Testimonials as Linking Strategy
by Mike
Banks Valentine © September 27, 2004
Standard, well-worn marketing techniques sometimes
gain some polish when you rework them a bit. Everyone
knows that happy customer testimonials are a valuable
addition to your business marketing materials
and your web site. Glowing comments from those
who have had a good experience with your product
or service are successful relationships with your
customers and clients - publishing them on your
web site shows visitors how successfully you have
dealt with previous customers.
TURN THAT TIRED MARKETING TECHNIQUE ON IT'S
HEAD!
Have you ever gone out of your way to OFFER
testimonials to businesses online? There is a
very fundamental difference to one aspect of the
web as a marketing medium. That difference is
the HYPERTEXT LINK. If you recieve marketing materials
in the mail and see testimonials printed on them,
you are likely to wonder who the people are offering
that glowing praise and if they really had such
a wonderful experience with the business they
are praising. How do you find out when those testimonials
are printed on paper?
Here is the reason that offering testimonials
ONLINE can be of benefit to you. If you are quoted
on a high-traffic web site as being very pleased
with a product or service offered there, you will
most likely be given a HYPERTEXT LINK to your
web site. This is done as a courtesy from most
businesses as a way to say "Thank You for your
Compliment". It lends a sense of credibility to
your comments because people have the option of
visiting your site to see who you are or follow
up with you on the comments in your testimonial.
RECIPROCAL
LINKING STRUGGLE IS A TEDIOUS EXERCISE
Many business owners struggle valiantly to establish
links by visiting sites one by one and asking
them if they will provide a link back to their
site. The trick here is that you must find those
sites that are 'complimentary' and not 'competitors'
to your own business and convince them that their
visitors would find your site valuable. Even the
search for relevant reciprocal links can be tedious
and tiring.
When you offer testimonials, they can be from
virtually any site you've done business with or
for any product you've used. A link is a link
is a link. Everyone knows by now that links increase
search engine rankings - right? The testimonial
linking technique doesn't require such care as
reciprocal links because you aren't likely to
have done business with a competitor. The additional
benefit is that you needn't give them a return
link - it's one way linking!
YOU
CAN AVOID THE DELETE KEY WITH GLOWING PRAISE
When you send those tired form-letter-type reciprocal
link requests to webmasters, they'll often delete
them without even a second glance. Here, they
open their email to something they actually WANT
to see - praise for their hard work and a little
love from their web site customers. When you send
a testimonial along with your link request, you
are now offering something of real value in exchange
for that link. That webmaster suddenly feels grateful
for your kind words and may even feel that they
have an obligation to link to you if they use
your testimonial.
If you are a customer of an online product or
service and you're truly pleased with them, why
not send the webmaster a testimonial and tell
them you'd be happy to have them publish your
comments on their site? They will be pleased at
your offer if your praise is short (one or two
sentences) and highly complimentary of them. Include
a hypertext link to your site or your e-mail in
the note and tell them you'd be happy to have
your comments published and request a link to
your site.
NEW
PRODUCTS TESTIMONIALS PROVIDE HIGHER LINKING POTENTIAL
Some webmasters actively solicit customer testimonials
to push new products or services. If you are among
the first to purchase those new products or services,
your testimonial praising them will be particularly
desirable as they seek new comments to use in
their promotional sales letter page or as teasers
from the home page. Give them what THEY want and
they may be happy to offer you that link. If they
respect YOU as a customer, they might even promote
your site in email promotions.
Most sites have a page of happy customer testimonials
and most offer a link back to your site or your
e-mail so their potential clients can follow-up
with you. Take a look at those businesses you
patronize online and see if they offer those linkbacks.
Then tell them how happy you are to do business
with them and watch your PageRank increase and
traffic grow!
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Mike Valentine is SEO at http://RealEstateDirectory411.com
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