Testimonials
as a Linking Strategy - Twist on Link Campaigns
Testimonials as a Linking Strategy - Twist on Link Campaigns
Standard, well-worn marketing techniques sometimes gain some polish
when you rework them a bit. Everyone knows that happy customer testimonials
are a valuable addition to your business marketing materials and
your web site. Glowing comments from those who have had a good experience
with your product or service are successful relationships with your
customers and clients - publishing them on your web site shows visitors
how successfully you have dealt with previous customers.
TURN THAT TIRED MARKETING TECHNIQUE ON IT'S HEAD!
Have you ever gone out of your way to OFFER testimonials to businesses
online? There is a very fundamental difference to one aspect of
the web as a marketing medium. That difference is the HYPERTEXT
LINK. If you recieve marketing materials in the mail and see testimonials
printed on them, you are likely to wonder who the people are offering
that glowing praise and if they really had such a wonderful experience
with the business they are praising. How do you
find out when those testimonials are printed on paper?
Here is the reason that offering testimonials ONLINE can be of
benefit to you. If you are quoted on a high-traffic web site as
being very pleased with a product or service offered
there, you will most likely be given a HYPERTEXT LINK to your web
site. This is done as a courtesy from most businesses as a way to
say "Thank You for your Compliment". It lends a sense
of credibility to your comments because people have the option of
visiting your site to see who you are or follow up with you on the
comments in your testimonial.
RECIPROCAL LINKING STRUGGLE IS A TEDIOUS EXERCISE
Many business owners struggle valiantly to establish links by visiting
sites one by one and asking them if they will provide a link back
to their site. The trick here is that you must find those sites
that are 'complimentary' and not 'competitors' to your own business
and convince them that their visitors would find your site valuable.
Even the search for relevant reciprocal links can be tedious and
tiring.
When you offer testimonials, they can be from virtually any site
you've done business with or for any product you've used. A link
is a link is a link. Everyone knows by now that links
increase search engine rankings - right? The testimonial linking
technique doesn't require such care as reciprocal links because
you aren't likely to have done business with a competitor. The additional
benefit is that you needn't give them a return link - it's one way
linking!
YOU CAN AVOID THE DELETE KEY WITH GLOWING PRAISE
When you send those tired form-letter-type reciprocal link requests
to webmasters, they'll often delete them without even a second glance.
Here, they open their email to something they
actually WANT to see - praise for their hard work and a little love
from their web site customers. When you send a testimonial along
with your link request, you are now offering something of real value
in exchange for that link. That webmaster suddenly feels grateful
for your kind words and may even feel that they have an obligation
to link to you if they use your testimonial.
If you are a customer of an online product or service and you're
truly pleased with them, why not send the webmaster a testimonial
and tell them you'd be happy to have them publish
your comments on their site? They will be pleased at your offer
if your praise is short (one or two sentences) and highly complimentary
of them. Include a hypertext link to your site or
your e-mail in the note and tell them you'd be happy to have your
comments published and request a link to your site.
NEW PRODUCTS TESTIMONIALS PROVIDE HIGHER LINKING POTENTIAL
Some webmasters actively solicit customer testimonials to push
new products or services. If you are among the first to purchase
those new products or services, your testimonial praising them will
be particularly desirable as they seek new comments to use in their
promotional sales letter page or as teasers from the home page.
Give them what THEY want and they may be happy to offer you that
link. If they respect YOU as a customer, they might even promote
your site in email promotions.
Most sites have a page of happy customer testimonials and most
offer a link back to your site or your e-mail so their potential
clients can follow-up with you. Take a look at those businesses
you patronize online and see if they offer those linkbacks. Then
tell them how happy you are to do business with them and watch your
PageRank increase and traffic grow!
About the Author Mike Valentine is SEO
at http://RealEstateDirectory411.com. Check your own Link Popularity
with a free Software download: http://website101.com/download/link-popularity-software.html.
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