Leveraging the power of SEO can boost the marketing efforts of your business. Search engines like Google and Bing use the authority of a website (domain) as a metric when ranking the pages. It means that the better your link building strategy is, the higher will be your ranking in the SERPs.
It is crucial for your cannabis business to establish a reputation on the internet to attract potential customers. Local SEO is one of the most effective strategies that can increase your sales. Link building is the perfect example of local SEO strategies in action that can help you reach more
customers.
Here are the five effective link building tips to boost your cannabis business:
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Listing on cannabis business directories and using local citations:
Making your potential customers aware that your company exists is the first thing you should focus on. This means that you should invest your marketing efforts in such a way that it increases your website’s visibility and generates SEO traffic for cannabis store. A perfect way to do this is to invest in listing your cannabis business in the reputable cannabis business directories.
This will signal Google that your website appears on an authoritative site. It is equally important to choose a directory that has a high ranking and authority. For example, currently, Leafly and Weedmap are the highest rated inventories.
Local citations are also helpful to boost online visibility. Citations are the textual mentions of your business in the online media, websites, job listings, or event listings. Here, local citations can include cannabis dispensary name, address, phone number, etc. While submitting citations, ensure that you focus on the quality of the directory and not on quantity.
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Sponsor a Meetup group or sponsor an event
Understanding your buyer’s persona serves as a crucial step that can lead to high profits. The cannabis community has different buyer’s personas: recreational users and patients. You should research, analyze, and focus on your ideal persona to attract them.
You can search locally on Meetup.com and target a nearby group/community. Reach out to them and secure a sponsorship. Ensure that the event page has your business name and preferably a link to your website.
Hosting or sponsoring events, whether online or offline, has many benefits. It leads to increased visibility of your business and a link back to your website. An event helps you get closer to the community that will buy from you. For example, Leafly sponsors comedy shows to find new customers.
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Creating original content and guest posting
Guest posting is a very effective link building strategy that gives results when executed properly. It is a form of manual link building where you reach out to other websites and publish content on their site.
The first thing to note here is to choose a website with high authority. Writing is a time-intensive task, so it’s better to contribute at least three times to a platform. Remember to focus on writing content that provides value to the readers, and then you can put your link in the post.
Also, you should focus your efforts on creating original and informative content (a resource page) to gain attention from local businesses. It is similar to creating a resource page for customers, but here you provide value to other businesses. In this way, other businesses will link to your website as a valuable resource.
You can also create premium articles that will serve as branded content. Examples include whitepaper, E-books, in-depth blogs, case studies, infographics, etc. This will help you generate a ton of backlinks from influencers and other businesses who are searching for genuine information. Search for a Better Content Marketer.
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Donate to non-profit organizations
This tip is not just for building backlinks but showing your customers that you support a good cause. You should donate to the organizations you want to get associated with. If you actively give back to the local non-profit, you will have a chance to be on their ‘Sponsors’ page. Thus, you should invest in creating awareness about these goodwill contributions.
You can also write a press release after getting permission from the organization you are supporting. Alternatively, you can also mention it on your website in the form of an article where you describe the organization’s mission and how it aligns with your business. Let your customers know about the good cause you are supporting.
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Secure wholesaler and manufacturer links
It is by far the simplest of all the link building tips to boost your cannabis business. As a cannabis business owner, you are showcasing a variety of products and brands. Several manufactures and wholesalers are always searching for customers who want to buy their product.
As a result, they can direct customers to your dispensary. However, remember to provide all the related information to the manufacturers or wholesalers e.g. Business name, address, phone number, etc.
Conclusion
Ranking higher on a search engine’s result page is crucial for your business to grow. Understand that you need to implement the best local SEO strategies to get an edge over your competitors. But local SEO takes time to get your site established and show positive results. However, these link building tips will help you boost your local SEO and help you gain more customers.
