With PPC prices rising and Facebook becoming more competitive, organic search traffic can make or break an e-commerce site. However, to get that valuable traffic, you need to build links. You can focus on on-site SEO and content creation all you want, but there’s little chance of ranking without link building.
But where do you start? You might wonder who would want to link to a specialty dog clothes shop?
Do not fear! With some effort, you can build links to any e-commerce shop—I promise. After building links to several of my e-commerce stores, I’ve refined four go-to tactics (plus a bonus tactic!) to make your life easier. Without further ado…
1. Just Ask!
Think of any relationships you can leverage for links. The easiest one for e-commerce shops is to ask the manufacturers of the products you sell. You’re one of their key distribution channels, and they want to keep you happy.
Check out this “where to buy” page from Plantronics:
All it takes is a simple email or phone call to land valuable links.
Don’t limit yourself to manufacturers, though. Be creative. Check out the websites of software providers you use. Do they have testimonial pages linking out to customers? How about any professional services you use? Maybe your accountant or lawyer has a spot on their site for clients.
2. Find Complementary Products
Think about the products on your e-commerce shop. What other companies are selling items that complement or enhance yours? I’d be surprised if you can’t think of at least a couple.
Reach out to these product manufacturers to see if you can work together. There are numerous ways to leverage these relationships. It can be as simple as linking from each other’s product pages for backlinks and revenue. Or you can exchange posts on each other’s blogs to amplify your reach through each other’s email lists and social networks.
See how Detour Coffee Roasters wrote about brewing the perfect pour-over coffee with the Hario V60.
The article is mutually beneficial for both Detour and Hario: Detour demonstrates the best way to use their beans, and Hario gets exposure through the Detour blog.
3. Infographics (They Still Work!)
Yeah, I know what you’re thinking: Infographics are SO 2013. Why are you even bringing them up?
Well, I firmly believe that infographics still work better than ever—especially with e-commerce sites. The reason is that you can leverage them as both useful educational pieces and linkable assets. Education plays a big part in reducing user anxiety and increasing conversion rates.
A fantastic example of this is MillysStore’s "Know Your Knife" infographic.
This infographic serves two purposes:
- It helps customers decide on the right knife (or knives) for them. Shopping can be overwhelming with so many products to choose from.
- It’s a fantastic linkable asset. According to Majestic, this infographic has 63 external backlinks pointing towards it, making it a great fit for any kitchen or cooking blog.
4. Product Page Contests
Building links to internal pages of e-commerce shops is a tough task. They’re generally basic and don’t give other websites much reason to link to them. So why not give them one?
Run a contest on your actual product page instead of creating a separate contest page—it just makes sense. You can then build links to your valuable product page instead of sending them elsewhere. It can be done easily through a tool like Rafflecopter.
Once the contest is set up on your product page, submit the page to various contest directories and give bloggers a reason to write about your contest. The more unique and interesting your contest, the more links you’ll drive to your product page.
Bonus: Internal Linking or Bust
Most of these link-building tactics will build links to your homepage; it’s unavoidable. That means most of your link equity will be stuck there. The problem is, many of your high-value keywords are under category and product pages. Without links, these pages will struggle to rank.
To overcome this, ensure you leverage internal linking to your important keywords. Include your valuable product and category pages as “featured” on the homepage. Add links to important category pages from your product descriptions. If brand terms are important, incorporate them into your homepage’s copy.
What strategies are you using to build links to your e-commerce sites?
