Do you want links to your blog or loyal readers?
I personally want people to read my blog and enjoy what they find to the point that they willingly come back for more and tell all their friends about what they just stumbled upon (pun intended). Guess I'm just crazy like that!
Can you have both?
Of course. And this should be a goal of every blogger.
Can you have an absurd amount of links to your blog and no loyal readers?
Yep. This may be your first indication that you are spending too much time link baiting and manipulating or buying links that have no value beyond getting someone to press their index finger on the mouse.
Can you have relatively fewer amounts of inbound links and a large loyal base of followers?
Absolutely. I think this is becoming increasingly possible for more and more bloggers who understand how to use social media tools such as Twitter and Facebook to reach and engage people. Although a simple link will get a person to your blog, the link alone will not get them to come back or tell their friends about what they just read. If you have provided them with content they seek and enjoy, then they are more apt to tweet about it and tell their friends to check it out as well.
But it was the link that got 'em there, right?
Indeed. But you will not get the exponential benefit of word-of-mouth if you do not keep the reader in mind and focus on engaging and building a relationship with him/her. This is partly why a good link building strategy is one that is actually approached more as a relationship building strategy.
The 'Links Don't' Reality
Links don't read. People read and make the ultimate decision as to the quality of the content.
Links don't subscribe to your newsletter. People do when they find your content valuable and worthy of reading in the future.
Links don't buy. People whip out their wallets and choose to spend their hard earned dollars. A link can be manipulated. So can people but not for very long, and once they find out they've been duped they are very likely to make note of it and spread the word.
This is not a good outcome for anybody concerned about brand management and reputation. If you are trying to get people to come to your landing page in order to promote and sell your $19.99 ebook of magic tricks, don't put the phrase 'free ebook' in the link you use simply to get people to come and hope 'the hard sell' will get them to look past the dubious method you employed. This is an example of concentrating too much on creating the link to garner traffic and neglecting the human being who is on the receiving end.
Links don't spread the word.
You say they do? I say they simply facilitate an opportunity for a person to tell others about your wonderful blog post by digging, tweeting, stumbling or liking. Without people, links are ultimately worthless.
The Social Media Influence
The increased importance of engaging in social media as a means to build your presence on the Web is undeniable. This is a fantastic strategy for garnering a loyal audience that should work in concert with a traditional SEO strategy. Am I saying that links are bad and should not be the focus of those looking to increase traffic to their website? Of course not. @BrianSolis writes in his article Social Media Optimization: SMO is the New SEO - Part 2 the following:
Links are the currency of the Web and serve as the primary undercurrent of search engine optimization. As in SEO, links help fuel traffic (as measured in views) to your social object, and contribute to your ranking within initial search results.
Links are absolutely important for gaining authority in the eyes of search engines and they do help to get your content on the highly sought after first page of search results. But as Brian writes, the traffic is measured in views and views should not be the ultimate goal for bloggers. Views are only the beginning. Ultimately, we want to compel readers to take some kind of action whether it is signing up for our newsletter, subscribing to our RSS feed or purchasing a product/service we may be promoting. As I wrote previously, the person clicking on the link will make the ultimate decision as to how worthy it is. This is where you come in and where you need to make sure that you deliver. Brian also writes:
...sharing a link on Twitter and Facebook that points back to a video on YouTube extends the reach of the video to people in one or more forums, potentially connecting them to your content. If individuals within these outside social networks decide to share the video across their social graphs, we further extend the visibility and the authority of each object.
The key phrase I immediately zeroed in on was 'decide to share.' Again, the link may get people to your content but if they do not deem it worthy of sharing, then what good is the link?
I'd argue its value is limited to doing nothing more than sending people to your blog who may never return and never tell others about it unless you provide them with what they are looking for. This is why, in my humble opinion, we need to switch our focus from the use of the word 'link' and steer it towards 'relationship.'
Again, this post is not an argument against the use of links. That would be absurd. What I am saying is that we should shift our focus and reexamine how we view link building strategies. Begin to shift more of our thinking away from the middleman (the link) and concentrate more heavily on the end user (the actual human being). The value of the middleman is nothing more than someone who can push a product further along in the supply chain. Once the product reaches the market it has to stand on its own merits in order to convince the customer that pulling out the credit card is going to be worth it. So, keep the links going but start to get in the mindset of building a relationship strategy, not merely a link building strategy.
Thank you for reading and as always let your thoughts and opinions fly!