tyboffline-801-e1369325939312While the bulk of search engine optimizing is done online, not all of your marketing efforts need to originate online. There are a wealth of ways to get links, buzz, and mentions that are beneficial to your overall SEO campaigns that involve starting out in the “real world”.

  1. Sponsor an Event
  2. Sponsor a Charity
  3. Ask for reviews
  4. Local Newspapers

Sponsor an event

Sponsoring industry events that are relevant to you is not only good for your brand building and recognition, but it can get you backlinks from the event website you are sponsoring. It can also get you editorial backlinks from newspaper articles that are covering the event. Both sites, more than likely, will have good trust and authority associated with them. Two high-quality links will outweigh a thousand from lower trusted sites all the time. You can also write a blog, or live-blog from the event that you are sponsoring as well. This could also not only give your blog more readers, but can be used by other bloggers to link to your stories.

You can also host or co-host your own event and solicit sponsors and do the exact same link building techniques you would employ when sponsoring an event. The goal is to create links and buzz.

Sponsor a charity

This is another sponsorship that will help both your brand and your backlink profile. Charities tend to have higher trust and authority, and most of them have been around for a long period of time. Charity sponsorship is not only an act of good will but it’s also an opportunity to get backlinks and social buzz as most charities are highly active in social media, and tend to promote events and functions to their group of followers.

Ask for reviews

One of the greatest deciding factors for users researching online, is the number and quality of reviews a certain business has. Google has picked up on this also, and lots of search engine results now display quick star ratings by them. Online places like Yelp thrive on their user reviews. Like the other methods, getting good reviews helps both brand and trust. One of the best ways to get reviews for these sites is just by asking for it. You would be surprised how easy getting reviews from customers can be by just giving them a card with the addresses to your review sites. You can also incorporate links to review sites in your newsletters, emails, websites, etc.

Local Newspapers

If you are an authority in your particular niche, you can always ask your local newspaper to let you write an article with a link back to your website. You can also provide interviews and Q and A’s. You will need something that will entice the newspaper to agree that your topic is of interest. Most newspapers will have an online presence also, so make sure your story is published there and your website is linked from it.

As Google keeps changing its algorithms and demanding sites be authoritative and natural (i.e. no spam links from low quality directories, etc.), the need to employ traditional PR and marketing tactics into your SEO strategy becomes more crucial to your success online. The results of using these real world tactics means better brand awareness and hopefully higher online rankings and authority!