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Why Linkable Assets are the Key to Successful Link Building

Why Linkable Assets are the Key to Successful Link Building

If you’ve been running your business for a while, you probably know that link building is a critical component of digital marketing.

Building high-quality, relevant backlinks to your website is essential for getting seen in the search engine results pages (SERPs), getting clicks, and then finally gaining leads and conversions. The problem is that good backlinks can be hard to get; other people need to agree to insert a link to your website inside of their content.

If you think it sounds exhausting chasing after individual backlinks by asking webmasters to add your link to their content, you’d be right. Manually building links has always been a monumental task and the fruits are not that sweet. If you’re lucky, someone will say yes, but there’s no guarantee they won’t remove your link later, even if you’ve paid them money.

The solution is to start crafting your content with the intention of creating a linkable asset. When you approach link building this way, you’ll see two major benefits:

  • It will be easier to convince people to link your content through manual outreach.
  • People will start linking to your content naturally as your web pages gain ranking in the SERPs.

These two benefits are worth their weight in gold when it comes to link building. As a bonus, you’ll start to gain more credibility and if you can dominate your niche, you’ll get the lion’s share of backlinks on your given topics. If you’re ready to try something new, here’s how you can start creating the linkable assets that will land you the backlinks you’re after.

What is a linkable asset?

Before getting into the nitty gritty of what to do, first it’s important to understand the basics of linkable assets. Generally speaking, a linkable asset is a piece of content that provides value in a way that makes other webmasters want to include the link in their own content.

A linkable asset can include any of the following:

  • Blog posts. Sometimes all it takes is an interesting, revealing, or vulnerable blog post to get backlinks. People link to content they find entertaining just as much as they link to data.
  • Product reviews. A lot of people link to product review pages, and if you have a chance to review products in your industry (without being compensated) you’ll be likely to get a piece of that backlink pie.
  • Infographics. An infographic uses simple visuals to display data, like statistics or small pieces of information. With vibrant colors and clear typography, they’re easier to read than plain text and they get shared a lot across social media channels. Sometimes people link directly to an infographic image on other people’s websites rather than the page the image is on, so always brand your infographics with your website URL.
  • Case studies. Whether you’re publishing your own case studies or reviewing other people’s case studies, it will give you more credibility, which increases your odds of getting backlinks.
  • Statistics. Pages with a collection of statistics are popular because it gives people an easy way to understand a given topic at least at a surface level. They’re also used by people who need to cite sources and back up claims. This type of content has huge potential to generate backlinks when done right.
  • List posts. Although they’re everywhere, list posts tackle complex topics and make the information readable. These include top ten lists, tricks and tips, and more. People like easy, and lists fill that need.
  • Videos. It’s amazing how many videos go viral, and if you want to make linkable assets, you should consider making videos. People are 52% more likely to share video content over other forms of content. People are also likely to link to amazing videos in their blogs.
  • Research. Data, insights, and research are often exactly what people are looking for when they need to back up their claims. Original studies are easy to link, but they aren’t easy to read and understand. If you’re in an industry where you can create digest versions of research and provide the most relevant data, you’ll get backlinks.
  • Online tools. Percentage calculators, JavaScript beautification, and text string generators are just a few examples of online tools people use with regularity. When you create something other people find useful, it will be shared.

These are just a small handful of linkable assets, but any type of content that provides value counts.

Linkable assets are in the minority

manage your assets

Although there are billions and billions of web pages on the internet, most of them lack quality content. The harsh truth is that most people create and publish content en masse and don’t pay much attention to quality. Many people mistakenly believe that publishing large amounts of content is the way to gain ranking in the search engines.

As a result, these mediocre pages never generate any decent (if any) backlinks. Having a bunch of low-quality content on your website isn’t going to serve you in any way. It won’t hold visitor attention, won’t get you sales or leads, and it certainly won’t generate natural backlinks.

The point of creating linkable assets is to lay the foundation for organically generating backlinks without additional effort. However, to make this work, your content must be compelling and authoritative. You can’t have the kind of low-quality content that dominates the internet.

Why backlink strategies depend on linkable assets

If you want it to be successful, your entire backlink strategy hinges on your ability to create linkable assets. Even if you pay for your links or are involved in illegal link schemes, at some point, bad links will either get removed or the websites will be de-indexed and/or blacklisted from Google. Linkable assets are the only sustainable link building strategy. It’s the easiest way to generate organic traffic and earn your place as an authority in your industry.

How linkable assets get you backlinks

The way this works is really simple. You create amazing content that outdoes your competition in terms of thoroughness, accuracy, and presentation. You publish content that becomes the irresistible obvious choice for anyone who might need to link their visitors to a web page on that particular subject matter.

Say you own a personal injury law firm and want to generate some leads. It would be ideal for you to craft a handful of informative web pages explaining to people why they need your services and how you can help them recover adequate compensation. However, you can’t just cover the general topics like everyone else. You’ll want to dive deep into your state’s laws and get specific about how you can help people, including the specific penalties they might be able to avoid if they win their case.

The same is true for any other industry. For example, if you’re a real estate agent, you might publish infographics with local statistics or articles designed to help people buy their first home.

People who search for information will link to your content

Once you have amazing content as a foundation, that’s when the magic can start to happen, provided your content has search engine visibility. When people write content, whether it’s for themselves, an employer, or a specific publication, they usually conduct research to find interesting points and data to back up their claims.

If your authoritative piece of content shows up in the SERPs while someone is searching for that information, and they either don’t look further or you’ve got the best content, there’s a good chance they’ll use your link. That is how organic backlinks are generated. If you’ve ever wondered how people get backlinks from big news sites or other popular blogs, now you know.

The more linkable assets you have that show up in the SERPs, the more chances you have at getting backlinks naturally. It’s like each high-ranking page works on your behalf to actively generate links, but you don’t have to do any of the work. The best part is that the higher quality content you produce, the more likely you are to get backlinks from major brands and people with high domain authority websites Those links are the most valuable. Even if they make your links “nofollow” and choose not to pass PageRank, you can still expect to generate a decent amount of relevant traffic, which can boost your brand’s image while generating leads and conversions.

Would you like some brand ambassadors?

Brand ambassadors are highly underrated. These are the people who, without compensation, take ownership of advertising your brand, sharing your content, and engaging with your audience. They are valuable assets to any business, but they have to be earned.

The good news is that creating linkable assets can help you generate brand ambassadors. Just as researchers might come across your content and be thoroughly impressed enough to give you a backlink, potential brand ambassadors are out there, just waiting for the chance to support a brand they really love. It all depends on your industry, but sometimes all it takes is publishing something new, innovative, or even controversial that brings something completely new to a niche. Once you do that, some people will get on board with you and become loyal to a fault.

Linkable assets can facilitate forming alliances

Not every business is in harsh competition with everyone else in their industry. Sometimes businesses complement each other and the business owners support one another. No business can do it all, and not everyone can be an all-inclusive expert in every area.

When you start publishing linkable assets, you increase the chances of catching the attention of other businesses in your industry who may want to form a partnership or just collaborate with you. For example, say you had the funds to conduct a research study in your field and you publish a detailed analysis on your website. Other companies that don’t have access to that kind of funding will naturally want to cite your study in their content. They might be a direct competitor, but your content will help them support their own claims. In this type of situation, you’ll get links from competitors no matter what. However, you can also use the opportunity to reach out and collaborate.

4 Tips for creating stellar linkable assets

There is a strategy involved in creating high-quality linkable assets. Although the content needs to look nice on the page, there’s a bit more involved.

  1. Solve problems

People love content that solves their problems. This is the basic foundation of successful marketing, and it applies to generating backlinks as well.

  1. Answer questions

When people have lingering questions, they search the internet for answers. If you can provide those answers, they’ll be more likely to link your content where it’s relevant to others looking for the same answers.

  1. Add new insights

Content on the internet can be boring and repetitive. When you provide fresh, new insights that matter, your content is more likely to be linked than web pages with generic information.

  1. Outdo your competition

It can’t be said enough, especially if you’re new and relatively unknown in your industry. Do whatever it takes to craft content that outdoes your competition. Whatever content they produce, create the same, but better. For instance, answer more questions, cover more ground, go into more detail, and make your format more user-friendly. Make your content stand out so that your site is the obvious choice for anyone having to choose between resources.

Start building linkable assets

No matter how long you’ve been marketing your business, if you aren’t producing a regular flow of linkable assets, start today. Create a plan to dominate your niche by providing the most interesting, insightful, or helpful information possible. Amazing content backed by a powerful link building and SEO strategy will help you generate the high-quality, organic backlinks you need to rank higher in the SERPs and get more conversions.

Timothy Carter
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