When attempting to rank specific keywords within the 1st page results of all major search engines, link building plays a key role in the task of doing so. Aside from having excellent content and great meta tags, building links continually plus consistently is crucial to achieve and maintain top rankings.
Webmasters are well aware that the best kind of links is the one which is relevant to a website’s content. For individuals that sell their own products online or are affiliate marketers, an outstanding source of highly appropriate links would be product reviews.
This cost-effective solution for the creation of links is loved by all the big players in the search engine industry. A “virtual entrepreneur” can start by identifying blogs (which are relevant to the business plus product), and have their writers create reviews on the business’s merchandise.
However, randomly searching for just any blog/s on the web, and approaching them to get a product review written, isn’t always the best way to go about this method of link building. Online marketers need to set a few standards when it comes to recruitment.
One criterion to consider during the blog selection process is the blog’s authority – setting a minimum requirement for bloggers to reach would further boost the quality of the link placed within the review. Moreover, the overall quality of the site approached has to be considered as well.
A marketer who sells expensive products, such as 60” flat screen 3D televisions, will need to be very selective when it comes to picking out potential bloggers – the quality and authority of their site has to be of high value as well.
On the other hand, if a marketer sells lower priced goods, such as stuffed toys, then he can feel free to send out as many requests for product reviews as he likes. Though the overall quality of the blog wouldn’t matter much, the blog’s authority should nevertheless be considered.
A great source to find bloggers who are qualified to get the job done are blog communities – here, marketers will be pleased to find an abundance of potential recruits. Bloggers will typically be part of some sort of network, so infiltrating these networks and finding recruits there is recommended.
Upon finding, approaching and coming upon agreement with a variety of bloggers, specifying the general direction the product review should take, as well as giving input on a few crucial details, may be necessary. Naturally, a marketer would like the review to be positive, contain multiple links (anchor text is valued higher by search engines), have good meta tags, and perhaps even a profile of the business as well.
