Introduction from Hike – this post is the first in a series which we’re calling the “Friends of Hike Guest Post Series”. Being a SaaS/marketing company we have friends in lots of different companies, all who expertise in their specialist area. And we want to share their best tips – their best ‘knowledge’ – that can help YOU with your SEO. It’s all about sharing value.
It’s also to demonstrate to our users, and those small businesses/startups, that there are great opportunities for building links to your website if you participate in this ‘expertise sharing economy’. This is exactly what the future of link building looks like, and it’s what Google envisioned as the purpose of links.
The guys at Chanty who wrote this post (which, BTW, is a great article on how to create backlinks in this exact manner) have included a backlink to their site. And we are HAPPY to include it, as they are providing true value to our blog and to our users.
So without further ado, enjoy the first guest post in this new series…
In the world of SaaS, SEO is a frequently mentioned term. Everyone knows about it, some people know how to execute it, but very few SaaS companies actually leverage SEO to full extent.
At Chanty, focusing on SEO and quality link building has been one of our main marketing tactics since we launched. By investing time into SEO, we were able to get a rapid increase in our website’s domain authority, as well as get featured on sites such as Hubspot, Entrepreneur, Marketo, Invision and many others.
Here are some of the exact strategies we use to get backlinks from reputable websites. You can replicate these strategies yourself, no matter how big or small your SaaS is or what your niche is.
Let’s get started…
TL;DR
I recorded an interview with the author of this post, Miles. So, if you’d rather watch a video than read the post then you can do so below:
Do tons of guest posting
Probably the oldest trick in the link building book, guest posting is a great, legitimate way to get great links coming to your site. However, most people suck at guest posting, which is evident in some of the outreach emails we get at Chanty.
Lack of personalization, pitching irrelevant topics, ignoring guest post guidelines, offering money for a link – these are just some of the mistakes people make in pitching guest posts to us and other blog owners.
We do things a little bit differently.
First, in Chanty we have one person whose only job is to do link building and outreach.
It’s not the job of a writer or a marketing manager. This way, we know the job will be done well and the target websites will be well researched, with a personalized pitch.
The second thing – we only pitch guest posts to relevant websites.
Even though it could be easy to get a guest post from a site on gardening equipment, it’s not a good link since the topic is not relevant to us as a SaaS company.
Third – we only send quality articles.
Even though it’s not on our blog, a guest post is a reflection of our company and website. We only send guest blogs that are well-written and provide value to the readers. That brings us to our next point…
Fourth – the articles we do send are not promotional in nature.
We never write guest posts about how great Chanty is (although it does kick ass) or how much better it is than the competition. We write content that actually helps the reader, whether it’s to improve their click-through rates, create better exit intent pop-ups or something completely different.
Having written quite a few guest posts, I noticed that people save the best content for their own websites and push sub-par quality content for guest posts.
However, if you put time and effort into pitching quality guest posts as we did at Chanty, people will start recognizing you as an authority, and you will get that backlink you wanted. Everybody wins!
Write high-quality content on your own blog
I know I’m being Captain Obvious here, but no amount of link building will save you if the content on your own website is poor.
There are many directions you can take with your content strategy: going after high-volume keywords, high-intent keywords, going after your competition and much more.
While keywords themselves are important, the #1 factor in getting links (organically) from content is quality. That means in-depth research, personal experience, and relevancy.
In other words, writing another blog post on “Top Landing Page Optimization Tips” really won’t cut it, especially if you’re just re-hashing someone else’s words instead of writing down your own thoughts and experience.
Create infographics and track their success
You probably already know that infographics are an excellent way to get quality backlinks. You take a number of different facts and have a copywriter and a designer come up with a neat illustration.
Later on, writers like myself use it for articles and (hopefully) link to the source. This all works beautifully.
However, not all writers and blog authors link your infographics (and images). This is why it’s a good idea to run a reverse image search on your infographics every now and then.
You can use Google reverse image search or
By going through your most popular images every once in a while and running a search on them, you can get quite a few backlinks in a short time.
Use HARO to its full potential
HARO (Help A Reporter Out) is another underused platform for link building. This website lets you create a profile and sign up for emails, three times per day. You will get emails from reporters looking for a reputable source for one of their stories.
Hike note – check out the article Andy wrote on the process of gaining backlinks easily using HARO here.
You probably know the rest of the story – you answer to the questions, the reporter mentions you as the source and ideally, you get a link from them. It’s an effortless way to get links, provided that you choose your queries wisely and give quality answers backed by experience and research.
PS. You can also use HARO from the reporter end when you need material for a roundup post for your blog or guest blog – and get some great answers.
Create roundups (and participate in them)
Everyone likes if you ask them to share their personal opinion. And when you publish it on your website and give them a link – that’s even better.
At Chanty, we’ve created a few roundup posts before, with great success. The process is as follows:
1. Come up with a relevant, thought-provoking topic
2. Ask participants for their opinion (target influencers and industry experts)
3. Publish the post with their opinion, link to their website
4. Reach out to participants, ask them for social shares and links to your post
5. Sit back and watch links and traffic roll in…
On the other hand, participating in roundup posts is just as good of an idea to get an easy backlink, plus you get to make some friends.
Hike note – we found a great Facebook Group that looks to do just this; put people in touch who need quotes for their article. Check it out here.
For example, just check out this recent post in the group, perfect for starting to build a relationship which will gain you new backlinks…
Conclusion
When it comes to SEO, there really is no silver bullet.
In the end, it comes down to consistency, quality, dedication, hard work and just plain connecting with people. After all, building links
There is no real secret to our success with SEO at Chanty – just hard work and dedication and treating each built link as a connection with a human being instead of another point in getting better domain authority.
Author bio: Mile Živković is a content writer and work-life balance expert at Chanty – a simple and AI-powered Slack alternative. When Mile isn’t busy writing epic posts on productivity, work-life balance and time management for Chanty blog, he’s probably driving somewhere. His hobbies include cars (huge fan of Alfa Romeo), photography and collecting pocket knives. You can catch him on LinkedIn.
