Content Mastery Guide

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Top 10 Reasons to Use Internal and External Links on Your Business Blog

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© Alex White - Fotolia.com
© Alex White – Fotolia.com

Have you ever noticed when reading a blog post online that some words are underlined, or set apart in a different colour? Move your mouse over this text and you’ll discover that these are active hyperlinks that take you to another page – either on the same site (internal links) or a new site (external links).

These types of links aren’t always as obvious as ones that say “Click here” or the ones in a navigation menu or list of products and services, but they are just as important and valuable, and here’s why:

Top 5 benefits of using internal links on your business blog

  1. Gives the reader more useful information about the topic. If you’ve been blogging consistently and staying within a set list of categories, it’s likely some of your earlier posts would be a natural continuation of this one. Linking to these makes it quick and simple for your reader to learn more.
  2. Allows the reader to delve into the elements of particular interest to them. By keeping each post focused on one specific topic, then providing related links for those who want them, you’re putting your reader first and giving them different ways to consume your content.
  3. Encourages people to spend more time on your site. By providing internal links throughout your post, as well as links to related posts at the bottom, you provide ample reasons to stick around. The longer someone stays on your site, the more they get to know you and your business. That familiarity breeds trust and helps guide your ideal customers along the journey to purchasing a product or service.
  4. Reinforces your expertise in the topic. As readers follow your links and explore your previous posts, they will come to appreciate the extent of your knowledge. Even if they don’t click on each link, readers will be accumulating this evidence of your authority.
  5. Improves your search engine ranking. One of the ways Google determines your authority is by the number of pages that link to your blog posts, including from your own site. Search engines want to help their users find quality information. When you link to a blog post from another post with a similar topic and use relevant anchor text (learn more in this post about adding links), it shows Google that your site is a helpful resource about that subject.

Top 5 benefits of using external links on your business blog

  1. Gives your readers other helpful resources besides your blog. If you want to define or explain a concept without taking up more room in your post, add a link where the reader can learn more. Just as with internal links, this gives readers the choice of what topics they want to delve into more deeply.
  2. Positions you as well-connected and informed about your industry. The more quality materials you share, the more people will rely on you to filter through the deluge of online information we all face today. By saving them this time and effort, you immediately boost your value in their lives.
  3. Creates connections with others in your industry. External links are an important way to connect and start conversations with someone you value and admire. In a post about this kind of “link love,” I offer ways to connect with an expert you wrote about, linked to, or mentioned in a blog post.
  4. Keeps your blog fresh. A link, summary or quote from someone else’s blog post can jumpstart or inspire your own content. In some cases, it can be the foundation of your entire post. In this post about content curation, I explain how to create a blog post out of someone else’s content – without plagiarizing.
  5. Respects web etiquette. Unfortunately, plagiarism is rampant online. Some people are unaware that it is not okay to copy and paste someone else’s content – even if you give them credit. Other people simply don’t care about doing the right thing. When you limit the length of your quotes according to “fair use” guidelines and link back to the original post, you’re paying proper homage to the creator.

Do you see how having more links could improve your blog and business? For a detailed guide to using links on your business blog, see this companion post How to Add Blog Post Links That Get Results.

Before You Share a Link on Social Media, Answer These Five Questions

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Content curation is an excellent way to extend your reach on social media. By consistently and strategically sharing the right kinds of links, you can:

  • Build your personal brand (reputation) as an expert in a topic
  • Be more active and visible on social media
  • Enhance your relationships by being helpful

But wait!

time out before sharing a link
© vgstudio – Fotolia.com

Can sharing the wrong links in the wrong way detract from your social media activity and damage your reputation? Yes, absolutely! That’s why I encourage you to review these five questions before you share a link. If you can’t answer yes to every one, head back to the drawing board and review your curation strategy.

  1. Is this a topic your prospective clients care about? First and foremost your goal is to help, inspire, enlighten, educate or entertain the people in your network – and the best links will accomplish all five!
  2. Does this link reinforce your expertise, resourcefulness and connectivity in your industry? Everything you post is a reflection on you and/or your business. When you limit your curation to a set list of topics, you become a trusted source of information about those issues.
  3. Have you read or skimmed the entire article? If this is a site you’re not familiar with, click around a bit to ensure it’s one you want to be associated with. If this is someone you already know and trust, be familiar enough with the content to reply to any comments from your network.
  4. Have you added your own text? This could be a quote from the article, an opinion about the topic, a summary of what’s included, or the reason you think it is worth reading.
  5. Have you given credit to the original source? Including the personal or company name (“tagging” them on each specific social media site) increases your credibility, and notifies the author you’ve shared their content. You may even want to go the extra mile and tag the person who helped you discover the link.

BONUS question: Have you used smart scheduling tools to spread your links throughout the day and week? If you’re silent all week and then bombard your stream with several links in a row, fewer people will see them (and those who do may be annoyed). Use Buffer or Hootsuite to take out the guesswork and make the most of your precious time.

Want to curate content the right way? Try our content curation services!

Which of these questions will most change the way you’ve been sharing links? Please let me know how your network responds!

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Curating Content With Twitter and HootSuite (Slideshow)

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Everyone is feeling overwhelmed by how much new information is always flowing towards us, especially on social media. By becoming a trusted resource for relevant content, you can help others AND attract new customers who recognize you as an expert about the topics you’re posting about.

In this SlideShare presentation, you’ll learn three steps to get you started with content curation for your business, complete with examples from ESS Direct in Barrie. Hint: You don’t have to be active on Twitter to use it as a content curation tool.

For more information, see How Content Curation Keeps You Visible and Valuable to Your Network, or these other posts about content curation.

Creating Curated Content for Social Media, Email and Your Blog

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Welcome to the third and final post in a series about content curation. First we got started by organizing topics and the people sharing about those topics, then we looked at how to quickly share other people’s content with your own networks.

In the second post I noted the importance of adding your own commentary to what you’re sharing. This reminds readers of your expertise in the topic and your connection to the industry.

In this post we’ll discuss four types of content you can create by adding your own slant to someone else’s material.

1. Curated social media updates

There are tools that make it quick and easy to share content with your networks as soon as you find it (HootSuite, Buffer and the LinkedIn bookmarklet).

You may also choose to manually create new social media updates when you have a link to share. Here are some things to keep in mind when you do:

a) Use the permalink. Whether you’re recommending a blog post, article, video, social media update or another online resource, always be sure you’re using the permalink (permanent link) for the specific item, rather than the general site address. A permalink looks like this: https://www.contentmasteryguide.com/2014/03/mastering-social-media.html, while a general address looks like this: https://www.contentmasteryguide.com/blog.

b) Super-size your photos on Facebook and Google+ (*see UPDATE below). You may have noticed on these sites that some images show up full-sized and glorious, while others are displayed as a tiny thumbnail. To super-size a photo on Facebook or Google+, you must add your photo to the status update first.

Facebook share window
Before you type your comment and link, upload your photo.

c) Super-size with Buffer. Even when it’s not your post or image, you can still super-size your photo. With the Buffer browser extension, you can super-size your photos by right-clicking on a photo from the page you want to share. Select, “Buffer this image,” customize the text with your own commentary, and schedule or post the update. Voilà!

*UPDATE (September 13, 2014): Facebook is now giving more visibility to posts that contain links with thumbnail images, versus those with uploaded photos (they consider that “click-baiting“). So it’s best to put your link directly into the status update box so just the small thumbnail image is displayed.

2. Curated newsletters

Compared with social media, many marketing professionals consider email a more intimate and direct tool for reaching your audience and deepening your relationship. If you’re not sure what to include in an email newsletter, consider curated content.

a) Be a trusted filter. Mari Smith is the author of The New Relationship Marketing and Facebook Marketing: An Hour a Day. In her weekly newsletter The Social Scoop, she offers her top three recommendations for blog posts about social media marketing. Since she reads and shares dozens of quality links every week, her readers anticipate and appreciate seeing which three she’ll choose, and we trust they’ll be highly useful.

b) Offer other ways to connect. If readers are enjoying the links you share, remind them to follow you on social media and on your blog to see more of the same.

c) Remember the marketing part of email marketing. Along with the valuable information you’re sharing from others, remind your readers what your company has to offer. Here are some tips about how blogging and email work together.

3. Personal messages with curated content

You know that it’s important to stay in touch with key contacts like prospective customers, referral sources and vendors, yet these people aren’t always on your newsletter list. How do you keep it all straight, and what do you say when you follow up? Curated content can help.

a) Follow up. If there’s an article you’ve read recently that relates to a recent conversation at a networking event or other meeting, send it along with a brief note explaining why you think it will be useful.

b) As it happens. As you’re browsing content in your day-to-day travels, keep your contacts in the back of your mind, along with any specific concerns you discussed. When you find something relevant, you can paste the permalink into an email, or you can share with individual connections when you find something via LinkedIn, Facebook or Google+. On mobile browsers, look for the option to share or send a link directly by email.

c) Set a schedule. Use a customer relationship management (CRM) system, your calendar or a task management system like Wunderlist to remind yourself to keep in touch. Browse the links you’ve shared recently and consider what this individual would find most helpful and relevant.

4. Curated blog posts

In between your own original posts, you may want to offer your blog readers additional insights and perspectives from other experts in your field, or related fields. This is a great way to keep your content flowing consistently, build and deepen relationships with industry leaders, and learn new ideas.

Experiment with these different styles of curated blog posts:

a) Theme post. This is the method I recommend and implement for my content curation clients. Browse the content you’ve shared in the past week or two, and look for a common theme that is aligned with your core content categories. Add an introduction to the theme, and say a few words about each link, including a brief pertinent quote.

b) Weekly or monthly round ups. Present a list of links with a brief description of each.

c) Embedded social media posts. For more interactivity and visual interest, embed one or several social media updates right into your post. You can do this with tweets, Facebook updates, YouTube and Vine videos, Google+ posts and others. Preface each with your own commentary and description.

While I’m still biased towards creating your own high-quality content, sharing other people’s content helps you round out your offerings and keep showing up where your contacts will see you.

Want help with your content curation? Learn more about our content curation services.

How to Quickly Share Other People’s Content With Your Social Networks

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Content curation is the process of filtering out the best information you find on the web and sharing that with your network. By sticking with a set of core topics related to your business, content curation can supplement the original content you’re creating yourself (e.g., blog posts).

Essentially, you want to be able to answer yes to both of these two questions:

  1. Will my network find this interesting, valuable, relevant and/or entertaining?
  2. Will this link reinforce my business’s expertise in one of our core topic areas?

How to share content from social media sites

In a previous article, we discussed how to get started with content curation so that you’re positioned to discover the best and most relevant material for your particular audience and business.

The standard social media etiquette is to give credit to the content creator – otherwise it may appear as though you wrote the piece. When you retweet (RT) someone’s status update on Twitter, or use the Share buttons on Facebook, LinkedIn or Google+, it’s obvious that it’s someone else’s content.

If you quote from or modify the tweet (instead of RT, type MT for “modified tweet”), it’s your responsibility to credit the person who created the content (e.g., by @username) and (when applicable) where it appeared or who shared it with you (e.g., by @username via @username2).

Add value with commentary

Let people know why you’re recommending the link, and how the content will help them. You can mention what you enjoyed or learned most from the post, include a brief quote, or share a fact about the author.

How to share content right from the web

Great news! You can share content you’re reading on the web, without having to log into any of your social network sites.

Using the site’s own social sharing buttons will give valuable statistics to the site owner. Using your own sharing tool such as the HootSuite Hootlet or the Buffer extension can help you quickly create a new status update on a variety of social media sites, and also see stats about whether people are clicking on your links.

Example of social sharing buttons on a blog
Check the site’s sidebar and bottom of the post for social sharing buttons.

Before you share your update, be sure the author’s username is included for whichever social media network you’re posting to. This is another good reason to not automatically cross-post the same message to more than one site.

To find the author’s Twitter handle (username), check the blog’s sidebar or Contact Us page for the blog’s social media profiles. Adding the username is a great way to not only credit the source of the content, but to build relationships with new colleagues and add value to the ones you already have. People will appreciate you sharing their content, and if you include their username they’ll be notified that you mentioned them.

Twitter handles are easy to add with the HootSuite Hootlet or with Buffer. To add a username to a LinkedIn update right from the web you’ll need to use the LinkedIn bookmarklet. From the Tools page, look for Sharing Bookmarklet near the top of the screen and follow the instructions to add the icon to your browser.

Install LinkedIn bookmarklet

Now you can add a username for any of your LinkedIn connections (or a company, whether or not you follow their page). Simply start typing the personal or company name. Options will drop down and you can choose the name you want. You’ll know you’ve done it correctly if the name has a shaded background.

LinkedIn bookmarklet with username

Note: For Google+, search for extensions for your particular web browser. You can use sharing tools to post updates to Facebook from the web, but if you want to get someone’s attention by using their company or personal name, you’ll need to go right to Facebook.com.

In an upcoming post to close out this series about content curation, I’ll explain how to create curated content for social media, email and your blog.

Want help with your content curation? Learn more about our content curation services!