Acquiring links for a e-commerce site is a challenge in itself. This is because most people do not like to link a page which sells products.
In case you have started your own e-commerce site and are looking for ways for link building, then you should follow the guidelines which we at WebitMD have found prominent:
Create a presentable website
Do away with the ads, and product related content which doesn’t attract visitors. Each product needs to have its own web page. The design of a site has a major impact on link building as well as conversations.
Go for a linking building model which doesn’t require special relationship
Your main aim should be to get all links that don’t require you to have any relationship with link building partners. You can make use of open site explorer to find out your competitor’s back links. This will save a sizable amount of time which you would otherwise spend to find linking partners. Your page ranking as well as traffic will improve exponentially.
Influence business associates to share back links
Request back links from business associates. They could be vendors, clients, dealers etc. All businesses have their own sites and they can provide you with back links if you can persuade them. In case you own a number of websites, then you can acquire links from them too. A link from the home page from each domain would be sufficient.
Build the domain authority of your site’s home page
Building domain authority will help you obtain back links from numerous unique root domains. It will also make it easy for you to rank your individual product pages. One of the most effective ways to develop domain authority is through directory submissions and guest blogging. But make sure that your website is submitted in business directories in the relevant category.
Put your best selling product pages and categories first
Make use of Google Analytic e-commerce reports to find out the products and product categories which are doing well. Develop engaging content so that they can attract a greater number of visits and have even more conversions. Having an image catalog would make your website look far more appealing than a text based one. Therefore, you will have to spend some money on good quality images.
You can also publish details related to buyer behavior and sales trends based on your industry on your product category pages. This is because acquiring links from product category pages is easier in comparison to product pages. You can acquire the services of a market research agency to acquire research data. Then send a press release to all major media houses. This tactic will help you acquire links from reputed new sites like Reuters and BBC.
Run contests on your category pages
Aim to offer something exciting and valuable. Gift your products as prize in the contests you conduct. It will help you to acquire a sizable audience who are interested in the products which you offer instead of the prize. If your product is of satisfactory quality, then it will help you generate a word of mouth from the contest winners. Conducting a survey would also be a good idea as it will help you to ensure repeated visits on your site’s category pages.
Switch to relationship based link building gradually
Non relationship based link building can help your link building efforts partially. So, you can create your own blog based on your products and industry instead of your brand. Use it to create relationships. Another way to gain repeated visits is through participation in forums. You can also start a Facebook fan page. It will help you to gain more visibility on social media and increase your traffic in the long run.
Submitting your products to Classified ads sites is also effective to acquire links on e-commerce site.