If you haven’t read the Overview and Phase 1 sections yet, I highly encourage you to do so before reading further, as this page builds on top of the information shared in those pages.
The Phase 2 of Counterflow SEO Strategy is all about building relationships with your backlinkers.
In Phase 1, we found our backlinkers, we chose a topic to write about so that your backlinkers are highly likely to link to you and we chose the appropriate medium tail keyword.
Most people would think that it is time to write content using the information we have available.
However, as mentioned in the overview section, with Counterflow SEO we don’t rely on a publish and pray approach or wait for Google to rank our content.
We are going to be intentional about it.
In this phase, we lay the foundation for it, by building relationships with our backlinkers.
My recommendation is to follow this process once per week, during the entire period of your content writing process i.e, Phase 3, so your approach is more natural to the backlinkers.
Step #1: Get On Their Radar, Not On Their Nerves
Most people who try to build relationships with bloggers or influencers, approach it in completely the wrong way.
Instead of getting on their radar, they inadvertently get on their nerves.
This happens when people try to ask for backlinks, before engaging with them in anyway.
Kinda like walking to a stranger in a bar and saying, “Hey, do you want to sleep with me?”
Its awkward.
So, what we do here is, get on their radar, by adding value to them.
From the list of backlinkers you have made from phase 1, we need to identify 5 to 10 backlinkers that would be a great fit for the topic we choose to write an article on.
Some of the best ways to get on your backlinker’s radar is to follow them on social media, share one of their latest posts on your social media, leave an in-depth comment on their post.
One thing to really point out is that these backlinkers had paid their dues over time when most people had quit easily on the same journey as them.
You shouldn’t be surprised if they have pride and massive egos because of it.
So make sure that your efforts to reach out to them are not fake or insincere.
If you don’t feel like commenting anything thoughtful, don’t comment.
This is a process you can’t fake.
You have to be genuine, if not, they are smart enough to see a phony from a mile away.
In this step, you are finding out 5 to 10 people that recently shared content on your topic on Twitter.
Follow them on social media and execute the previous step with them.
The approach remains the same, be genuinely interested in what they do.
Perhaps, even start a dialogue on the topic.
Make sure to note the URLs of these profiles as we would need them in the post production phase, which is Phase 4.
Step #3: Find Active Communities
You should have a good size of people you can share your content to, by now.
However, we can kick this up a notch by engaging in communities.
You can search forums or communities using these keyword formats without the square brackets, ofcourse.
- [your keyword] forum
- [your keyword] + board
- [your keyword] + community
The key thing to remember with forums is to never do self promotion right off the bat.
Create an account in these forums, and focus on adding value, by creating atleast 2 high quality posts, replying to existing threads and getting on their radar.
Think of it as depositing money into your account, which you can debit later on.
Your aim is to not be a stranger. The more aggressive you are with giving, the better.
Conclusion
In this article, we covered how to build relationships with your backlinkers without coming across as needy or value-taking.
Aside from the steps, the most important thing is that you have to be genuine and ideally execute these steps atleast once per week until your content is ready to publish.
In doing so, your backlinkers already know you and they don’t have to do so much to recall your contribution to them.
If you haven’t noticed already, this is a very detailed strategy that requires precise execution.
If you would like, we can execute this strategy for you.
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