I don't participate in forums very often because of the serious problem with noise in the signal to noise ratio, but I have been taking part in the conversation at the SEO Chat forum lately. Someone with a Guitar Lesson website asked about building links to his website.
I thought an obvious method of doing this would be Youtube. Some SEO experts would say that is ludicrous because Youtube doesn't pass link juice. I say those experts aren't experts at all.
Here's what I wrote (unedited):
I'm hearing some pretty good advice here, but let
me tell you what I might do.
First, you are probably right, there are plenty of people out there
interested in learning guitar or learning to play better and everyone
knows that you Brits can play guitar.
Fundamentally, you want to sell your videos right. Having a product like
yours is always preferable over monetizing with adsense. You might
could use adsense for a little extra, just be conservative how you place
those ads.
You are on the right track with Youtube and other video sharing services
and I believe that you can build a strategy around the concept that can
compliment a broader link building strategy.
1. Create your content for free consumption via Youtube. Careful here. I
wouldn't create a full length advanced lesson and just offer half of
it. That's a real thrill kill for a consumer. You are likely to alienate
anyone interested. What I think would be better is to offer a complete
basic lessons for free or offer explanations as to how Brian May get's
that sound on Bohemian Rhapsody. Be creative. Don't give away the store,
but give away something valuable that will establish you as a
knowledgeable source. You should create plenty of this content.
2. Up the content.
- Create a cool profile with a username that has your keywords in it
like GuitarLessons2012. Probably not TonyIommiISgod.
- Create a complete profile. That link on your Youtube profile back to
your site in "dofollow" Or it was the last time I checked. Take
advantage of it. We all know that Youtube is an authority site.
- Write good titles and descriptions for your lessons. You have done
some keyword research right? Make sure you put a link back to your site
in the description. It will be "nofollow", but good for generating nice
traffic.
- The video itself is a good opportunity to work on brand building. Got a
logo? Make sure your URL is in the video. Don't distract the user from
the content, but make sure its there.
3. Now the magic. Your user name links back to your Youtube profile.
This link is "dofollow" and links back to your profile that has the
"dofollow" back to your site. Armed with this info, join the community
and participate in conversations creating links back to your profile and
generating interest in your videos.
This approach is multilayered and has many benefits with SEO and
branding. I think it could work well for you. You should do your own
experiments and see what works for you. There are nuances to this that I
didn't elaborate on for example, that link to your site in the profile
doesn't have any anchor text. Does your domain name have keywords in it?
Worst case, this will help you build your authority and make other more
targeted link building (with anchor text) more effective.
Oh, on that link building service you asked about. I tend to avoid them
in favor of my own hard work. I offer link building services to my
clients and have developed my own techniques that I trust. You should
probably do the same.
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