E-Commerce Link Building — The Challenge That Won’t Go Away

Need tips for e-commerce link building? Eric Ward provides helpful do's and don'ts plus a list of helpful links for boning up on tactics.

Based on about 1,000+ meetings with e-commerce sites (about one per week for 19 years), I can confidently make a few observations about e-commerce site link building.
Here, I will examine some of the most common link building tactics employed by e-commerce sites — including common problems with tactics and creative ideas for making them work to the fullest.

1. Adding A Blog In Hopes Of Attracting Links

While it is theoretically possible to garner links by adding a blog to your e-commerce site, there are a number of challenges that come along with this approach.
The objection I hear most often is that sites that sell products directly don’t really want to be content publishers, often due to a lack of resources or a lack of interest. Adding a blog is often done reluctantly.
I think back to the scuba site I once worked with, where the owner said, “I want to be in the water all day, not typing.” He had no interest in blogging himself, and he had no interest in hiring a writer because that person would not have his diving expertise.
There’s also the lesser-discussed issue of blog promotion. Your new blog is invisible unless you publicize it, which small businesses rarely understand.
Adding to the blog-as-link-magnet challenge is the fact that many e-commerce blogs write posts that end up being nothing more than extended product reviews for their own products. Do I really need to read a 300-word blog post about the baseball I’m buying for my kid? It’s a baseball. You throw it. Done.
What Might Work: Quit making the blog about you-you-you. Make it about them. Who is “them”? Interesting people, places, events, happenings, experts and other businesses. Yes, I’m suggesting you use your blog to write about other businesses, not your own. Why? Give and you shall receive.
Side Note: What Red Bull has done with RedBull.tv is a great example of a product/brand-turned-content-publisher, though they aren’t the classic e-commerce site I’m referring to with 500 products and a shopping cart.

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