“If you are small and niche I don’t think it hurts to link out to competing sites or even to feature their brand or their owners as content. You can get exposure and work your way up the social ladder by siphoning off their brand value. But I think there is far more value in featuring them and recommending them than in having them mentioned in an ad. Interviewing people, for example, is an easy way to get great content and build mind share.” – Aaron Wall, www.seobook.com
Wow, this is an interesting, yet compelling strategy. As many of you know, one of my sites is www.clogon.com where I sell clogging shoes and taps. One of my competitors is Trevor Dewitt, owner of clogdancing.com. They don’t sell clogging shoes but are #2 for traffic in the clogging industry (right behind ClogOn.com!) It would be interesting to hear his reaction when I call and ask to feature him as a “Featured Fellow Clogger”. I’m sure it will get a great response and, like Aaron says, “…get exposure and work [my] way up the social ladder by siphoning off their brand value.”
What do you all think? Have you seen any results from this type of marketing?