Tips on Creating Linkbait for Your MSP

We recently wrote about how useful linkbait can be to your MSP marketing efforts. This got us thinking… why not give you some actionable efforts to help you?

Here are our tips to creating the most effective linkbait. 

Linkbait Tips

Create A Focused Topic

You need to find a topic that people are interested in learning more about and then create content around that issue. There are a couple of ways to do this:

• Take a look at your competitor’s links and see what types of content or pages are being linked to. This can give you an idea of what people are interested in him.
• Take a look at current events. Are there issues that keep repeating themselves? As an MSP, cybersecurity could be the hook you’re looking for. Is there a specialized industry or vertical you could focus on?
• Consult with your SEO or marketing team: Are there any insights to what people are searching for or interested in? If so, then you know your audience, and are better able to provide customized and focused content which becomes valuable...and linkable.

Provide Something New

While it seems there is a post or blog about every subject on the Internet (and there probably is), there is only one you. This is a good thing! Your insight and experience are unique to you and your MSP. If you want to create the type of content that is worthy of sharing, you must create content which is equally insightful. 

Share Your Wisdom

As an MSP, there are quite a few pieces of wisdom you can share, and we do mean share. There can’t be any secret sauce you’re holding back if you’re hoping to be to ‘cited’ as the authority. You’re going to have to provide well detailed, extensive and complete guides of information if you want to have a hope of it being linked to.

How to Trigger Linkbait Interest

• Get influencers involved (Social media is well suited for this)
• Create content which is visually interesting and attractive to the eye
  (An unformatted word doc isn’t going to work... this is marketing after all)
• Know your audience: Create a persona to help focus your direction
• Join groups and share you insights on professional sites such as LinkedIn
• Promote: social media, press releases, email blasts, even direct mail

You Have to Promote Your MSP

Linkbait is just another tool to promote your MSP and needs to be part of your overall MSP marketing strategy. For your MSP to be successful, it needs to be noticed; simply launching your website and making a few Facebook posts will not work in today’s competitive market. Your marketing needs to consist of well-created content, strong social media presence, and a well-defined plan to market your MSP.

The Alternative to Linkbait

There is another way to build this type of klout with Google in conjunction with a content strategy (something MSPs should be doing anyway): good old-fashioned networking. You might be wondering, how does that help you on Google?

Let’s say that you are attending your chamber meetings and working with the chamber to promote your business. You start talking about how you’ve noticed a lot of local businesses have been getting hit with phishing attacks, and that you’d be willing to run an event through the chamber to raise awareness and maybe offer some training for local businesses. If your chamber likes the idea, offer to run it and ask them to help promote the event. A campaign like this should include emails, a press release, an announcement on the chamber website with a link back to your site, social media posts pushed out by both parties, a couple blogs, and post-event marketing.

All that movement, especially the content and links on the chamber site, should trigger Google to get a little more respect for your business. When you repeat this with other organizations over time, you’ll likely start to see the winds change in your favor.

We’re happy to help you with this. As a marketing agency for MSPs (and an MSP ourselves) we know how much effort it takes to stand out, and we also know how hard it is to carve out time in the day to market yourself.

Let’s talk about your marketing. Give us a call at 888-546-4384 or request a demo.