I almost hate talking about this one because I'm not sure I want the competition. Luckily, every niche or industry is different, so you'll only be competing with me if we serve the same niche. While this method is nothing new, it is very tried and true. The one thing that consistently brings in large amounts of traffic and garners backlinks in the process is the creation of a good tutorial. Make sure the tutorial is somehow related to your niche. Even the most boring of niches can come up with some kind of interesting tutorial. Then do the following:
- Use lots of photographs and/or illustrations. Document every step of the tutorial with a picture to illustrate the point.
- Assume the reader knows nothing. Give them details about the process. Doing so helps the reader, makes your tutorial more linkable, and gives search engines lots of juicy text to chew on.
- If possible, include a link at the bottom of the tutorial to another portion of your site where they can get more information, learn more, or expand their knowledge of the broader subject.
- Socialize the tutorial. Once written, get it into the social network mix.
Once you've gotten good traction with a tutorial, your mind will begin to explode with new ideas. I won't give away all of the ideas my mind came up with. A girl has to have some secrets, after all! 
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"A girl has to have some secrets, after all!
" – Nice point at the end of a helpful article. Thanks! And might I suggest you *want* the competition? Helps to get even better 
It's amazing how many sites I found first by looking for some kind of tutorial. When I find a good one the site almost always gets bookmarked, especially if there are more tutorials at the site,
SearchCap: The Day In Search, July 31, 2007…
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web…….
Knut, you are probably right about that. Steven, I hadn't thought about it much, but yes, I guess I do the same thing. I also tend to find lots of good sites via a search for tutorials.
And the best thing is tutorials last forever…
Everyone loves topical content but when it comes to attracting links timeless content is the secret weapon.
How about a tutorial on doing a tutorial for linkage / traffic..
Damm… see above!
LOL, gabs, you are funny, funny, funny! Seriously, you can't accuse me of that because I didn't even include one single photo or graphic, so it obviously isn't just a tutorial for linkbait. It it were, it would have lots of shiny, pretty graphics to lure you in.
In fact, it really didn't utilize any of the four points, so surely I can't be accused of creating linkbait about linkbait, can I? LOL.
Nice, a friend told me about this site. Its funny but I use lots of illustrations and even a little video from youtube for my contest jet train promotion.
Thanks for sharing Donna, you bring up a great idea that I think a lot of web masters look over.
Tutorials are like flavors of ice cream: there are endless varieties, and there is always at least one you go back to from time to time.
Good post… definitely something that needs to be tried.
Good method but hard work. Often a list will get more links instead.
[...] My Favorite Traffic and Backlink Attraction Method [...]
[...] More Traffic & Backlinks → My Favorite Traffic and Backlink Attraction Method [...]
Great advice, Donna. It's an understatement to say that there are many people searching online for how to do something. It seems that provided you don't get too technical, you can't lose with a software tutorial. Even simple posts like CSS tweaks will pull readers long afterwards.
The number one best thing to attract visitors is to give them something free and built a content around it.
Say you give away a WYSIWYG-editor , a websuite builder for nothing and tell them how to use it is attractive for visitors.
So you give away a tutorial AND a FREE software. This is meanfull to your visitors and will come back to your blog often to see new updates.
This article defintely gets my vote – I only recently went down the tutorial/article route, but it certainly brings results, and so far I've only opted for organic onsite SEO with a trickle of backlinks – I have a feeling that if I start chucking some backlink building at these, I'm going to see even better stats.
What about guides with 20-30 pages? Right now I have these as PDF files. Should I convert them into web page tutorials, or would this be a waste of time?
Do people find PDF files just as well? I have so many PDF file guides on my website that it would be difficult to change them into web pages.
Google loves PDF files. People generally don't love them. Still, it would be better to have them as content than to not have them at all. I wouldn't bother changing them into HTML, since you have so many.
Thanks! I think I'll let them be, but try to use HTML in future guides.
Great idea and certainly something to think about, however we're pretty much talking about getting links via people who already have a website and are interested in your niche area.
I am trying to market photography to brides – firstly its a once off buy, so they probably won't keep coming back, secondly, they probably don't have a website or a blog (ok, maybe a blog) but would they link to a tutorial on … I'm being facetious here, but say on how to smile on your wedding day for better photos? Probably not.
In theory, I assume I would need to get other photographers to link, but they wouldn't really link to a competitor. Thanks for the tip though, it got me thinking and that's really the point.
On the PDF issue – PDFa have a natural PR of three so I'm led to believe, so make sure you have links on there to any other relevant sites you have.
I'd definitely make sure I had HTML vers of them as well though, since some people have problems with Browser settings for Adobe Reader and Adobe Acrobat and they just show up as blank pages – this can be a good way to lose visitors.
If I were to make a guess I'd say that the reason PDFs get attributed with a higher importance is through their association with the medium of print, and the credibility this brings – or rather brought. Nowadays many people have access to Acrobat, a PDF is much less likely to be created from an academic or professionally published text.
Hello Donna,
I found you talking on SEO chat 5 years ago. I was working for a web development company. I was heading up the project of learning SEO for our company.
I then started reading about you buying a truck and etc.. from certain proceeds that I wont mention here. Anyway I wanted to thank you for inspiring me.
I immediately started making great money online and now I recently am getting back into the online world full speed again after developing an offline marketing gig. I just stumbled/sphinned across your blog and thought Id say hi.
My biz partner and I are expanding/transforming an online financial business into a portal and more. My personal site is http://www.BradBixby.com its a little outdated. Blog coming soon.
So I just wanted to say hi, now that found your blog Ill see you around.
I accidentally posted in your advertising section? Can you remove it, I have no idea how it happened I thought I was emailing you. Sorry. Thanks for your inspiration.
Brad
I agree — photos, tutorials, and video are king! Internet marketing expert James Brausch does a really great job of this. I tried out his home study course on automating all of your Internet tasks recently(http://www.freedombusinesssystem.com/) and it was so simple to understand, my 10-year-old could do it! Leaves LOTS more time for blogging
[...] at SEO Scoop says that an excellent way to get traffic and links to write a good tutorial. She gives these 2 tips to help your tutorial be even more [...]
I'm still new to the SEO scene. I'm marketing to new brides, and moms with tots. Very different markets, the bride is out looking for a photographer, the mom not neccesarily. With one there is a market (and a requirement), with the other you have to create a requirement.
That's a great idea that I've never thought of. I've thought of doing tutorials, of course, but didn't realize that they could help so much with backlinks. I feel that I'm a pretty good programmer, so maybe I'll start out with a few good programming tutorials (as if there aren't enough out there already).
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There can never be too many, imo, Chris. Everyone has a different style and people learn in different ways. You might have just the right style to help people learn, who hadn't ever been able to grasp something before.
Nice article. It is true about the power of tutorials to create links. I'm always looking for tutorials to understand a concept a little bit better. It makes sense to include a tutorial on everyones niche…besides, that's what the internet is about…sharing information.
[...] SEO-Scoop [...]
WOW.. thanks so much for the tip. I have been trying to figure out a way to get more people to my blog to get more people to my actualy SITE!! thanks a bunch!
lindsay
bscphoto.com
very cool tips. I'm glad that somebody else has realized that tutorials work great for backlinks and constant traffic.
I have created a bunch of photoshop tutorials over the years and they all get a decent amount of traffic, not to mention all of the backlinks from the various tutorial databases I've submitted them too!
[...] Or you can cover a relevant issue in your industry that everyone seems to be talking about. A useful guide or tutorial is another type of quality content that [...]
Great article!
I think the term “tutorial marketing” works here. It is part of the "education based marketing".
I also prefer "attraction tutorial" to "selling tutorial".
Teaching something to sell it is a method which works well. It also lends credibility to the teacher and demonstrating benefits of a product or service.
Jim