Backlinks have long been the key to getting high rankings in the search engines and for years the Search Engine Optimization (SEO) industry has tried a variety of “tricks” to simulate what should be a natural process that isolates the best quality content and elevates it to a coveted first-page position ranking on Google.
Rather than providing value at the backlink location, most of these tools and services take payment in exchange for placing links at the sites of other content marketers who are willing to send traffic away from their own sites. Many will offer a link to your site in exchange for a backlink to theirs, while others simply pay for link placement.
What’s the big deal?
Content marketers need a better way to build quality links
Enter Link-able.com, a powerful platform for content marketing that seeks to restore the balance between effective backlinks and high-quality content. Using their platform a content marketer can concentrate his effort on building a quality, link-worthy website (they like to say “link-able”) by being matched with the best Content Authors in their subject area.
Content Authors want a better way to earn more with their writing
Marketers who are building the highest quality websites want to have the best quality content provided by a reputable expert in the field. Until Link-able opened in 2018, their access to these experts was hit or miss. Now Content Authors can easily find the projects because the platform gathers all the parties into one place.
Why is this even a problem?
There has been a developing process for backlinks since the search engines realized that they were important. Theoretically, if you are writing something worthwhile and people are reading it, they will reference your work by backlink as additional information on some other site or blog and the “viral nature” of content spread will ultimately distribute what you wrote about your field of emphasis across the internet.
In theory, if what you wrote is valuable to people, it should become widespread will be picked up frequently by the web crawlers (or spiders, as the software used by the search engines to index the Internet are called) will notice this and you will get high ranks in the search engines.
This has not been the effect of most strategies for gaining backlinks. For years after I started my own blog, I found myself continually dumping posts and comments with were little more than gibberish with a backlink to some site selling marital aids or network marketing products. I can’t see that these links ultimately generated more revenue for the websites even if the search engine optimizing link exchange made a fortune off of these rubes!
With all this established, let’s take a deeper dive into Link-able:
Why is Link-able powerful?
The mission of Link-able is two-pronged. First improve content quality, second build profitable relationships.
There is no shortage of content authorship opportunities on the internet. The vast number of websites and the demand for content has driven the prices to the bottom with many offers below what any self-respecting expert author would accept.
Quality content written by an expert in the field takes time to produce. It’s not uncommon for a good content author to write 750-1000 words an hour. Add any research time, search and setup time, that 1000 word article takes several hours. Quality content is worth what it costs.
That’s why there are so many foreigners writing blog copy. Link-able won’t accept foreign content authors. Even if their language skills are adequate to the task, their lack of American cultural integration will quickly expose them as imposters in expert fields.
How does Link-able work?
Link-able connects Content Marketers with those expert American Content Authors. Content Marketers will have to pay more to gain subject matter expertise and should expect better results.
When Content Authors don’t have to waste time writing garbage to pay the bills, Content Marketers can ask for specific content built with the backlinks from highly reputable sites that will improve their search engine rankings and drive profits to their sites.
This capability produces a higher quality product which is more likely to stimulate organic backlinks.
How does Link-able work for Content Marketers?
Link-able is an enrollment website. Content Marketers can join and post their projects like a job board and get proposals from Content Authors with the subject matter expertise being specifically sought. All a marketer need do is to submit a project with details about the content and where they would like the backlinks.
When your posting is found by a Content Author, they will apply and explain why they think they can fulfill what you require. Just accept the application and your Content Author will get to work.
Each time you get a new backlink produced with quality content on another site that references your site, the search engine rankings will improve for your site. As others post, repost and refer organically based on the new posting for which you have paid, those search engine ranks will continue to rise.
What’s in it for Content Authors?
Content authors finally have an opportunity to write subject matter expert articles for appropriate compensation. Link-able projects allow them an opportunity to write what they really know for the best websites on the internet at the best level of payment available.
A Content Author connected to particular websites within their field of expertise can demand a better price because their asset is not only in the writing but in the connections that they have been establishing on subject matter websites. The backlinks to the Content Marketer they can then provide has greater value than just the content.
Link-able escrows the fee so that you can be assured of being paid when the work is complete.
What’s the drawback?
Somewhat paradoxically, the strength that Link-able brings to the market creates a barrier to entry. Many excellent Content Authors may not have established themselves yet with specific subject matter expertise even if they have written on a variety of popular websites. Until they have a portfolio of work within the subject matter area and can demonstrate their ability to provide backlinks for the Content Marketers, their value in producing high search engine rankings may be limited.
Link-able screens the Content Authors quite stringently and doesn’t allow incompetent authors to gain access. They also screen out foreigners. This way Content Marketers can be assured that if they select a writer, that writer has been pre-screened to Link-able standards before they bid on projects.
For the same reason, Content Marketers are screened by Link-able also. As a Content Marketer, you will want to have the kind of existing content and presentation that will attract the best writers in your industry. Building a quality site is a must for membership at Link-able.
The big SEO backlink takeaway
Link-able is matching excellent content authors with high-quality content marketers. If you have ever tried to get backlinks by posting a comment on every blog in your category, you will see the advantage.
As a content author, you are already writing on sites that you deem reputable to boost your own value. Content marketers hoping to get backlinks from great sites don’t have the time or inclination to write in all these places.
The problem is that the internet is vast
You could surf all day and not find a single Content Author with connections for the best backlinks or find a Content Marketer who wants work in your field of expertise. Link-able has solved this problem with an elegant solution.
Read Backlinks: 25 Ways to Build High Authority Backlinks for Your Website
