In an ecommerce website, the objective is to drive links and traffic to your product pages, for those are the last step before a consumers clicks “add to cart” and completes a purchase.

However, making valuable content and making use of other link building strategies may also help you convert users into customers.

Providing high-quality content and working with partners to promote your products on blogs or online publications will help you drive more sales with a long-term strategy.

Successful ecommerce websites today don’t just push out messages that says “buy my product.”

Instead, they would publish a content that says, “come learn about my product and what it does so you can make an educated purchasing decision with someone reputable, like me.”

Customers nowadays look for more information about a product before making a decision to purchase it.

If you focus on content creation and link building efforts to become that information resource, you’ll probably be rewarded with more links and better conversions.

We listed down some of the ways to build worthwhile links through being a resource and trusted partner.

1. Offer an Education Section

People are looking for more information about what they are looking for.

The web allows us to become detailed researchers when it comes to making decisions in purchasing a product.

Providing advanced resources or education guide on what you offer can be an advantage.

Think about it: if you were a provider going to buy any service, which is more reputable? A website that has an education section or the one without?

Customers usually research a product online before they will purchase it. According to Bazaarvoice, 82% of shoppers will research on their phone first before making a purchase and 45% read reviews.

2. Get Featured in Resource Sections

Another useful section of many websites for users is the Resources section, where websites list trusted providers that provide tangential services.

For example, a Crossfit box would probably link out to fitness-related resources, ecommerce store that sold weightlifting gloves, or a local massage therapist for soothing sore or tight muscles for workouts.

Getting a link to your education guides or products on other websites is one great way to build useful links.

Begin by researching in Google or a content research tool.

Search for industry keywords and a word like “Resources” or “related products.”

After finding a high-quality website, you can email them to offer your products as a resource to include.

You may use a template, but it’s more recommended that every email is customized for a more personal touch.

Mentioning what you like about their website is one good way to break the ice. Just keep it genuine.

Spending the time to make this unique is worth the effort and much more likely to result in a link.

Besides offering your products or services as a recommended resource, if you have any useful content you can recommend, try that approach as well.

If you got helpful content, various websites or blogs will be happy to include you.

Just make sure that you explain why it will be helpful to their audience and keep your content or product specific.

3. Offer Coupon Codes

Everyone likes a good deal, therefore make use of coupon codes as a strategic part of your marketing.

Just don’t make deals an integral part of your offering, or else sales may become dependent on customers who don't buy unless there’s a discount.

Shopify recommends using coupon codes for seasonal holidays, customer appreciation to build new customer loyalty.

Experiment with the types of discounts offered to see what gets the most conversions.

For example, a $500 discount on a computer is bigger than a 25% discount, even if they’re the same for $2,000 computer, according to a marketing professor and author, Dr. Jonah Berger.

A/B test your types of discounts to know what is more attractive to your specific audience. 

Coupon Codes + Affiliates

A clothing boutique offers unique discount coupon and landing pages to its affiliates, who added UTM codes to then end to get affiliate credit.

Not only do distinctive codes let them track the success of their affiliate program, but it also offers affiliates incentive to share their products, because they know they are giving their users a discount, which makes them more likely to purchase.

If you got an affiliate program, think about giving unique discounts to them to share with their audiences, which feel more exclusive.

If they found out that they are getting discounts that are not available to others on other platforms, they become more tempted to share.

You may also send notice of available coupon codes to code websites.

These websites act as a coupon code aggregators and most users search them first before purchasing a product.

4. Give Away Free Products

Another incentivized way to get links to your website is  through product giveaways.

These may be contests on your website or social media through influencers and bloggers.

Giveaways have a good success rate.

It is important to give away prizes, that people would actually want and have the right content and promotional strategy behind it.