A great link building strategy I often use is best described as the “Limited Edition strategy”. It’s based on the concept that having weird and outrageous items in your product range attracts a lot of attention. Even when such products aren’t very lucrative to sell, its relevance to your normal products gets you the right external links.
How it Works
What are you selling? Can you order or create a larger than life version? You’re allowed to sell for such an unattractive price that it is seldom sold for real, but you have to make sure you can deliver if it is.
- If you sell “jeans” with all that factory produced wear and tear, sell an extreme washed pair that it held together by just a few strings.
- Do you sell “car insurance”? Create a special car insurance for people older than 100 years old.
- Selling “mobile phones”? Then a gold plated version with diamond inlay for just $100,000 might sell well.
- Does your site sell “airline tickets”? A ticket around the world in 48 hours, just visiting a country for the stop-over, will probably be seen as ludicrous.
- Renting out “real estate”? Offering an exclusive apartment including butler, chauffeur, gardener, personal chef, maid and bodyguard will likely feed people’s imagination.
I’ve effectively executed such strategies numerous times. A lot of time is spend on figuring out what extremities you can still really offer. Stay close to the products you do want to rank for, because the anchor text needs to include the correct keywords.
Once you’ve chosen your limited edition, you need to emphasize the uniqueness of the offer, boost social media, and send out press releases. Bring your new offer in a serious fashion even when you think it is idiotic.
Disclaimer (Contains 18+ Terminology)
European open-mindedness isn’t always appreciated in every country, so if you’re easily offended, you will want to tread carefully the rest of the way.
Working for several adult stores is always a welcome distraction from my corporate clients. Especially when you can create an item never sold before just for the sake of link building. 3D printing provided just that opportunity.
In the U.S., vibrators.com gained relevant links by offering free 3D models to print your own dildo. Repeating a similar viral in the Netherlands where you could create personal pleasure by ordering one to your own desired sizes, gave rise to a new erotic trend.
It isn’t very lucrative to sell these products, but the high value of links and low risk (there is little pre-production cost) makes it all worth the effort.
Who Links to Limited Edition Products?
You should mainly target industry specific magazines. These always love new developments and are highly relevant.
In the example above, we were able to target tech magazines, erotic titles, and women’s magazines just by addressing another set of USPs for our invention.
Once these online and offline magazines have covered your story, other sites and blogs are sure to pick it up and they’re likely to link to your website. Google loves giving you a top-10 position for all your effort. Just keep in mind that timing plays an important role.