How to use Digital PR as a link-building tool

There are significant advantages to the use of traditional methods of PR for the development of a project or a business. However, PR also works really well within the digital sphere, and this is a very useful tool for the promotion of your business website. What this will offer you is more traffic in the form of visitors to your website, and these visitors, of course, have the potential to become customers, which means an increase in revenue.

As with any other approach to digital marketing and link-building in particular, digital PR link-building needs the correct approach. This means producing quality content and selecting authoritative platforms for any publication of that content in order to achieve the desired results.

What does digital PR link-building mean?

Digital PR link-building is a method that mixes traditional PR techniques with the idea of modern digital marketing, paying particular attention to search engine optimisation (SEO). The main purpose of this is to improve links to your website by building relationships with influencers, bloggers and digital publishers by offering them content for their audiences that is high quality, valuable and informative.

The main rules of digital PR are:

• Quality over quantity
• Collaborate with reputable, high-authority websites
• Consider industry platforms that are relevant to your business
• Use several channels to engage with your audience

For example, if you were creating a startup that develops mobile apps, then you could feature a series of blog posts that would detail some of the features of the apps. Video tutorials would show the functionality and user-friendliness, and you could use both of these to reach out to publishers and bloggers in the tech field.

You could also write your own press release with highlights of the key features of your newest app and what makes it unique. Or you could interview the company founder or senior app developer to provide some unique insights into the company. This has the potential to create backlinks to your website that are high quality and which will contribute to how well your website ranks in organic search.

How can digital PR link-building assist your business?

Put simply, digital PR link-building can help give your business greater visibility with potential customers in online search. When you use this as your strategy you can not only boost your search engine rankings but also attract the audience you are trying to target. You are also other benefits such as:

• Potential customers see links between your business and trusted sources which can boost your credibility online
• People visiting your business website from well-known, reputable sites have a greater chance of being converted to actual sales
• The right people will see your message (assuming you have carefully chosen where to have your content published)
• You can build valuable long-term relationships by engaging with influencers, bloggers and digital publishers
• Brand recognition is improved by regular links and mentions across different platforms. This can help to maintain or establish your position as an industry leader
• Content which is created for PR purposes can be used for a number of different marketing channels

Those businesses who chose to use digital PR strategies can make themselves stand out from their competitors. Digital PR results, unlike those from more traditional methods of marketing, are trackable and measurable. Using analytical tools will show website traffic, online engagement and website traffic in terms of your efforts.

High-quality link building strategies

If you want to use digital PR as part of the link-building process here are some of the strategies that are most effective:

Thought leadership

Introducing thought leadership may help to improve the quality of the links you earn. The main purpose of this is to show off your company expertise, and the best way to do this is to make sure the content you post on your website is well-researched. You could also try:

• Contributing to industry publications
• Taking part in conferences as a speaker
• Hosting podcasts or webinars
• Engaging in social media in a leadership capacity
• Producing your own original data or research
• Making informed responses to current trends in the industry
• Updating your content regularly to stay relevant

You may also want to consider partnerships with industry experts and leaders in order to create joint content. Whatever you do you should always remember to focus on SEO and gaining valuable backlinks to boost your organic search rankings.

Date-driven research-based studies

Consumers often choose new products and services based on research and this is a strategy that can really help you. You should consider conducting original studies and research that will help to show new industry-relevant insights. If resources are not available to do new research then analyse existing research and provide new insights  or expert opinions. Publish your findings, well written of course, on your website and share with industry related platforms.

Newsjacking

You can draw attention to your brand and get some high-quality backlinks when you leverage current stories in the news, also referred to as newsjacking. When a story that is relevant breaks, you should start to create a response. In order to make sure your content is timely and relevant, you need to be fast. Your content should link your products or brand to the news story and use keywords and phrases that are valuable.

When you have your content, contact those media outlets covering the original story and offer them your additional information or perspective. When newsjacking is done correctly, it can be a very powerful tool.

Creative campaigns

Launching creative campaigns can help you gain backlinks. To start you should have a unique and innovative idea that will allow you to stand out from the crowded online landscape. This might be something that is very informative, humorous or simply appealing and could use a number of media formats. Creating a campaign that will encourage your audience to interact can be very valuable.

Product PR

Sending your product to industry influencers provides an easy way to get coverage. All you need in return for this is for them to review the product and talk about it on their own website or socials with backlinks to your company website.