Links are crucial when it comes to building credibility for your ecommerce site.

Imagine backlinks as roads leading back to your online store; the more paths leading customers in your direction, the better.

Not to mention, web-crawling bots become much more likely to recognize and boost your site’s SEO ranking if lots of other strong pages are giving you good references.

The trick, however, is finding ways to build backlinks that will strengthen your SEO without making you look like spam.

Types of Blogs to Build Your Backlinks

Collaborating with bloggers can help cultivate backlinks. Plus, it also allows you create lasting partnerships with individuals connected to your target market. Bloggers post consistent content aligned to specific topics like fashion, fitness, lifestyle, travel, and more.

They are always looking for something new to share with followers, and your ecommerce site has a lot to offer in that department. You can take this partnership in a few directions:

Review Requests

Consider giving your blogger complimentary or discounted merchandise to review thoroughly. Depending on the person, you may even be able to arrange exchanging these goods as payment for the post.

Be sure the blogger links to each item he or she discusses, so followers can shop for what interests them. For more information on this topic, check out our new post ‘5 Proven Methods For Building Backlinks to Product Pages‘.

Quality photos are also important in this model! Try to find a blog with content that is deeply relevant to what you hope to rank for.

Also, remember that the more genuine these reviews sound, the more likely you are to make a sale. Pushy advertisement language will only deter readers from trusting the review’s authenticity.

EXAMPLES: “Color City Hypnotic Palette Review & Swatches” by The Budget Beauty Blog, “Breville Compact Smart Oven Review” by Kitchen Maker HQ.

For more examples, check out “125 Top Product Review Blogs” by Tekli.

Exposes

Focus on your company’s history and uniqueness instead of its products. Many modern consumers are willing to buy from brands they perceive to be based on cool principles as opposed to generic, even larger competitors.

Be that “something fresh” blog readers are searching for. Plenty of accounts want to be the first to discover businesses with a twist; capitalize on it! Reach out to a blogger whose existing posts and writing style reflect the essence of your company and offer an interview.

Give your creator the inside scoop on how your ecommerce site got its start, the people behind your operation, and whatever special facets give you an edge over your competition.

In short, sell yourself and brag a little! If you can get somebody excited about the vision behind what you’re selling, he or she is bound to sway some followers in your favor.

Because this approach may not come with the perk of free or discounted merchandise, consider offering social media shout-outs. A blogger’s bread and butter are follows, shares, and clicks. You may even think about including a link to the blog post in your next email newsletter.

EXAMPLES: “Stencil Me In”  and “Naturally Qweening: Rein in Your Confidence” by Great Greenvillage.

Listicles

Be careful with this one. While landing a blogger who’s willing to link to your ecommerce site in a themed list can be valuable, you should be cautious of allowing someone to place your products side-by-side with a competitor’s.

Still, these types of posts are great because they are fun to read, simple to rank with SEO, and extremely sharable! For example, an online shop specializing in custom sunglasses would do well to partner with a blogger on a post titled, “10 Must Have Summer Accessories.”

Even if they don’t follow the link to make a purchase, readers are likely to share the piece on their social media accounts, and you never know what friend of a friend’s sister could be hunting for new shades.

You may persuade your favorite creator to work with you on a listicle post by offering to sponsor it.

EXAMPLES: “10 Therapist-Approved Toys for Tactile Play” by The Inspired Treehouse, “10 Best Natural Products for Dogs” by Your Old Dog

Evaluating Potential Blogging Partners

As you evaluate potential blogging partners, think about these three things:

•       Personality: It’s important that you naturally connect with the blogger you’re working with; if the two of you can’t see eye to eye and constantly knock heads on ideas, producing good content with valuable backlinks is going to be a struggle. Have a phone call or a coffee meeting to talk about possible posts before agreeing to anything to get a feel for each blogger’s personality, and then go from there.
•       Portfolio: Evaluate a blogger’s body of existing work. Do his or her posts match the quality that you are going to expect? If you know your target audience is keener to view something with short sentences and a lot of pictures, you probably want to avoid someone with post after post of verbose paragraphs. In contrast, if your analytics show your primary consumer is mature and well-read, stay away from writers with an elementary vocabulary or simplistic tone.
•       Potential Reach: Also, decide whether your content is going to blend with a blogger’s existing pieces or stick out like a sore thumb. Chances are, your creator knows his or her readers, and if the post you want seems like it will be the odd-one-out, those readers aren’t going to bite.

Don’t be afraid to talk numbers. How many people on average view each of your bloggers’ posts? What are their analytics and social media statistics? The wider your partner’s reach, the further your backlinks are likely to stretch.

Reaching Out & Managing Expectations

Now that you’ve got ideas pumping, let’s figure out where you’re going to find these bloggers. The good new is that blogging has really taken off in the last several years, so there’s no shortage of writers out there.

Check out popular platforms like WordPress, Blogger, and Tumbler to find creators focusing on topics aligned with your ecommerce site.

You might also search for blogger Facebook groups and throw out some broad collaboration requests to see what kind of responses come back. If that feels too indirect, most bloggers include contact information on their websites.

Try shooting a few emails and filling out some contact forms that outline your hopes for partnership.

Be very clear about your expectations:

• What kind of content do you want the writer to produce?
• How many links to your site should be included?
• What will the timeline and communication look like for each project?
• What sort of social media promotion would you like to see on their part?
• Do you want to approve a proof before any official content goes live?
• Do you want updates on the post’s analytics?

These are the sorts of questions you can’t assume you’re blogger will address without your asking.

Most importantly, have something to offer the blogger. These are hardworking people, and nobody wants to work for free!

Therefore, whether you incentivize your collaborators with backlinks to their sites, social media shout-outs, or free stuff make sure your partner feels like he or she is getting a good value for his or her efforts.

Bloggers exist in community with each other; mutually productive projects could lead to future collaborations with new bloggers referred by past happy partners!

Whatever you decide, cover your bases by mapping out plans with your bloggers in writing.

As long as you choose your creators carefully and come to agreements that benefit your company, the blogger, and potential readers, this will be a great opportunity to grow your SEO ranking and professional network.

Good luck, and happy backlink building!