I was quoted in a Huffington Post Business article. YAY! Check it out – Tips For Making Your Blog Better in 2015
John Egan wrote a lovely article and used expert marketing professionals to help him compile a great list of better blogging tips. Although, it might not be as dazzling as being etched into the Hollywood Walk of Fame, it is a proud day to see one’s own name in the business section of the Huffington Post. When John sent me a note letting me know he’d been published, I got that warm fuzzy feeling about being mentioned and touted for my expertise. Thanks John!
Then I thought, besides the warm fuzzy feeling:
Are linkbacks and mentions really worth it?
Do linkbacks really help my search credibility?
I wanted to put some muscle behind the fluffy stuff and make sure my methods are current. I want a more compelling argument for the importance of linkbacks. I follow the HARO leads, I send in pitches on behalf of my clients and sometimes we get published. I preach the importance of writing in an authoritative voice for a number of reasons. However, this has become second nature to me and well, with Penguin and Panda, is this really necessary? Am I still on target?
In December 2013, Matt Cutts spoke about Google working on promotiong authoritative content on during this TWiT netcast. He said that experts will get more notice than their amateur or non-authoritative counterparts when they publish articles. Although not much has been released since then, there is no indication that linkbacks will be devalued in the near future. To the contrary, authoritative linkbacks build a stronger individual author brand and boost content from the writer.
If your goals include great content that people want to read, the people that you want as customers, then you need to be an expert and have authority to rank in your field of expertise.
Why You Need to Write Like the Expert You Are:
1. Author Reputation – As search algorithms become more interested in content, even more intuitively with updates like Panda and Penguin, the emphasis is leaning away from backlinks. But, backlinks are not going away anytime soon. They will still be important in the search algorithm and they are gaining new importance as a way of giving an author reputation. Despite the fact that Google Authorship is dead, search enginges still place value authoritative authors based on the placement of other articles in credible sources.
2. Personal Gratification and Kudos from Mom – More so than being rewarded by Google and other search engines, there is always some personal gratification when Aunt Janet raves about you in the social comments and shares your article to her own friend circle.
3. Linkbacks Are Still Great SEO – Even though content is king, linkbacks have a number of years left in them was something Matt Cutts, Head of Google’s Web Spam Team, said on this Google Webmaster Q&A.
4. Search is Adaptable – Content is becoming smarter. The best way to be strong is to have strong content. Fluff won’t cut it. Be an expert!
5. Reference Material – Having an arsenal of your own material to reference when discussing your work with a potential client, investor, or collegue gives you the ability to sell better and backs up what you are saying with your own research.
6. Reputation – Whether you are writing an educational piece for another blog or you are getting quoted as an expert, it is always an honor for someone to consider you an expert in your pitch or when they ask your advice. It’s kind of like being asked to be a virtual keynote speaker for an online reception.
7. Networking Opportunity – Your articles are great fodder for starting networking conversations on social platforms.
How Can Someone Else Be The Writer, If I Am the Expert?
If you don’t have time to write, you aren’t alone. Everyone knows you are busy being the expert that you are. This is something I encounter often and one of the reasons we do what we do. My job is to express the expert opinion of my clients. I can take their expert opinion, craft some wordsmith voodoo (and keyword research), and target their audience.
Collaboration is key. I find myself interviewing my clients over and over again, researching and understanding what they have told me, and making sure they apppreciate how I am representing their expertise. They are the expert, I am the marketer.
If you have an expert opinion, would like to be an authority in your field, and build a stronger internet reputation, maybe it’s time you consider working with an experienced marketing firm to help you write authoritative content targeted towards your potential clients. Let’s talk — I can help!