Here is a nice post from Jennifer Laycock about Link Building as Relationship Building. Jennifer uses a personal experience as an example. The example features a woman who contacted her and built a relationship before asking for anything.
This is right on the money. Here is a simple summary of the process:
- Focus on high value links
- Build a relationship first
- Let the link flow from the relationship
Basically, this is about focusing on the relationships that mean the most to your business, and investing in them. And, it’s about trust. Build trust, and many things can happen in a relationship.
The link may end up being one of the least important things to come out of your investment. But by focusing on the high value relationships, the link is likely to be the one that does the most to improve your search engine rankings too.