9 local Link-Building techniques that are healthy and practical for your business website

You’ve probably heard of latest link-building techniques and even tried your hand at it for your website. Maybe you’ve started to get the hang of it but you’re not seeing the desired results or you’re avoiding link-building altogether. Whatever the case is, it’s important that you start building a quality link profile for your local business to rank well in search. Here are some healthy ideas that you can make use of for local link-building:

Host a local event – Hosting a community event allows you to get involved locally while helping you build links. Come up with an event that involves the entire community and spread the news. You can get links and mentions from local businesses and community-related websites. There are plenty of ways to earn links through event marketing, which ensures that your business gets backlinks from event calendars. Take a look below at the Choose Chicago website and see how local events are being displayed.
Get in the news – When you’re running a business, your sole focus is on pleasing people and this often drives your decisions. The fact of the matter is that you can’t please everyone all the time. This is exactly why creating controversial news will help you build local links. Maybe you’ve just launched a controversial ad or are standing up for a cause? Get your local newspaper to cover the story and create publicity and links for your business.
Special discounts – It’s well-known that discounts are a great way to promote businesses. With local link-building, however, concentrate your discounts on certain groups of people. Maybe to students and alumni of local universities and K-12 schools? Try offering military discounts or even veteran discounts as a way of thanking those who have done or are doing great service for the nation.Make sure you have a webpage in which you explain the reason for the discount and the process of availing it. You can reach out to local websites and newspapers in addition to local universities, K-12 schools, and alumni groups so they can link to your site. The University of Southampton has a long list of benefits and offers available for its alumni. See how a dental clinic has built links using this resource.
Connect with local influencers – You’re probably familiar with influencer marketing and how much of an impact influencers can make on your business. Your local link-building can make use of influencers too – whether it’s local politicians and journalists to even your competition.Find out if there are upcoming industry events or conferences and try to show up for these. It’s a great chance for you to build a relationship with influencers in your community. Otherwise you could also connect with them personally through the relationships you already have.
Create a local resource – Come up with a page that provides useful information about your area to show that you’re an expert of that area. If you’re a distributor of vegetables and local produce, come up with a list of top restaurants in your city. Other pages will eventually link to you as long as you provide valuable information.Promote this page over social media platforms so as to gain exposure with the relevant audience. For instance, some town groups have Facebook pages like “You know you are from Colorado Springs when…” It would be a good idea to promote your resource through these pages. Eventually, you might even be able to get community-run websites promote your piece.
Donate to a local charity – Does your community have a Salvation Army or some other local charity? Give something back to your community by donating to these organizations. This is a great way to gain healthy local links, as you’ll get press coverage from local newspapers. If the charity has a website or blog, that’s another useful source for backlinks for your business. You could get them to talk about the donation and mention your business with a link to your site.
Sponsor a local club – Almost every community has a range of clubs you could sponsor – from the local Rotary Club to the Lions Club. Otherwise, you could also sponsor a local sports team or even a little league team. Not only will you be able to gain links from their respective websites and pages, you will also be able to gain some publicity with the local media.The best thing about sponsorships is that you don’t necessarily have to choose a club relevant to your business. See the South Milwaukee Little League is being sponsored by varying local businesses from local eateries to insurance companies.
Be a part of local awards – In almost every city, you can find some type of award or the other. Maybe it’s an award for Best Realtors or even a Top 50 under 50? Find out all the local contests and awards that you could be eligible for and get yourself nominated. This is a great way to get links from news publications and the Chamber of Commerce or other city-run websites. Otherwise you could even sponsor an award yourself, which will also bring you plenty of local links.
Participate in local meet-ups – Local meet-up groups are excellent for building local links. You could just check out Meetup.com and see if there are any groups active in your area. Try to provide a meet-up venue for groups who are in search of a location for their meetings. You could even sponsor these meet-ups but make sure they’re relevant to your business so as to gain the most links from there websites.

Conclusion

Local link-building is not an easy task but you should be able to pull it off by actively engaging in your community and building priceless relationships. Make the most of the ideas mentioned above to build natural links in a healthy manner.