The first thing that comes to mind when you are talking about measures that you need to take to improve your reputation is working on your On-Page SEO.
However, sometimes we tend to overlook the importance of Off-Page SEO which in fact, holds equal weight.
What is Off-Page SEO?
http://www.nettfirst.com/off-page-seo-techniques/
For those of you who are new to the digital marketing arena or those who are yet to explore the possibilities of implementing SEO here is what it means. On-Page SEO is everything that you do on your website in order to improve its ranking in the SERPs (Search Engine Result Pages.)
Off-Page SEO, on the other hand refers to all the other online efforts that you put in outside of your website. This includes social media marketing, forums, blog posts, back-linking, local listings etc.
Off-Page SEO is an essential tool in optimising your brand’s online footprint and builds a better reputation with the customer community. When you focus on Off-Page SEO, you can improve your search engine rankings, get positive brand mentions, more traffic to your website and more conversions.
The Best 5 Off-Page Techniques
Here are the top five Off-Page SEO Techniques that we at Tribelocal recommend and will get your brand better exposure and improve your reputation.
Offer a Superlative Product/Service
The foundation stone of your business empire is always your product/service. Even if you employ the best SEO techniques, you can only go so far if you are not offering a quality product. If you are launching a new product, do a little market research and find out what it is that will work for your target audience.
Focus on what benefits it can offer the customers and try to eliminate objections that customers might have. And you have yourself a product which will itself present its features. If you are creating another product in an existing niche, find out what are the complaints against the current competitors and think about what extra you can offer. That’s what will make your product stand out.
http://myvisualbrief.com/5-tips-to-create-a-good-branding-design-brief/
Create an Engaging Social Media Presence
Social media is an indispensable tool when it comes to digital marketing. Now that you have created a worthy product, it’s time to let people know. And where are the people – on social media.
For most of the time, people do know about your product and have already tried looking up the questions they might have on Google. But they visit your social media handles to learn more. They come here expecting fair, human answers. It also makes it easy for them to share it with their families and friends and discuss more about it.
Hence, not only do you need a social media account, you will also need to have a dedicated resource answering who is responsive, will provide genuine answers and in a timely manner.
https://www.unikainfocom.in/blog/increase-ecommerce-website-sales-using-social-media-marketing/
Forum Marketing
Customers trust forums. They find them to be a safe space where experts and laymen are offering genuine opinions. Find forums that are relevant to your niche and participate actively. Reply to threads, offer advice and answer their questions.
When you start answering questions, you look like an expert. Leave engaging and thoughtful comments but try not to spam the post. This way you can generate organic traffic and improve your online reputation.
https://www.hiveage.com/blog/forum-marketing-small-businesses/
Building Links the Right Way
Link building plays a massive role in digital marketing. However, you need to remember that you need these links from credible sources. One way to do that is by guest posting on authority websites. It will open the doors to a whole new audience.
Another formula is competitor link analysis. If you know what are the backlinks that the top contenders in the niche have already earned, you don’t need to re-invent the wheel. An important tool for this is Ahrefs blog and tools.
One more way to go about it is by connecting with influencers and building a good relationship with them. Follow their blogs and leave honest, relevant comments which share more information. You will be rewarded with backlinks bringing you the traffic you want.
https://gazhall.com/link-building/
Go Local
Searches on Google are primarily influenced by your location. The search results that you see are based on your geographical location unless you enter a different search term.
So, if you have a physical local presence, a good place to start is by letting out a word in the neighbourhood. When you optimise your business for local search, you automatically get endorsed by Google.
https://searchengineland.com/local-seo-2017-5-simple-ways-dominate-local-search-268412
Off-page SEO is not just about the ranking, but about gaining better brand exposure which translates as better online reputation. These tools will help you with you off-page SEO strategy.
As much of a huge role that Off-Page SEO lays in your online reputation management, what you need to understand is that this is an ongoing process. You will need to have dedicated resources and put in continual work through various channels to let Off-Page SEO be the miracle worker that it is.
About the Author
Shishir is an ex-startup entrepreneur currently working on kickstarting inbound marketing for a Silicon Valley startup. Cracked the code of generating 750K monthly traffic in 10 months by using creative content.
Hey Shishir!
Off-Page SEO is important for better Google rankings. You have to be smart in how you do this.
What really helps is to be all over the place in your niche market. This is also tied to Branding.
The more you brand yourself online, the more authority you will gain in your niche. And this will yield natural backlinks.
I would recommend doing guest blogging. This is such a powerful way to not only get your brand out there a lot more but also to gain good backlinks. Just make sure to do this in a smart way!
Thank you for sharing these helpful tips!
Best regards! 😀
Thanks for the great article!
I appreciate what you mentioned about social media, as it seems content marketing is being more and more used – by sharing via social media.
The A hrefs tip was also well appreciated!
Hi Shishir,
Most people know of only one way towards off-page SEO i.e. social media marketing. Your article mentions 5 ways which makes it very useful. I am definitely happy to have learnt about using forums and local listings to optimise SEO.
Regarding guest post, a lot of people think in terms of the amount of money that can be made directly by doing guest posts. You have rightly indicated towards the indirect benefits of guest posting in terms of backlinks.
Even in our social media accounts we need to answer questions correctly in a timely manner. Though you given 5 tips, each one has to used properly.
You have used great pics too! Thanks for this very helpful post.
-Naveen
Hi Shishir,
Opt content on this page.
Erik’s posts always to-the-point content. Naturally, he discusses only 4 to 5 things, but he manages to cover all the secrets in that.
You have done the same as well. Nice write-up.
Whatever off page strategies we choose, have to have a look on what-to-do and not-to-do things for better results. Hope, you guys will keep helping us with secrets and ideas.
I am glad to read.
Shishir , thank you for these tips. I haven’t thought about the local part of SEO and why that would work. IS it only if you have a local location? What about if you work from home? I haven’t claimed my Google business because of that.
Forums and guest blogging are my favorite ways to do off site SEO.
Great post. A lot of people seem to confuse off-page and off-line marketing. I think social and link building are the two main areas I succeeded in gaining more traffic.
Achieving success in off-page SEO is difficult since it’s a really slow process. Thank you for posting this article. It’s very helpful.