Do you want to build backlinks without breaking the bank?

Boosting your domain authority by getting backlinks is an activity that you deliberately need to carry out.

It’s true that your primary focus should be on creating quality content to get picked up by search engines. But search engines use a number of factors to decide whether to rank a website or page for specific queries. One of these factors is domain authority.

Domain authority reflects how authoritative your website is for a specific topic. When a website is linked to by other websites, then it’s implied that the first site in this situation must be reliable and authoritative.

However, it’s not enough to just get backlinks from different sources. The quality of the backlinks matters too. For example, if you create a blog post that provides information about best gardening practices, getting backlinks from other websites in the same field is important. If a random website teaching people how to trade foreign exchange links to you, then that link will be of low value. Or worse, it may get you penalized by Google since it may think that you’re using unethical means to get more backlinks.

Building backlinks does not have to be an expensive activity. In this post, you’ll find affordable and effective ways to build your backlinks.

Join startup and entrepreneurial communities

There are many websites online that support entrepreneurs in different ways. Platforms like Entrepreneur and Young Entrepreneur Council help new business owners connect with each other. They provide access to resources and they also have the option for you to create informative guest posts.

You can submit posts between 500 and 1000 words and share your unique perspective and experience to help your peers.

Joining YEC gives you and your brand exposure through top publications

These are websites with high domain ratings. You’ll get a link in your author biofield for your business website. And in this way, you’ll slowly but effectively build links from high domain authority websites to yours.

Remember that your goal should be to create helpful content for your business peers. And not to write promotional material around your own brand.

Add a useful tool to your website

This suggestion comes from a helpful post by renowned marketer Neil Patel. If you offer a unique and helpful tool on your website, then you have a surefire way to get other people to link to your website.

An example of a tool can be a calculator, a content analyzer, or anything that takes a complicated task and makes it easy and free for users to get the help they need.

There are many ways to build such a tool, but if you lack the technical skills to make one of your own you can buy one for a low price at a plugin marketplace.

To build a calculator, all you need is a form tool that has advanced features. Formidable Forms is just such a plugin that will help you build calculators for your WordPress website.

Calculator templates you can use with Formidable Forms

Create an infographic

Infographics are images that represent complex data in an attractive manner. Well-made infographics are very interesting to people since they provide useful content. And they convert complex information into bite-sized facts and pictures.

An infographic is highly linkable. Adding one that’s useful to your audience won’t just lead to more traffic, it’ll also get you more backlinks.

The first step to creating an infographic is doing your research. Identify interesting topics and top questions in your field. Then start compiling information from various sources.

Work with a design tool to build your infographic. At this time, using colors that match your brand in your infographic will help make your brand more memorable.

You don’t have to just present factual data in an infographic, you can also create guides using the same format.

Add your infographic to your website and promote it actively. Make sure that you create a call to action asking people to share it. If it’s well made and helps people, you should see a number of backlinks to your post over time.

Create a statistics post

A statistics post is a blog post or an article that lists factual information around a topic. Building a statistics post is challenging but useful because you’ll give your audience critical information that’s backed by real research.

Once you’ve built a list of important statistical information, you have to then organize them for best effect. For example, here’s an image of a statistics post built around the use of forms on websites. It becomes clear that organizing and presenting statistics give people practical ideas on ways to improve their marketing efforts in different areas.

A statistics post that’s highly linkable

Work with affordable tools

There are some amazing tools in the industry that provide you in-depth SEO insights that can radically boost your SEO.

However, just as they are great to work with, they are also extremely expensive for someone who’s starting small. But this doesn’t mean you either have to spend on expensive tools or never use SEO platforms at all.

There are several free and budget-friendly alternatives you can work with. Look for free SEO Tools online or use WordPress SEO Plugins that make the process of optimizing your website take place from within your dashboard itself.

Tools like AnswerThePublic, Google’s Ad Manager dashboard, SmallSEOTools, and more are excellent platforms you can use.

Some research and trials of SEO platforms for small businesses will help you get enough data to create relevant content and build traffic.

Over to you

The process of building backlinks is one that can take time and considerable effort. But seeing how improving your domain authority can grow your business, it’s an activity that merits attention.

In this post, I’ve shared a few ways small businesses and individuals can boost their backlinks in a completely ethical way.

Work on these different strategies and you’ll see a steady rise in backlinks. And make sure you use an SEO tool to help you track your business’s growth and progress.