When it comes to building a solid online presence within the highly competitive finance industry, one of the most effective (and quickest) ways to achieve this goal, is through link building. More specifically, the use of backlinks or backlinking, allows online finance websites such as banks and other financial institutions and advisors, to drive more traffic to their site, and in the process, create a larger customer base.
In case you’re still new to web building or web development, understanding what backlinks are, and how they work, is vital to developing a solid foundation for your expansion within the finance industry, particularly in this fast-paced digital age.
Backlinks are essentially ‘links’ that connect a page on one website to a page on another website. Backlinks are usually found within articles or blogs that are relevant to the subject, in this case, finances or financial information. When someone reads an interesting, helpful or relevant article on a website, and then clicks on a keyword or phrase containing a link to a page on your website, (for example a service you might offer), they will automatically be taken to your site. Backlinking can be one of the most effective and easy ways to drive traffic to your site or blog page.
Ever heard the saying, there are many ways to skin a cat? While that old analogy may seem somewhat disturbing these days, the point it makes, in the context of our article, is that there are many different techniques that people can use to generate powerful and effective backlinks. If you’re new to creating backlinks, it is always best to start with the basics and work your way up.
One of the easiest, and most basic, ways to start creating good backlinks is through local business listings. This is especially useful if you happen to have a finance business with multiple locations and branches. To get going with this simple technique, start by making a list of every branch and every location that you are in. Next, get local listings for each branch or location that you are in.
Many new businesses will often start by using web-based services such as Google My Business or Yelp and others. Once you created your local listings, you can enhance them and make them more attractive (than the competition) by adding photographs of your local area business (location) and even asking clients or customers to leave reviews of their experience with you. That way, any other potential clients may be persuaded to click on your links right away.
Here’s an interesting backlink building technique that is becoming more and more popular online – getting local blogs and publications to feature ‘real stories about real people’. Let’s face it, when it comes to the finance sector, people can find it a bit boring and impersonal. However, by creating captivating and heart-warming stories about some of your clients’ biggest successes, and getting local blogs or papers to publish them (with links to your site of course), you can create a really powerful backlinking tool. The best part is that you’ll be able to use this technique over and over, and drive traffic and create huge brand value perception at the same time.
The finance industry is one of the largest industries in the world and, while there might be a great deal of competition within this sector, there are also many different associations and membership-based groups within the industry. This is something that can work in your advantage, as becoming a member of any number of groups and associations will open up a world of networking opportunities.
To generate backlinks through associations and groups, begin by creating lists of relevant organisations within your field. Start with the ones that you (your business) are already a member of. Next, work you’re your way through your list, making enquiries as to what backlinking options they make available to members.
To increase your backlink possibilities with this technique, create a budget that will allow you to take advantage of membership offers within organisations or networks as they become available to you. Alternatively, you can always create your own groups or associations and simply list your own company as a founding member, growing your backlink potential as new members join.
There are of course many other techniques to create effective backlinks to your website, but these that we’ve outlined here are a great way to get started. Once you’ve established a few good backlinks, you can always expand on your campaign by including other techniques such as link reclamation (reclaiming broken or removed links) or creating ‘skyscraper’ content for Google rankings. Good luck!