5 replies to this topic

[seojob]

I am planning to place links of articles / articles by SEO industry experts. But would that harm my business anyway? Please advise.

Thank you,
SJ

[Haystack]

That depends. If you do so without their permission, you may have some problems. Assuming you do get permission, you'll probably have to link to their sites in the by-line, so you may lose some traffic because of that.

However, that should be countered by the additional traffic you'll receive. Also, if your site is a good resource to visitors, that should reflect well on you, even if you didn't create all of the content yourself.

[Jill]

If you perform SEO services and the articles are also from people who perform SEO services than sure, you could lose business as people reading them who may be looking for services might look at those companies in the articles.

What you need to do is come up with your own unique selling proposition (USP) that sets you apart from the others. IMO, you can't be afraid of your competitors. If you know you can do the job better, faster, cheaper, with more service, or whatever, then make that clear to your prospects.

[randfish]

I never hesitate to link to articles I think are valuable or worthwhile, even if they are from someone else. Just make sure that your own content is solid and that the link is relevant - I think it will help more than hurt.

You can always link to SEOs who aren't taking on new clients - seroundtable.com, seo-scoop.com, threadwatch.org, the links in my sig, etc.

[Watersweb]

I was just wondering about this today. I agree that having the content will help bring in traffic. And in my case, the sites that these articles link to, aren't direct competitors of my site. The are complementary.

[BobetteKyle]

A while back we had a related discussion about pros and cons of putting guest articles on a site. A lot of the same issues are involved with linking to articles...

In the end, it depended on site goals and how closely the authors' businesses compete with yours. Some of us (rightly) have no reservations about referring to others' work. Others (just as correctly) are more prone to keeping the site strictly about their own business.

I also ended up writing an article, "Guest Articles: Good for Some, Bad for Others." It's here on MarketingProfs.com:
http://www.marketing...le=/4/kyle3.asp


<added>grumble, grumble...I just realized you have to sign into marketingprofs to read the full article. Registration is free, but kind of a hastle just to read an article. You can read the guest articles article here too: http://www.webmarket...esArticles1.htm . In a nutshell, it explains under what conditions sales and service sites may not want to put guest articles on the site (explains Karon Thackston's - copywriter's - viewpoint expressed in the above-referenced thread) and also explains why guest articles are a good way to help out your visitors and a plus for information sites (references James Edwards' - OWG's - and my viewpoints).</added>

Edited by BobetteKyle, 31 December 2004 - 04:56 PM.