Have you ever wanted to do a good deed AND get something you need in return?
Today, we will talk about how to get quality backlinks by helping out non-governmental organizations.
I’m sure you know a few NGOs, whether it’s one in your town or a big one who hosts fundraising campaigns on TV by the end of the year.
The latter tends to be more resourceful, and they may not need your help. But the small one in your town (and other towns) does!
They generally have no money or ways to get said money. Donations and personal investments from employees are all they got!
However, you are not here to fill that gap. Buying backlinks is, in a general manner, frowned upon, especially by Google. Remember Google? The search engine you want to impress?
No, you are here to help those organizations with one or more of their tasks and chores, and asking if they can kindly repay you for that favor with a backlink to your website.
While some people would consider that a “service for link” (basically just another paid link), Google itself said that they carefully weight such situations. Its main criteria are: is that amount (either of money or service) capable of changing one’s mind? How close what you’re offering is to money?
Check out this video if you doubt me: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zupIbMyMfBI
So no, helping out and getting a link in return is hardly ever going to be considered a paid link, especially if you’re dealing with a NGO. Do it at will!
Here are the 5 best things about helping NGOs:
#1- Doing what you are good at:
One of the best ways to help out NGOs is by doing what you are good at.
It will be easier this way. And more fun.
For instance, if you are a marketing and SEO company, provide some services for them free of charge, so that they can grow and get more donations and volunteers.
Depending on your field, it may be harder to find a way to help.
But you can always go for resource donation and outright business partnership (one advertises for the other).
Let’s say you are an on-line bookstore. You can easily donate some books to educational NGOs and ask for a link in return. Better yet, you can start a sale!
I bet you’ve all seen this somewhere: “we will donate 20% of every [book] bought to [that organization]” or “every [10 books] bought, we will donate [U$50] to [that organization]”.
It’s a win-win!
Side note: if you can’t find the time to help out personally, consider letting an intern do it. There are lots of youngsters out there, waiting for a chance.
This way, you don’t have to spend much money (or any at all) and you still get it done!
Example:
A translation company in Brazil, Magma Translation, started such a social project.
They are providing free website translation for NGOs. As you can imagine, they are having tons of requests.
As a result, many of them are listing Magma on their partner section, with –guess what? – a backlink to Magma’s website.
This beautiful gesture is helping out lots of organizations that require foreign help and donations, but didn’t have accessibility for English speakers that visited their website before. Now they do!
#2- Doing much for little
Most people out there don’t know what is SEO.
So when they receive a weird e-mail about adding a link to their website, they get suspicious.
However, if there’s a clear gain to them (your social action), they might go for it.
After all, you are willing to spend your precious time working for free. The least they could do is add a hyperlink.
Sure-fire, isn’t it?
#3- Quantity
Not much to say here.
There are hundreds of thousands of NGOs in some countries, totaling millions worldwide!
Just look for NGO lists on Google. It’s a piece of cake finding them.
Such lists will likely let you filter NGOs by localization or type of social cause, so that you can target the right NGOs for your kind of help.
#4- It’s good for business
If you decide to start a social project, such as Magma’s, promote it as much as you can.
Generally speaking, your work will be easy: such things spread like wildfire!
One NGO tells another, and that one tells another, and another…
And since it’s for a good cause, some will voluntarily help you promote it by writing about your project on their website or newsletter, thus reaching out to hundreds or thousands of other NGOs at once.
Warning: do not let it get out of your reach.
There may be lots of work to do, so be sure to have enough staff and time to accomplish it.
#5- It will feel G-R-E-A-T!
Think about it: even in this distant way (by which I mean ‘not face-to-face’) that is the worldwide web, you are helping people.
It may feel like you are just doing your job (and worse: for free!), but never forget that on the receiving end of your social action is someone who really needs it.
There are NGOs for education, for refugees, for fighting against cancer and other diseases, for fighting poverty, and lots of others.
And it doesn’t matter which one(s) you decide to help, the fact is: YOU ARE MAKING A DIFFERENCE in this messed-up world!
So even if the backlink isn’t very powerful DR-wise, believe me, you will feel proud!
To summarize:
Lending a helping hand never hurts anyone!
So if you have thought about every single strategy there is, but still don’t know how to improve your SEO, I’ll ask you to take some time, either alone or with your marketing team, and think about what you can do to help these organizations.
Define the best strategy and approach, and as soon as you have that, you are ready to start.
I assure you: you will not regret this!
