Link-building is one of the most useful tactics in regards to digital marketing. In addition to increasing your SEO score, link-building can also introduce your content to an entirely new audience and enhance its visibility. In today’s age, people are constantly on the look out for new forms of content that cover a variety of industries and products. However, there are a few industries that many people would consider “boring”; one’s that are perceived to not have as many interesting topics as others.
For every car industry, there’s an insurance; something that not that many people would describe as interesting. Now the big question is: What good is link-building if no one cares about my industry? Any industry has the potential to be engaging with the right content and a good angle. In this seven-part blog series, we’re going to take you through the necessary steps to pulling off a successful link-building strategy. Today’s blog will be focused on crafting the perfect story.
Sit back, relax, and let’s get started.
Associate Your Boring Industry with Something Exciting
The first step in crafting a story is knowing kind of story you want to tell. Do you want to be funny or serious? Are you trying to scare your audience into a reaction or make them laugh? These are the kind of questions that you have to ask yourself before creating the story that your content will be based on.
Whatever it is, make sure that it is both exciting and engaging. A boring story coupled with a boring industry is, you guessed it, boring. Be sure to associate your industry with the exciting parts of people’s lives, not just the mundane ones if you really want to change perception.
Create a Narrative
The best types of content are the ones that possess a sense of structure. When reading a blog post or watching a YouTube video, you should feel like you’re being taken from point A to B. This is called having a narrative.
Poorly structured blog posts force you to read through its content just to make you feel like you’ve remained in the same place the entire time. A good story comes complete with a beginning, middle, and end. Your reader should feel accomplished when they finish engaging with your content, and more importantly, ready to read more.
Keep it Relevant
Next to quality and structure, relevancy is the most important thing to consider when crafting content for a link-building strategy. Remember, that while you may be creating a story that audiences will find interesting, it should in some way relate your industry. Creating an interesting story that is not relevant to your industry defeats the purpose of creating the story in the first place.
There’s nothing worse than crafting a cool and engaging story just for your audience to miss the point entirely. By expertly integrating your industry and products into the narrative you’re crafting, you’ll be able to effectively entertain your audience while changing their view.
Add a Sense of Personality
It’s been proven that people don’t relate to the words being written but rather the individuals writing them. In order to tell a story that others can resonate with, it must be injected with some sense of personality, whatever that may be. Whether you’re going for something humorous or sincerely genuine, your content should feel like it’s being written by an actual person, not a computer.
By providing your content with a conversational tone, you make it more enticing to read, thus making it interesting in the process. While no one is telling to write the next great American novel, any content you produce should be able to relate your reader on some kind of level.
Be Descriptive
The best thing about writing content is that it can be as long or short as you want. Believe it or not but people are more attracted to content that is descriptive and detailed. The reason why people may perceive an industry as boring is because of how cut and dry they believe it to be. Your story and content, in general, should display a certain of depth.
When it comes to informative content, it is important that your audience understands every aspect of what you’re describing. If your reader finishes your blog post and is still confused, then chances are it was poorly structured or too vague. Even if it means extending your content by another 100 words or two paragraphs, ensure that you are fully capable of getting your point across. Your reader won’t forget it.
Don’t Pretend to be Something You’re Not
There’s a fine line between persuasion and deception. While it is important to create a story that is enticing to your audience, you should never lose sight of who you are as a business or what you’re industry is about. Intentionally lying to your readers or attempting to manipulate them may work for a short period of time but will eventually backfire.
Once your audience realizes that your entire story is nothing but smoke and mirrors, they won’t hesitate to outcast you and tell others to do the same. In relation to a link-building strategy, other content writers and specialists will quickly see through your façade and ignore your content. Finding a balance between honesty, creativity, and relevance may be hard work but is something that will only benefit you in the end.
Conclusion
Crafting a story is only step one in developing an effective link-building strategy. Keep in mind that your audience is looking for a story that is relevant, informative, honest, properly-structured, and one they can relate to. By following these tips, you can turn even the most boring of industries into something that your audience will want to research and delve into.
Also, remember to keep a look out for part two in our seven-part series of The Link Building Guide. Best of luck on your link-building efforts and we’ll see you soon.
