As we all know, the Search Engine Optimization field is
booming day to day with new inventions and innovations. People may not know
that much of what they have learned yesterday will be out of date by tomorrow.
Unless one updates his knowledge by reading SEO news/articles, there is no
doubt he'll lag back in the SEO race.
Being an SEO Professional, I hereby suggest some the
factors that deal with off-page SEO. I found this forum to be the best suited
place for sharing. Below is a list of some things most people may be familiar
with, but I have also added a few advanced things that you may not know. Try
these Advanced Off-Page SEO Strategies to market your website, get ranked in
search engines, and to build online reputation (branding) for your company/website
so that you can survive in this competitive SEO world.
Note: These things have to be done after the completion of
on-page SEO. Before doing these things you must be aware of your competitors
who can able build a negative reputation against your company/website.
1). Community Creation in Social Networking Sites
Also known as online reputation management, this is the
first and foremost step with which you have to initiate your process. Try to
become a member of the most popular social networking sites like Orkut,
Myspace, Facebook, Linked In, Ecademy, etc., and create a profile of your own.
By doing this you can extend your network online, get connect with your
friends, share things with each other, and promote your company/website to
build an online reputation. This is most likely the same as Web 2.0
(Participatory Web), which means you have to show your active participation on
a regular basis.
2). Blogging
This is one of the most powerful ways to promote your
company/website online. Write a blog of your own for your company/website and
include lots of unique content. Be precise in what you're trying to convey for
the users in your blog entry and promote your blog in blog directories and blog
search engines. You can also promote your blog/website by posting comments in
other service-related blogs which allow links in the comments section that are
crawlable by the search engines (these blogs are commonly identified as
Do-Follow Blogs). If you're not very good at writing content for blog posts,
hire a guest blogger for your blog and ask him/her to write precise and unique
content so that your blog can gain more credit from a search engine point of
view.
3). Forum Postings
Create a forum/online discussion board of your own and
start a discussion or share topics with your friends. You can also post/reply
to a thread in other service-related pre-existing forums that allow links in
your signature which can be crawled by the search engines (aka "Do-Follow
Forums").
4). Search Engine Submission
Submit your website to the most popular search engines
like Google, Yahoo, MSN, Altavista, Alexa, Alltheweb, Lycos, Excite, etc., to
get listed for free.
5). Directory Submission
Many people may say that directory submission is dead. As
far as I'm concerned it is still alive. It is purely based on how effectively
we are selecting those directories and how efficiently we are choosing the
category for submission. Of course, I agree that it gives quite delayed
results, but it is worth doing it. Submit your websites to the topmost quality
directories like DMOZ, Yahoo Directory, ZoomInfo, One Mission, Pegasus, etc.
Nowadays many web directories may offer paid listings but don't go for it.
6). Social Bookmarking
Social Bookmarking is yet another powerful way of
promoting your website, but nowadays most people are spamming social
bookmarking sites without knowing how to use them. Since content in these
websites update frequently, search engines like these types of sites and often
visit them (this is commonly termed as Tagsonomy & Folksonomy in Web 2.0).
Do some social bookmarking in popular bookmarking sites like Digg, Delicious,
StumbleUpon, Propeller, etc. You should be very careful while doing this and
you must properly handle the tags which are very essential to broadcast your
news on a wide area network. This may increase your website traffic based on
how effectively you have participated.
6). Link Exchange
Exchange links with service-related websites (this is
commonly termed as Thematic Link Exchange) that can help increase your link popularity,
which is a major factor of Google's PageRank algorithm. Beware of Black-Hats
while doing exchanges.
7). Link Baiting
Suppose you have copied/published another website's news
or content in your blog/website. Don't forget to place their website link as a
reference. Do it for others and, if your content is trustworthy, let others do
it for you. This is another way to increase your link popularity.
8). Cross-Linking
Link to internal pages within your site wherever necessary
(this is commonly termed Internal Linking). This increases your internal link
popularity ,which is another major factor of Google Page Rank algorithm. The
best known example of successful internal linking is Wikipedia. Also try to get
a content link from websites/blogs that are related to your site theme. Try
getting a link from within their site content using a targeted keyword as
anchor text (much like Wikipedia does). We know that this strategy can often be
hard to implement, but these types of links have more weight from a search
engine point of view.
9). Photo Sharing
Publish/share your website product pictures and make them
public. Let your friends see them and comment on them too, which will help
drive traffic towards your website. Do this in major photo sharing websites like
Flickr, Picasa, Photo Bucket, Picli, etc.
10). Video Promotions
Like with photo sharing, you can publish/share your
product videos, expert opinions, and reviews of your product and make them
public in YouTube, Metacafe, Dailymotion, etc.
11). Business Reviews
Write reviews about others businesses or ask your
friends/clients to write a review of your business in major business review
sites like RateitAll, Shvoong, Kaboodle, Stylefeeder, etc.
12). Local Listings & Yellow Pages
Instead of going global and facing huge competition, make
your website local so that search engines can easily view your website and
fetch the content. This will help you to reach a targeted audience. Submit your
website to Google Local, Maps, Yahoo Local, Yellow Pages, Superpages, Hotfrog,
etc.
13). Article Submission
Write articles of your own and submit them to popular
article sites like Ezine, Go Articles, Now Public, Buzzle, etc. This will help
you to attain some deep links for your website (though it's usually a slower
process).
14). Press Release Promotion
If you are a business/service provider then go for PR
submission in popular PR websites like 1888pressrelease, Open PR, PR Leap, etc.
This will help you to publish your site in Google News.
15). Classifieds Submission
Do some classifieds submissions to advertise your products
for free. Try Craigslist and other major classifieds sites like Kugli, Myspace,
iMadespace, Vivastreet, etc.
16). Social Shopping Network
If you own an e-commerce website, this is a good strategy
for advertising and easily branding your products for free. Submit your
products to Google Product Search, Yahoo Online Shopping, MSN Online Shopping,
and other major social shopping network sites like Kaboodle, Style Feeder,
Wists, Five Limes, Buzz Shout, Ohmybuzz, etc.
17). Answers
Participate in Answers by asking and answering relevant
questions and placing a link to your website in the source section if
necessary. If you don't spam, this is another great way to increase your link
popularity (Yahoo Answers, Cha-Cha, Answer Bag, etc.)
18). Document Sharing
Share your website documents like business documents,
information brochures, and slides in Google Docs, Slide Share, etc. This will
help you brand your website.
19) CSS, W3C & RSS Directories Submission
If you have a web design site or offer services related to
web design, submit your website to CSS and W3C website directories which may
drive traffic towards your website. Also submit your website to RSS feed
directories which, again, will help you attain more traffic.
20). Widget / Gadget Development
Develop some interactive and innovative widget/gadget
applications (such as an online poll or game widgets) for your website and
publish them on your blog/website or in other popular social networking sites
like Facebook and Myspace. Let your friends and others vote/play/use the
widget/application, which will help you increase your branding and website
visits.
21). PPC Ad Campaign
When none of the above strategies work for you, go for a PPC
ad campaign with your targeted keywords. Remember that you have to pay to drive
more traffic towards your website through PPC.
