Let us start with the obvious right away. Success in Digital Marketing means climbing the search rankings. According to Google’s own confessions, backlinks are one of the top three ranking factors. Content and Mobile Responsiveness being the other two.
This means that at the very core of any SEO strategy lies building backlinks. The logic is simple- the more backlinks a website has on web pages, the higher are its chances to rank. While there are a ton of other considerations, links continue to hold their own.
SEO Managers usually start their careers as Outreach Executives. Their task involves outreaching publishers and providing them with content pieces with their brand links. While this might sound easy, in reality, getting responses is tougher than you might think.
Successful link builders are not easy to find. Once a brand or agency comes across a successful professional that excels at link building, they are not eager to let them go at any costs or perks. In other words, there is a great demand in digital marketing tactics for them.
In this resource article, we are going to discuss the top seven link building skills and practices that link building services and experts should know about. If you are someone that is looking to make a mark in this field, make sure to stick around till the very end.
List of the Top 7 Link Building Skills every SEO Expert needs to know about
1. Networking Skills
The first and probably the most important link building skill that you should know about is “Networking”. Unless you are good at networking, you will not be able to excel as a link builder. Networking skills in link building usually mean:
- Knowing about digital platforms where your connections hang out
- Using social media aggressively to build relationships with others in your niche
- Understanding which part of your network will benefit from your proposal
- Being active on messenger services, communities, forums, and Q and A platforms
Unless your networking skills are up to a certain standard, you will not even get to know about bloggers and publishers in niches. This is why spreading the word about your presence and forming relationships is integral to success as a link builder.
2. Communication Skills
Every link building expert can attest to the fact that establishing the right communication is essential for success. In most instances, link builders need to negotiate with bloggers and publishers.
This includes everything from discussing topics to deciding on the fee for the same. Link builders need to be great at communication skills as they are needed to convince other stakeholders.
You cannot afford to give too much and get your work done. This means having good command, convincing, and sales skills that can help you get the coveted link you are after.
3. Emailing Skills
Following the above point, it would be worthwhile to point out that in addition to communication, email skills are essential to success. Almost 90% of all link building communication will take place through emails. This means that a link builder needs to:
- Be an expert in creating email subject lines and the message contents
- Know and be conscious of how email marketing software works
- Understand everything there is to know about email etiquettes
- Be good at English and conversational skills that are required for writing great emails
This is something that requires patience, guidance, and learning. Link builders need to ensure that every time they are sending an email, they are not striking out.
4. Research Skills
Probably the most important personality trait, you need to look for in naturally gifted link builders. Their ability to research everything about a specific blogger or publisher is what separates them from others in the field.
A specific publisher is pursued link building only after evaluating all the pros and cons of the site. This includes looking at metrics, traffic demographics, design quality, Spam Score, and Google Indexed Pages, among other things.
Good research means that link builders rarely go wrong and can build high-quality links at all times. From using tools to reading reviews, link builders that value research is a special lot.
5. Patience Skills
Just like anything good in life, building high-quality links takes time. Successful link builders chase authority publishers for months to get a well-placed link on their platform.
There are frequent to and for concerning the content type, topic, what the publisher is looking for, modifications, and ten other things.
This means that a link builder needs to exercise patience and not get frustrated when they do not see results going their way. Patience is a hallmark of all successful link building experts.
If you get angry or irritated at a publisher, you are destroying that relationship and closing that window for link building forever.
6. SEO Skills
There is no denying the fact while link building is one of the most important components of SEO, it is not the only one. Someone who is looking to excel at building links needs knowledge of everything from Technical SEO to Content Writing.
Most of the time, you will not have the content writer with you when you are negotiating with publishers. The same goes for understanding the technical bits of the publisher’s site.
This is why you need a complete and holistic understanding of all SEO skills. The better your SEO abilities, the more exceptional the results generated by your manual link acquisition or buy pbn backlinks through link building.
7. Creativity Skills
According to many leading SEO experts, link building is more art, than it is science. Even when data plays such a critical role in link building, the fact remains that you need to be creative to excel in this field.
Many argue that creativity is something that cannot be taught. In other words, it is God-gifted in nature. Being creative means finding ways and means of building backlinks that are not part of the established norm.
This will help you generate more results and secure appreciation for your innovative thought processes. Link builders need to be creative in their thought and approach.
The Bottom Line
In this resource article, we have discussed the top seven link building skills that every SEO expert needs to know about. Understanding these skills will help you become better at link building. If you have any questions, you would like us to address on the subject, please reach out to us in the comments below.
