Link Building Strategies and The Content King

Whenever I think about link building, I always remember the saying I learnt almost immediately I started my SEO adventures, 'Content is King'. Six months later, that statement still rings true. In a previous post on defining link building, I listed some link building strategies I use; I figured it was time for me to expand that list and talk about each of them individually. That was when it struck me that everything on that list except Directory Submissions and Paid links all came back to content writing. In this post I'm going to talk about just how important content really is for a website or blog.

Content writing sounds pretty straight forward, right? After all, every other person has a blog thanks to Wordpress, Blogspot, Typepad and others. So really what's the big deal about writing anyway? Well, apparently there is style and there is style... Some people see the importance of having good content on their website and others think it is something they can do just like that! Bottom line, if you don't get your content write from the get-go, your link building strategy is going to suffer. Here's a list of the strategies I previously came up with:

• Directory and Paid Submission (talked about this already),
• Content writing and Linkbaiting,
• Article Submission,
• Social Media and Bookmarking,
• Video Optimisation (Videos don't need much content now do they?),
• Forum and Blog posting.

Firstly, Content writing and Link baiting, that's obvious enough. When you write good content you bait people to link to your content and publish it elsewhere with a link back to you, the original owner. That's more backlinks for your website and the more this happens the higher your link count gets, which leads to better keyword ranking. Sometimes, if the content is really good people can decide to use a service or product you are offering. That's why it's always good to put your best foot forward. Depending on your brand or service getting a professional writer for your content could go a long way.

Article submissions is a bit like link baiting. Sometimes you might want to publish your best content on your website or you might want to submit it elsewhere to draw more people to your website. It all depends on the strategy you're working with. I'm more of a 'charity begins at home' person so I love my best works to be on my blog, however, I believe there will come a time when all my work will be pretty darn good and I won't miss submitting an article of mine else where. Article submissions once again provides backlinks to your website, however I think the article submission strategy is going down...Guest blogging is more 'it' now.

Social Media and Bookmarking is about 'marketing' your product or service and making it go viral. You don't want to market something you don't feel confident or proud of; so why would you want to do the same for a website written in a hurry or without proper scrutiny? Even if you made an effort to market it, if it's not good great, there is no way anyone would help you market it.

I put Forum posting, Blogging and Guest blogging all under the same umbrella. However, it does seem as though forums are dying out and communities are taking its place. Blogging and Guest blogging are only great if you have great content that people actually want to read, which could then lead to link baiting and social bookmarking.

I don't know if it's worth hiring a content writer to actually write all your website content but I do know that to make it on the Internet, content is definitely king and he is not giving up his crown anytime soon! Are you writing because you enjoy it or because you want to make money? Are you selling yourself or a product? What are you trying to achieve online? I think some of these answers would determine whether hiring a content writer is best for you, or not. What do you think? to hire or not to hire?