Our new SEO director, Rob Poitras & I were discussing the pros and cons (mostly cons) of link buying  and link brokerage. We’re pretty risk adverse to any search strategy that would potentially harm the way Google values of our clients’ websites.

We’ve found that focusing on consistent community efforts and content engagement through social media outlets has been the most effective strategy in building inbound links, increasing client website visibility and driving organic traffic that converts to somewhat impressive sales. While the strategies have taken longer to develop and build, the results not only build, they last.

In his recent panel at PubCon 2009, Rand Fishkin, founder of SEOmoz, confirmed our findings in his presentation on Strategies to Spend Money & Earn ROI from Link Campaigns (without “buying links”):
Pubcon 2009 Paid Links

Not everything related to online marketing – social media, SEO, paid advertising – is rocket science (don’t get me wrong – there are some things that are extremely complicated) ; it’s common sense coupled with planning and retail intelligence. A well designed, easy-to-navigate website, great user generated content, facebook ads, a cleverly crafted online PR and a kick ass community manager go a long way in creating lasting, sustainable retail revenue.

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