How To Turn Tumblr Into A Powerful Link Building Machine

Say ‘social media marketing’ to anyone right now and they will undoubtedly think of Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

Maybe some will cite Google Plus, Pinterest and Instagram too.

However, I will guarantee that no-on will mention Tumblr.

“Tumblr, isn’t that just full of people blogging about cats, music and pornography?”

Well, yes, granted, there is some of that, but Tumblr can also be turned into a LEAN, MEAN social media marketing machine, driving tonnes of social signals, backlinks and niche related traffic to your website - almost on autopilot!

Here’s how…

Step 1: Setting Up Your Tumblr Site

Head on over to Tumblr to set up your account.

This is a fairly simple, generic process involving verifying your email address and creating a site, so not much guidance needed for this stage.

Do, however, ensure you new Tumblr site is niche related.

For example, if your website sells holidays to Cornwall, you could call your Tumblr site cornwallholidays.tumblr.com.

Next, the fun part…

Step 2: Creating A Niche Related Following

Now it’s time to grow a following that will love your content and ‘like’ and ‘reblog’ it like crazy.

The way we do this is by targeting Tumblr uses that are ACTIVELY engaged in your niche, as these are the guys that will be more inclined to engage with your posts too.

There is a neat trick to do this. For example, if your niche is ‘holidays’, you would do the following:

1)     Type the following into your browser: tumblr.com/tagged/holidays. This will bring up all the posts on Tumblr which have used this niche tag.

2)     Each post will display its ‘Notes’ in the bottom left hand corner. This shows you how many people have engaged with this post. All you need to do is click this button which will bring up a list of users that have liked or reblogged the post. Add them!

3)     Rinse and repeat this process of adding active users in your niche. Due to the nature of Tumblr, the majority of these guys will immediately start following you back! If you add 200 a day and repeat this process for a month you will soon have garnered a HUGE niche related following.

Step 3: Posting Content to Tumblr

Once you have started growing your following, it’s time to start posting content to your blog.

Instead of going in cold with a load of self-promotion, I tend to reblog a load of popular posts in my niche to build some nice momentum and attract even more followers.

Once your blog has a nice level of niche content, it’s time to start building some backlinks to your site.

I promote new blog posts on Tumblr the same way I promote new blog posts on Facebook and Google Plus – by using a visually arresting image, a punchy snippet, and of course a link.

Now that you’re post is live - and if you’ve done the groundwork building your following – it’s time to sit back and watch the SEO fireworks!

Step 4: Harvest Backlinks, Social Signals and Traffic

Tumblr is like the hippy commune of social media platforms: literally anything goes.

This mentality is great for internet marketing on Tumblr, as it means users are much more likely to like and repost your content, much more so than any other social media platform, which can lead to posts going viral instantly.

Even the dullest posts I put on Tumblr attract a flurry of likes and reblogs.

And you know what reblogs mean?

Backlinks… and ‘dofollow’ backlinks at that!

If you post a link which attracts 10 reblogs, that’s 10 extra dofollow backlinks to your site from other blogs on Tumblr.com, which is a PR6 site.

What’s more, in addition to creating quality backlinks, these posts will also drive niche related traffic and a cavalcade of social signals to your website.

A win-win-win scenario!

Signing Off

So there we have it, an easy and efficient way to drive backlinks, social signals and traffic to your website.

It does take time, but it’s definitely worth the graft.

So what are you waiting for? Time to give your SEO campaign a shot in the arm!

If you have any questions on Tumblr or this insanely powerful backlinking strategy, get in touch in the comments section below.