Ugh content! I don't get it

[Noob15]

Everyone on this website says the proper way to build links is with great content. I don't get that because I am trying to build links for a classified ads website and there is no "great content" for any of the classified ads websites. None of them have blogs or any content other than the stuff people are selling.

When I look at my competitors inbound links using open site explorer, they are all junk. Most of the links listed in open site explorer are dead /broken links and the ones that are not dead links are spammy, low quality links including many link exchanges.

So, I don't get the "great content to build links" route because in my vertical it's not being done. Suggestions on how to build links in this situation?

[BlueprintMarketing]

Hey the SeachLove video I said you should see but must join Distilled U membership has a free slideshare deck.

http://www.slideshare.net/DistilledSEO/content-strategy-framework

(This SeachLove conference changed the way my company makes content I really think everyone should see it.)

• https://www.distilled.net/resources/videos/mark-johnstone-britt-klontz-and-kyra-kuik

Tom

[EGOL]

I agree with Anthony.

There are lots of great content topics for classified ads.  If you take classified ads seriously and understand them then you know the questions that people are asking, you know what they are not asking but that they should know.  Writing effective classified ads is a science and artform.  I read books about them in the 1960s when I was advertising in the very expensive word ads in the backs of magazines like Popular Science and Popular Mechanics.   There are safety topics, pricing topics, scheduling topics, many others.  Dig up some of the old books and write similar content that is adapted for the web.

[anthonydnelson]

Just because your competitors are not doing it, doesn't mean you can't. In fact, you might consider it a great opportunity to stand out. You might want to consider creating some content you think will be link-worthy.

• Humor/Buzzfeed style: 12 Hilarious Classified Ads That....
• Informational: Guide to Writing the Perfect Classified Ad
• Seasonal: These Creepy Classified Ads Will Be Sure to Scare You This Halloween

It's not as easy as just creating the content and getting links. You have to find the right spots to promote it as well.

[BlueprintMarketing]

I want to give you another example do you think that creating content for a  tailor shop is easy? industries are either hypercompetitive or if you are very fortunate you can walk in the door those industries are rare but they do exist.

The reason that everyone that said this is telling you the truth. Obviously much easier said than done

here is a query: https://www.google.com/#q=bulletproof+suit  for a piece of content it will rank number 1 when you click the link or query "bulletproof suit" this has consistently brought hundreds of links every month including ranking the client in GQ all the major news companies like ABC CBS  etc.

it is inherently interesting you have people that are typing advertisements that might say crazy things for interesting things capitalize on that

"Everyone on this website says the proper way to build links is with great content. I don't get that because I am trying to build links for a classified ads website and there is no "great content" for any of the classified ads websites. None of them have blogs or any content other than the stuff people are selling."

I hope this helps,

Tom

[BlueprintMarketing]

Think about the industry to your talking about advertising you can simply create brilliant content easier said than done yes about advertising on your website. This will separate you from the junk and if you're very good at it one day you may be considered something like NOLO.com compared to a legal directory.

the first and most powerful reference in my opinion is behind a pay wall you will have to purchase a https://www.distilled.net/u membership to view it. I think it's well worth the money.

• https://www.distilled.net/resources/videos/mark-johnstone-britt-klontz-and-kyra-kuik

Look an example of a music site and how you can get tons of organic links from out-of-the-box content.

http://www.concerthotels.com/worlds-greatest-vocal-ranges

• https://moz.com/ugc/category/content

• For wonderful place to create content please see

• https://www.distilled.net/content-guide/

• https://beta.moz.com/content/

• https://moz.com/blog/why-good-unique-content-needs-to-die-whiteboard-friday

• ** Other great references**

• http://www.copyblogger.com/copywriting-101/

• http://contentmarketinginstitute.com/topic/building-audience/

• http://tone-analyzer-demo.mybluemix.net/

• http://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/bookmarks-for-bloggers

• http://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/b2b-b2c-content-marketing

• http://contentmarketinginstitute.com/2013/02/b2c-content-marketing-vs-b2b-big-debate-video/

I really this is of help to you and you believe that you will learn a lot from the content guides

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[donford]

Hi Noob,

I can imagine how frustrating that could be. What you have is a site that offers a service, and that service itself will generate a ton of links. So the question is how do you attract both buyers and sellers (listers and lookers) right?

In cases like this it may not be the best to focus mainly on building backlinks, rather focus your efforts on other marketing avenues. This could be email marketing, community type engagement (Local Area Websites, Industry Specific Websites, Charities), print (Newspapers, Magazines), Radio, Online Advertisement (Facebook, Twitters, Google, Yahoo).

Without knowing exactly what type of classifieds you plan on running I can't be very specific. However, I will say the "classified" type website is nothing new and as I'm sure you're aware you're up against some pretty big names (Craigslist, Ebay, Angieslist, LocalAreaNewspaper/classifieds.com) Which means if you're going to fight in this arena you should be doing something they aren't doing, or whatever they are doing better.

This type of website is one that is very good at generating its own links as many "sellers" will post links to their items on Facebook, Reddit, Instagram, Twitter and so on. You could take advantage of this to get a main link to your domain by offering new posters a quick code grab which includes a link to the specific product they just posted along with a link to the site itself.

Of course if you're talking personals that is a different animal in where you approach people but the theories are still the same.

The things you can do in either case is to focus on making sure the site is as easy as possible to use for both listers and lookers. They both should have a great experience. Make sure they are completely informed about fees and how the service works. Along with that offer lots of back end features that allow both sides to ease of use, in the areas of tracking and searching.

In all cases how these sites stay around by being relative. Ebay is still around because people still buy stuff from there, despite the ridiculous fees and issues sellers have dealt with over the many years. If eBay were to lose sellers that would have a direct impact on lookers and vice versa. Keep both sides happy, you need them both.

Hope this helps in some way,

Don