Here's the deck for a talk I gave at Digital Olympus in June 2018 about building links when you're not in the fortunate position of having the time or budget needed for a big bang content project. I covered 3 tactics plus some tools and services to help acquire links when you don't have the luxury of building big content assets to support you.

1. Link Acquisition
without BIG
Content Budgets
@staceycavStacey MacNaught

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My favourite marketing stunt of the past
decade…

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843
Miles per hour - Felix Baumgartner’s top
speed during the jump

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3 million
Tweets about the jump during the event
itself.
https://www.campaignlive.co.uk/article/red-bull-stratos-skydive-smashes-youtube-records/1154746?src_site=marketingmagazine

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8 million
simultaneous live viewers on Youtube.

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43 million
Views on the 90 second highlights video
Redbull released later.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHtvDA0W34I

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And the stat I was particularly interested in
as an SEO…

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http://www.redbullstratos.com

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So, if we all want top tier links from
thousands of publications, we just need to
get someone to jump out of a balloon from
space.

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All you’ll need…

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50 million Euros.
https://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/Global/Issues/2012/10/16/Marketing-and-Sponsorship/Red-Bull.aspx

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Was it worth it?

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I have no idea.

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Did it have a lasting impact on
brand recall and
engagement?

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On a more “real world,” scale, you’d be
hard pressed to find better big content
examples than those from Verve Search.

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143 Referring domains so far.

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143 Referring domains so far.

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But that still needs a good budget and
requires a notable time investment.

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If budget or time is tight, or you’re dealing
with nervous clients/stakeholders, BIG
content might not be the best approach to
link building.

26. So, what do you do to build links when
time and/or budget is restricted?

27. Simple People Stories or
Case Studies

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We know that journalists cover stories.

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Every single business has people at its core
and people have plenty of stories.

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Starting a company is a story interesting
enough to win coverage and links

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Get together with the founders and
most senior people within the
company

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Find their stories.

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are they in this business? What inspired
them?
Why

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they have overcome to achieve what
they’ve achieved so far
Challenges

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were they brought up and educated?
Where

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Get Googling and find the press
outlets that are frequently running
these stories.

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Go to local and regional press
http://www.localmediauk.org/A-Z-Newsbrands

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If it feels more like “traditional PR,”
that’s because it is. But we have no
need to shy away from that as SEOs.

42. Press Features

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Top tier publications publish
features day in, day out

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Find features calendars and
Media Kits

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http://marketing.usatoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/2018-editorial-calendar.pdf

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http://marketing.usatoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/2018-editorial-calendar.pdf

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https://cnda.condenast.co.uk/static/mediapack/tr_media_pack_latest.pdf

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http://adage.com/images/bin/pdf/Ad_Age_Media_Kit.pdf

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Many media kits are set up to sell ads,
but can still be very useful in pitching
features.

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They tell you…

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What a publication is writing about & when

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Who they’re writing for

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Don’t contact media kit sales email
addresses. Instead, look for a features
desk/editor or the writer(s) of similar
features

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Many editorial calendars are not
available online. ASK for them.

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It’s a much easier “in,” than a cold pitch.

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Pitch relevant feature ideas in keeping
with planned topics, tying in how they’ll
appeal to the audience and what
expertise you can supply.

60. Creative Commons
Image Distribution

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This is plain and simply about creating and
distributing visuals that people need or
want to use in their content.

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It’s an age old approach and very simple.
But so cost effective and can work in
even the toughest spaces.

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In brief, you need to identify potential
images people need and want,
relevant to your website/niche

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Is there demand for images of that
type? Check how frequently similar
ones have been used.

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Found 20+ instances of this in use

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It told me there is demand and I felt
able to create better images.

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Once you’ve produced the images,
move into distribution

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Flickr makes this very easy.

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Track usage and Chase Attribution.
https://www.pixsy.com

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Full guide on the process I use:
https://www.staceymacnaught.co.uk/image-link-building/

77. Tools and Services to
Cut Content Production
Costs

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Low cost survey data:

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Freedom of Information
https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/

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Freedom of Information
https://www.asktheeu.org/

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Existing Data Sources
https://www.asktheeu.org/

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Focus on the story first. The
presentation or format should be led
by the story.

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Low cost content production:
https://juxtapose.knightlab.com/

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Low cost content production:
https://storymap.knightlab.com/

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Low cost content production:
https://mapme.com/

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Low cost content production:
https://infogram.com/

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Low cost content production:
https://app.apester.com/

88. Be prepared to invest time in
promotion

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But you CAN achieve top tier links
without massive budgets.

90. hello@staceymacnaught.co.uk
@staceycav