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Building a Real Blog to send links to my main Site

by chris_87
20 replies
  • SEO
    • |
I own a local business, and my main site is already ranking fairly well on google. For this particular website, it does not make sense to have a blog. Therefore, I was going to create a separate blog website that I can occasionally use to send links to my main site to help it rank. Both sites would be legitimate.

I would build up the blogs back links separately by guest posting on some other authority sites that I am well networked with. Then use the blog to link to my main site from time to time. The blog would have its own brand and purpose apart from just helping my own main site.

Would this be viable, and should I hide the association between my main site and blog site (have someone else purchase thew website etc)?

Hoping some of the more experienced members such as Yukon might stop by and offer their feedback. Thanks everyone
#blog #building #links #main #real #send #site
  • Profile picture of the author IMdeaming
    Not the best way to go. No point in having that intermediate blog if your main goal is to get backlinks for your main site. If you're building quality guest posts then send the links directly to your main site.

    The second site option would be good if your plan was to rank it separately for a broader range of keywords. And no, there's no need to hide the association.
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    • Profile picture of the author chris_87
      Originally Posted by IMdeaming View Post

      Not the best way to go. No point in having that intermediate blog if your main goal is to get backlinks for your main site. If you're building quality guest posts then send the links directly to your main site.

      The second site option would be good if your plan was to rank it separately for a broader range of keywords. And no, there's no need to hide the association.
      Thanks for the feedback. The reason for having the blog as an intermediate is I can control the anchor text. If there is a specific KW I need to rank for I can use it sparingly.

      When I guest post with my main site its often to get anything targeted for a backlink.
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    • Profile picture of the author seonutshell
      Originally Posted by IMdeaming View Post

      Not the best way to go. No point in having that intermediate blog if your main goal is to get backlinks for your main site. If you're building quality guest posts then send the links directly to your main site.
      I disagree. I think what the OP suggests is a pretty solid plan. Building two separate entities and using one to boost the other is fairly common practice. Much like Amazon do with IMDB.

      I wouldn't hide the association. use the blog to drive extra sales to your main business site. How cool will it be when you rank for the number one and two spots simultaneously.
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  • Profile picture of the author Jeffery Moss
    Assuming you will be publishing the highest quality articles and content on the site and updating regularly, there's no reason to think this idea won't work. Though you may want to be careful about linking out to only one site as that's a clear sign the blog is not real and only being used for backlinking. Link out to credible wiki, .edu and governmental pages which provide more reference. This will enhance the credibility of each page you publish as you are linking to credible sources which Google recognizes.
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    • Profile picture of the author chris_87
      Originally Posted by Jeffery Moss View Post

      Assuming you will be publishing the highest quality articles and content on the site and updating regularly
      Lets not start with this again. You need good backlinks to rank a page, decent content is fine and content is certainly not "king". Updating regularly has little to no effect on SEO.
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    • Profile picture of the author IMdeaming
      Originally Posted by seonutshell View Post

      I disagree. I think what the OP suggests is a pretty solid plan. Building two separate entities and using one to boost the other is fairly common practice. Much like Amazon do with IMDB.

      I wouldn't hide the association. use the blog to drive extra sales to your main business site. How cool will it be when you rank for the number one and two spots simultaneously.
      Originally Posted by Jeffery Moss View Post

      Assuming you will be publishing the highest quality articles and content on the site and updating regularly, there's no reason to think this idea won't work. Though you may want to be careful about linking out to only one site as that's a clear sign the blog is not real and only being used for backlinking. Link out to credible wiki, .edu and governmental pages which provide more reference. This will enhance the credibility of each page you publish as you are linking to credible sources which Google recognizes.
      Chris, my next suggestion to you would be to get as far away from this place as possible. Join a private forum.
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  • Profile picture of the author IMdeaming
    500 links from 1 referring domain just aint gonna cut it for anything remotely competitive. If you want to rank the main site and the blog then your'e gonna need to backlink them both. Basically, backlink directly to what you're trying to rank. Once your blog gets some decent authority sure, then you can send the occasional link or two back to the main one, but by itself it ain't gonna do much.
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  • Profile picture of the author yukon
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    OP can you tell us what type of business you have, that might help? Example, If your a plumber you won't have much reason to blog on your current business site, on the other hand If you own a vintage record store, you want to have that blog on your business site to help draw in traffic.

    There's nothing wrong with having additional sites targeting one niche/sub-niche.
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    • Profile picture of the author IMdeaming
      Originally Posted by yukon View Post

      OP can you tell us what type of business you have, that might help? Example, If your a plumber you won't have much reason to blog on your current business site, on the other hand If you own a vintage record store, you want to have that blog on your business site to help draw in traffic.
      Very much agreed.

      Originally Posted by yukon View Post

      There's nothing wrong with having additional sites targeting one niche/sub-niche.
      Ditto, but i'd add that it all comes down to budget and resources. If he tries to rank multiple sites in that niche then he may spread himself too thin. If there's not a lot of money then i'd go for one properly siloed site any day.
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      • Profile picture of the author yukon
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        Originally Posted by IMdeaming View Post

        Very much agreed.



        Ditto, but i'd add that it all comes down to budget and resources. If he tries to rank multiple sites in that niche then he may spread himself too thin. If there's not a lot of money then i'd go for one properly siloed site any day.
        I guess it all depends on what someone wants to accomplish with their site/s.

        I have one small site that's only video tutorials, traffic asked for the tutorials. I didn't want to lose focus on my main sites subject (downloads), so... I built a feeder site. I could have just as easily made videos a category on the main site, like I said I didn't want to lose focus. Once you say OK I'll make videos (example) a category on the main site then where does it end? Eventually you lose focus of what's really important with a bunch of different subjects.

        I also have two authority sites in the same niche. I'm actually trying to outrank my oldest authority site (lol) with my 2nd authority site, I figure If I'm trying to kick my own ass in the SERPs I won't let my guard down for competition to get ahead.
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        • Profile picture of the author IMdeaming
          Originally Posted by yukon View Post

          I guess it all depends on what someone wants to accomplish with their site/s.

          I have one small site that's only video tutorials, traffic asked for the tutorials. I didn't want to lose focus on my main sites subject (downloads), so... I built a feeder site. I could have just as easily made videos a category on the main site, like I said I didn't want to lose focus. Once you say OK I'll make videos (example) a category on the main site then where does it end? Eventually you lose focus of what's really important with a bunch of different subjects.

          I also have two authority sites in the same niche. I'm actually trying to outrank my oldest authority site (lol) with my 2nd authority site, I figure If I'm trying to kick my own ass in the SERPs I won't let my guard down for competition to get ahead.
          Silo. Double listings baby.
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    • Profile picture of the author chris_87
      Originally Posted by yukon View Post

      OP can you tell us what type of business you have, that might help? Example, If your a plumber you won't have much reason to blog on your current business site, on the other hand If you own a vintage record store, you want to have that blog on your business site to help draw in traffic.

      There's nothing wrong with having additional sites targeting one niche/sub-niche.
      Yukon & IMdeaming,

      Not a plumber exactly, but I am in an industry where it would not make sense to keep the blog on the main site as potential customers would have no interest, similar to your plumber example.

      I am doing well in the SERPs but I could do better. I have built my site link by link reaching out to admins and writing guest blog posts for authority sites. The problem is the vast majority of the time they will not allow for targeted anchor text, just the naked url for instance http://www.warriorforum.com/ instead of SEO Forum or whatever KW you are trying to rank for.

      Don't get me wrong, its great to have natural naked URL links, but you need some targeted stuff to really put it into overdrive, proper onsite SEO will only take you so far, you need some targeted anchor text.

      Thats my problem. My solution was to build up my new blog site to become an authority by gaining enough links, and then use it occasionally to send targeted anchor text out to my main site. I don't care if my blog ranks for any KW or not, I just want to build up its authority (providing actual good content for the audience im targeting) and then have control of it to send out targeted links if I need to directed at my main site.

      Thanks again for your valued feedback and insight.
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      • Profile picture of the author yukon
        Banned
        Originally Posted by chris_87 View Post

        Yukon & IMdeaming,

        Not a plumber exactly, but I am in an industry where it would not make sense to keep the blog on the main site as potential customers would have no interest, similar to your plumber example.

        I am doing well in the SERPs but I could do better. I have built my site link by link reaching out to admins and writing guest blog posts for authority sites. The problem is the vast majority of the time they will not allow for targeted anchor text, just the naked url for instance http://www.warriorforum.com/ instead of SEO Forum or whatever KW you are trying to rank for.

        Don't get me wrong, its great to have natural naked URL links, but you need some targeted stuff to really put it into overdrive, proper onsite SEO will only take you so far, you need some targeted anchor text.

        Thats my problem. My solution was to build up my new blog site to become an authority by gaining enough links, and then use it occasionally to send targeted anchor text out to my main site. I don't care if my blog ranks for any KW or not, I just want to build up its authority (providing actual good content for the audience im targeting) and then have control of it to send out targeted links if I need to directed at my main site.

        Thanks again for your valued feedback and insight.
        That's fine, you know better than we do what your traffic wants.

        I would still try & rank the new blog, at least get it someplace on the first page of the SERPs for your best keywords. You could advertise your main site on the new blog, even If it's a site wide javascript banner ad. That gives you more 1st page real estate & a safety net in case the main site ever dropped in the SERPs.

        When you build links for the new blog to the old site/page, think of the new blog page as an extension of the main site/page where the backlink is pointing. Also think long term for that one backlink, build a few more blog pages that are all relevant to the main sites page/content/keyword (internal links on the new blog). That will make the blog stronger which in turn will make the backlink stronger, which will make the old site/page stronger.

        You'll still need some decent external links pointing at the new blog.
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  • Profile picture of the author UnkwnUsr
    If the website and blog are on the same basic subject, then why not just create a blog on a sub-directory of the main site? A new blog won't be worth much unless you build links to it, my advice would be to concentrate on one website.
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  • Profile picture of the author johnben1444
    If you are looking at making reference and possibly traffic then it's very okay but to aid your ranking you will really need to do better than that..
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  • Profile picture of the author MikeFriedman
    I agree with IM Dreaming on this one. I wouldn't bother with the extra blog. If you manage to get good backlinks, send them to your site. No point in routing them through a separate blog and losing some of the juice. Also, local SEO is not just about links. You need to be building citations too. Maybe you are, but I didn't see that mentioned. If you have not been doing that, get on it. You will get a nice bump from that.
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    • Profile picture of the author chris_87
      Originally Posted by MikeFriedman View Post

      I agree with IM Dreaming on this one. I wouldn't bother with the extra blog. If you manage to get good backlinks, send them to your site. No point in routing them through a separate blog and losing some of the juice. Also, local SEO is not just about links. You need to be building citations too. Maybe you are, but I didn't see that mentioned. If you have not been doing that, get on it. You will get a nice bump from that.
      I don't have an office building for my business, so I am not sure that I would qualify for building citations. If I still qualify I would have to read up on citations, as I am not 100% on how they work. The problem is, as I mentioned in the post above, the backlinks that I am getting from authority websites are naked URLs. They will not allow anything targeted.

      The blog is my chance to change that and have control over the anchor text.

      EDIT: Of course I will try to send targeted anchor text to my main site when I can, without having to filter it through the blog.
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      • Profile picture of the author MikeFriedman
        Originally Posted by chris_87 View Post

        I don't have an office building for my business, so I am not sure that I would qualify for building citations. The problem is, as I mentioned in the post above, the backlinks that I am getting from authority websites are naked URLs. They will not allow anything targeted.

        The blog is my chance to change that and have control over the anchor text.
        That's only links from one site though, so it really is not going to boost things that much.

        What you could do is create pages linked to from your homepage (possibly in the nav menu) targeting keywords you want to rank. In that way, you can continue getting the links you have been to your homepage, and then have the anchor text links as internal links to those pages.
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        • Profile picture of the author chris_87
          Originally Posted by MikeFriedman View Post

          That's only links from one site though, so it really is not going to boost things that much.

          What you could do is create pages linked to from your homepage (possibly in the nav menu) targeting keywords you want to rank. In that way, you can continue getting the links you have been to your homepage, and then have the anchor text links as internal links to those pages.
          Thanks again for your feedback Mike.
          Yes on the main site I put one of my main KW as anchor text that links to an internal page. I did this awhile back and it improved my SERP ranking by a little.

          I guess the key is you need multiple domains referring to your site as well and in the grand scheme of things my one blog, even if it becomes an authority, will not help all that much.

          I suppose this is why SEO professionals often times buy expired domains and revitalize them. Perhaps that is something I need to consider in the future as well.
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  • Profile picture of the author chris_87
    Just wanted to provide a quick update. Several of the webmasters where I publish my guest blog posts have said they will allow me to link out to two of my sites. Perhaps that makes creating a blog a little more worth while, since I could link to both the blog and my main site.
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