will want to talk about you.
If the business owner won't commit to that content then he's not going to achieve his business goals regardless of how many backlinks you get.
I'm saying this obviously without seeing the content, it might be amazing. AitchY ✍️ Oh the content manufacturing is all on me aswell hahaha
I've been doing my best on that department aswell ^
Thank you for your time genuinely, and yeah reciprocating the same backlinks as competitors will by no means help me outrank them.
Luckily enough, there only are three competitors in sight and i have high hopes from content, on page and technical seo, that it might just help me outrank them since they're not peak optimized either
Hopefully, I'll learn good link building for such clients aswell Along the way erren I hope your business owner is at least taking some responsibility for part of his own web presence, sounds like he's landing a lot on you but if you are cutting your teeth on this then fair enough.
By all means Direct Message (DM) a link, aside from I am curious I will let you know if any obvious opportunities spring to mind
jlenney So you took a job from a paying client, but you do not know how to get them results… That's fantastic, SMH
AitchY ✍️ Pardon, where in the post does it specify paying?
Results? Are you deadass? So the entire ON-page, Technical seo, counselling in User Interface (UI)/User Experience (UX),and blog posting does not grant 'results' to an unpaying client?
Get your head out of prestigious a*s maybe and actually look at beginners from an unbiased eye Really don't see why there's this scale of bitterness, driven by your own assumptions
jlenney Lol ease up on the soy. You're leaking estrogen. Paid or not. Don't mess up your "customers" site. Build and learn with your own website first. If it works out for you then you can move on to sites other than your own.
downwitheat Your problem is the same one I had when starting Search Engine Optimization (SEO) many years ago. You know that links are important, and everyone on forums is telling you to make directory links and do guest posting, but logically this doesn't make sense.
Submitting my URL to a few directories and getting a couple of guest posts is not going to make my website more worthy of ranking highly on Google. Years ago, a few links like this could work really well. Now, Google is getting much better at figuring out which links to count.
The problem though, is that getting links to a travel site is extremely hard. Think about it. Imagine you own an authoritative travel website. Everyday you are going to have many people reaching out wanting a link. Eventually, you just ignore those emails. If you do link out, it's usually to either a site you know, an already authoritative website, or an unknown website that is killing it with providing information that nobody else is.
That last point is your way in as a new website.
If you've got essentially the same content as everyone else and are struggling to get people to link to you, then it's going to be really hard to convince Google's algorithms that you are worth ranking above others.
erren
If you've got essentially the same content as everyone else and are struggling to get people to link to you, then it's going to be really hard to convince Google's algorithms that you are worth ranking above others.
Yes, this is why it is vital to write content that nobody else has. I hope OP is taking notice because this is the third time I have mentioned this.
Our company ranks #1 on Google for a tiny Pacific island. To be honest we cannot be bothered to offer it anymore. But with hindsight, I would probably have added this destination even if I had known from the start that we were not going to offer it. it still brings people to our site and we can offer alternatives.
Offer what others are offering but in an innovative way, you have to distinguish yourselves.
I would even go so far as to mention that OP could add a travel service or vacation that nobody will conceivably want to book. That page can be linked to things that can be more easily monetised and if it is distinctive enough then people will talk about it.
AitchY ✍️ That last point is actually a brilliant suggestion I'll brainstorm over it and see if there exists a possibility for it and if i can, I'd for sure implement it
And thank you so much for your insights, I'll think over this all
AitchY ✍️ That's pretty much the uniquest take i have seen so far
This really is helpful
Back when i got the client, god knows why i thought this will be a relatively easier service for Search Engine Optimization (SEO) than many other businesses xD But recognizing the Off page complications for this service is definitely coming off as challenging
I guess i am lucky enough with the fact that the client is strictly local so, competitors are way lesser
seobyprofession For proper link building try to make it as natural as possible. Get links from business listings, niche catalogues and other relevant to your topic platforms. As for outreach. Choose the most relevant and close to your topic authoritative websites (I don't take Domain Authority (DA) lower then 50). Try to make useful, expert and unique articles with images and other authoritative links for outreach posting, that will help to: get referral traffic and quality links to your website, and will ease work with link builders and influencers in the future. Bcs you can show them examples of your work you're proud of. And also that can help you to ask for discounts, because of the good-quality content.
