relevant Archives | Kristi Dement

Tag Archives: relevant

How To Ask for a Link Request

Posted on July 8, 2014 by kdement Leave a comment

Do you wonder how to ask for a link request? I am going to sum up the main points in the awesome book published by Entrepreneur Press called Ultimate Guide to Link Building: Build Backlinks, Earn a Higher Search Engine Rank, Increase the Authority and Popularity of Your Site by Eric Ward and Garrett French.

Steps:

Look over the website you want to have your link on to make sure it is relevant
Do not put the words “link request” in the email subject line
Start the e-mail off addressing the website owner by name
Introduce yourself, your website, and why you would like to the link
Identify the exact URL on their site where you think the link is a fit
List the exact URL from your site that you want them to link to
Give a valid email address and respond to any email requests they send
Provide your phone number–something a spammer would not do
Follow any link request instructions they give
If a reciprocal link, confirm that you have linked to their site and provide the URL
Be attentive, professional, courteous, and to the point

This book also lists Link Building Strategies written by Jon Cooper of Point Blank SEO:

Start blogging on your website
Have internal links to other content on your website
List resources and outside links
Build relationships with others
Find niche-specific directories
Write guest posts or have guests write posts for your blog
Provide educational content
Write compelling testimonials
Provide useful lists–there is power in making lists!
Be interviewed or interview someone in your industry
Offer timely/seasonal content
Use humor
Provide printable resources
Host contests
Cover news first
Give helpful infographics
Host online webinars
Promote National Days and Events
Survey people and post results
Debunk popular myths
Comment on relevant blogs
Do question and answer blog post
Ask customers what they want to see more of
Connect with industry associations and organizations
Attend relevant conferences
Call people
Host local group meetings
Retweet Twitter tweets
Provide email signature listing website & ways to connect with you via social media
and much more!

There are always things you can do to draw bigger audiences to your website. By taking the steps to ask for link requests and implementing the link building strategies, you will be well on your way to developing more a popular website.

Readers, I welcome your responses to this post as well as other ideas related to the topic of link requests and link building. I read every comment and respond when appropriate. Thanks! Kristi

Posted in Associations and Ratings, Blog and Social Media, Conferences, Events, Promotion

Verify Your Website To Pin Smarter

Posted on March 11, 2014 by kdement Leave a comment

Pinterest helps people discover things in a simple and visual way. Pinners might find something they love while browsing your boards, scrolling through a category you’re listed in or searching for your bed and breakfast directly.

Pinterest offers Business sites to help brands and businesses who wish to use Pinterest to connect with their audience. In this blog post I will tell you exactly why you want to verify your bed and breakfast’s website for your Business Pinterest Profile. Without verifying your website, you will be missing some very important information!

First, to verify your website, visit your Settings page and click on the Verify Website button. When your website is verified, people will see a checkmark next to your domain in search results. They will also see the full website URL and checkmark on your profile.

The verification badge helps people identify high-quality sources of content and more easily find the business they want in search results. There you’ll find Pinterest tools and resources relevant to you, and see examples of how other businesses are using Pinterest.

Pinterest offers tips to businesses, including:

Pinning from various sources rather than one specific site.
Pinning from within Pinterest to engage with others (pinning is one of the most social activities on Pinterest and it’s how any user really builds his/her network of followers)
Creating at least a few boards that cover a broad range of interests, rather than maintaining a single board devoted to one topic.

For businesses, pinning can be a great way to highlight aspects of your brand that may not come to mind at first when people consider your brand. For example, not everyone knows:

B&B’s can have spas, salons, and shops
Bed and breakfasts can offer retreats and some perform weddings
All the wonderful amenities bed and breakfasts offer
About your wonderful hospitality and homemade cooking

Pinterest can also be a great tool to learn what your audience and potential guests like. Once your website is verified, you have access to Pinterest Analytics. This is the why I was talking about. This shows you which pins are most popular with pinners and see which pins are driving the most traﬃc to your site!

You can also see what boards your stuﬀ appears on, how the pins are described and what people pin along with your stuﬀ. All of these insights will help you make smarter choices about what you pin and even develop a pinning strategy. Watch out: pinning can be addictive!

Posted in Blog and Social Media, Guests, Promotion

Social Media Success

Posted on November 12, 2013 by kdement Leave a comment

Using social media is one of the easiest and least expensive ways to get the word out about your own business, products, and ideas. The popular social media websites include:

Facebook (one of the first big social media sites)
Twitter (limited to 140 characters per tweet–which forces people to get to the point!)
Linked In (the best business social media network where you establish connections with other professionals)
Google Plus (you can add people to your circles)
Pinterest (you can post pictures of your bed and breakfast–inside and out!)

Social media is an industry by itself. People can actually earn social media certification through various programs both online and offline. There are search engine optimization (SEO) experts who will tell you that it is extremely important that people have blogs using keywords that are relevant to their audience.

The search engines love it when you generate a lot of traffic regularly to your website and they reward you with higher rankings. Many businesses seek to be one of the first search results for a specific set of keywords.

Blogs need to be written regularly so people know they can come back to your blog for relevant, useful, up-to-date information. I hope I have encouraged you to think about the possibilities of widening your particular audience by using social media!

Posted in Blog and Social Media, Success