DIY Link Building Tactics for E-Commerce Sites That Actually Work

If you run an e-commerce site, chances are you don’t have a great deal of time for anything else. That being said, you are probably also painfully aware of the fact that if you do not approach things proactively, you cannot expect to rake in the kind of traffic you could really do with. You know that backlinks have more power than God when it comes to driving traffic from multiple angles, but still…how are you going to make it happen? Well, the best advice is to hire somebody to do it for you – a person or team with the skills and connections you need. But even if you do decide to go down the professional route, there’s still plenty you can do to help the cause yourself.Such as:1 – Try AskingAsk yourself – when was the last time you got in touch with any website or service provider whatsoever and simply asked for a backlink? By phone, by email, by live chat – when did you last ask for help? If you’re honest, chances are the answer is never. And it’s the same with about 99% of small business owners too, despite the fact that the worst possible outcome is receiving a ‘no’. It’s important to remember that there are so many other businesses just like yours that are crying out for decent backlinks. You call them, you suggest a swap and you both benefit - nothing to lose by trying.2 - Find Complementary ProductsIf you want to be more strategic about things, think about exactly what you sell in your e-commerce store and what kinds of items complement your own. If you sell children’s clothes, an obvious no-brainer is toys and games. If you sell smartphone accessories, a dead-cert is a web-based smartphone repair service. Or if you offer private hire taxi services, how about other travel services like hotels, restaurants, airports and so on? If you think about it for just a few minutes, there are probably hundreds of service providers you could easily strike a deal with.3 - Use InfographicsWhat is brilliant about infographics is the way in which you can produce (or have produced on your behalf) just one outstanding example and distribute it to as many relevant sites as you like. And all with juicy backlinks attached. As an infographic is an image, its content cannot be crawled and therefore doesn’t constitute duplicated text/content when used multiple times. Not only this, but infographics are also known to be both massively more persuasive than written content and uniquely shareable.4 – Use CompetitionsLast but not least, there’s a highly effective if slightly sneaky way of getting a ton of traffic to pretty much any page you like by way of link building. Basically, it’s a case of running a competition of some sort, though instead of giving the competition its own page, you simply add it to the product page or landing page of your choosing. In doing so, you will be able to add the contest to a bunch of competition directories, while at the same time stirring up share-worthy interest on social media. And just as long as you have the contest going, you’ll be bringing loads of new traffic to whichever page you choose, giving them all the time in the world to see who you are and what you do.