More Hard Sector to get Back Links

As most of you know that to get valueable and search engine reliable link popularity is hard but there are some sectoors of the industries which really bore and very hard to get link back (e.g. veterinary supplies, business to business). Here is the question that can arose in someone mind and its answer by different SEO experts.
Question Two: In sectors where links are particularly tough to come by (retail, B2B in boring industries, etc.), what are content tactics you’ve taken to appeal to relevant sites in those industries (specific examples would rock)?

Eric: I was working with an online retailer that specialized in veterinary supplies and medicines. I asked if they did much business with vet schools, city or state governments and turns out they did tons. They’d never created content designed for those particular audiences. Aside from the high trust links such content would engender, it’s just good business to target such audiences. The potential link equity is a bonus.

Rae: An example I can give is that I have a specific site in a finance industry that it on a very boring topic (think taxes, all the boring legal financial stuff) that I’ve take a few different approaches with:

One is that we didn’t have a forum, and I didn’t want one, so I approached a larger site that did. I offered to integrate them into my site as the “forum” link in my navigation to the specific sub forum that was relevant to us. In return (this site was a big board with *huge* traffic numbers) they gave us a sticky at the top of the forum welcoming our members and linking to some sections of the site. We get a lot of traffic from them, they had increased membership from us and it really is an example of a new age, relevant and non search engine reciprocal link relationship.

One of the other things we did on this site was to turn some of the government forms into printable calculators. People can play with their numbers over and over until they’re happy, print out the sheet and copy it into their legal forms… a lot of forums and sites link to these calculators.

I’ll give you another example of a one way link a lawyer managed to get from us via this same site. He answers two questions a month submitted by readers. We get great content that actually comes from a lawyer and to advertise (and stand out) with our “ask a lawyer” section and he gets links and targeted traffic from his bio that is listed on each page for every month he does them. He gets a one way link and it takes him a few minutes to do each month. We offered him the partnership and thus far, it has been working out well for both of us.

Rand: I’ve seen a couple that I really liked, including:

Cosmetics - http://www.campaignforrealbeauty.com/home_films_evolution_v2.swf (though it wasn’t well executed)

Wine - http://corkd.com/ - appeals to wine geeks and regular geeks

Roger: Most sites that are in “boring industries” have organizations and associations that support the “boring industries” professional. There are often even local chapters of “boring industries” professional organizations. Google talks about expert directories but these are expert sites, too.

You can also do the corporate blog. Just have to approach it with the understanding that you are reaching out to an existing community of “boring industries” professionals. Best of the Web’s Blog directory at Blogs.BOTW.org is not only a good place to list your blog (if it’s good enough), it’s also a great place to start your search for other “boring industries” blogs to reach out in the comments section, as well as linking to from your blog roll. Check out who the best blogs are linking to and add those to your feed reader and be sure to regularly comment on those blogs you want attention from. Remember, you are creating community.

Lastly there is video. Video content is becoming more and more important. Some boring industries can pick up buzz or links from incorporating video into what they do. Make it useful. Like blogging, don’t do it for it’s own sake, make it useful, make it with a community in mind. Of course you can even combine the two into videoblogging and become the “boring industries” most dynamic site for information all about your product.

Todd: My favorite answer to this question is a reference to Michael’s “Getting Your Non-Tech Site Into Digg”. Which is an fantastic and timeless post. I’ve seen half a dozen people ask Michael this question, and he always has amazing answers, because it’s the way he thinks. If you’re really lazy, just hire him to come up with an idea for you - we work in an idea economy now. I always remember a quote from Mike Grehan that he says, “asking a site for a link is like asking to do business”, and it’s 100% true. You need to think like the person you are requesting to do business with.

A specific example would be if I had an site about accounting (I don’t) - even accountants have a sense of humor to appeal to. Rather than writing a tutorial on how to file a 1099 - why not write the 23 ways most people cheat on their taxes, or the top 12 worst audits of all time. In boring industries you have to think twice as hard, and put in ten times the effort on creating interesting compelling content. The hardest sell on this stuff is the championing of a project like this internally because it takes some real stones to explain an “off the wall” concept like this. Think about who might link to you and create something compelling for them. Your users will most likely enjoy it too.

You create a new site and its content heavy,
With the right amount of pictures you believe it’s ready,
So you launch it trying to put money in da bank,
But when you search and try to find yourself, you can’t,
So you thank until your mind goes blank,
Got titles and headers but no page rank,
Sooner or later it will show if I wait,
In the meantime make sure my code validate,
And it do,
Hmm, now what I’m supposed to do,
Add meta information and alt tags too,
Still don’t get listing,
Something must be missing,
Brad and Chuck recommended doing link building,
So you start hunting down sites like a predator,
Doing back links on all your competitors,
Whoever linking to them need to link to me,
Is it free, do we swap, or do I pay a fee,
Well take it from us, before you take that step,
Some things about the site that you might want to check,
Did they use a link farm or some dirty tactics,
Could have a bad effect on your site that’s drastic,
Could’ve link baited, look at what they created,
Compare it to yours, is it even related,
Take the time, go inspect and see,
Take advantage of paid directories,
If you follow all the steps with a little bit of patience,
Get links from relevant sites that are favorites,
Update your content on the regular basis,
I’m confident you’ll make it to first page placement