Wedding Website SEO That Works: 5 Steps to Getting to Page 1

Question: How can I get backlinks for my website and raise my page rank?

I’m looking for ways to promote my wedding band, especially finding ways to get links back to my website to build page rank and increase listings in the serps.  Do you have a book or video that i could purchase which has info in it like this to help my wedding band business?

Ron

Answer:

Hi, Ron.

I’m an amateur SEO geek, and I take it pretty seriously, because there is so much misinformation out there.

A “quick fix” backlinking strategy may work temporarily, but it will only hurt your website’s authority and ranking in the long-term.

I’ve seen many wedding vendor websites that have tried to game the system by buying backlinks and by stuffing their pages with keyword phrases.  You may recognize them by the paragraphs of linked keyword phrases at the bottom of the home page on their websites.

That strategy backfired with Google’s Panda and Penguin updates, and those websites have lost much of their website traffic and ranking in the search engines.

The most reliable, safe way to get backlinks is to earn them by adding content to your website that brides, grooms and other wedding vendors naturally link to and share.

Google’s gotten really smart when it comes to identifying purchased and low quality backlinks.  When you purchase backlinks from a service or get them from Fiverr, dozens or hundreds of links show up instantly, leaving a huge footprint Google recognizes as low quality link building.

Think about it: how normal is it for your website to go from zero to 100 overnight?

At best, these links do nothing for you; at worst, your website may disappear from search engine results entirely.

Stop focusing on the links and focus on creating amazing, sharable content on your website instead.

Here’s how to get backlinks naturally and organically:

1.    Use the Google keyword tool to determine the keyword phrases brides and grooms type in when searching for your type of service.  Ex: “Outer Banks photographer” or “Dublin wedding planner.”

2.    Publish 2-3 blog posts per week containing those keywords about topics that are interesting and relevant to your brides/grooms.  Include images and video.  Be sure to write for real people and don’t overuse keywords or it will alienate website visitors and work against your SEO efforts.

3.    Add social share buttons so that your posts and images are easily sharable on Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest.

4.    Use an app like RSS Graffiti or Twitterfeed to automatically share your new blog posts on Facebook and Twitter.  Become a resourceful active participant in social media to attract couples and encourage them to share, comment and link to you.

5.    Write guest blog posts for other wedding-related websites in exchange for a link back to your website.  This is the valuable type of backlink that increases your ranking and authority.

This isn’t a quick fix, but it works powerfully.  With consistent blogging, social media activity and guest blogging, you will establish yourself as a wedding expert very quickly. You’ll earn valuable links that will propel your website to Page 1 and attract targeted leads in the process…and you won’t have to worry about getting smacked down by Google.

If you want more detailed instructions, this SEO training for wedding pros is an excellent investment if you can get in.

What do you think about backlinking and SEO?

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