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In the latest episode of the Niche Pursuits Podcast, I sat down with Bart van der Meer to discuss unique methods of driving organic SEO traffic through digital PR. Bart shared valuable insights into how he has successfully increased website traffic using data-driven strategies, especially in the context of digital PR campaigns.
Here’s a breakdown of our conversation and how these methods can be applied to boost your SEO efforts!
Contents
Watch the full Episode
Three Key Sources for Digital PR
Bart's approach to digital PR hinges on three primary sources of backlinks, each requiring a distinct strategy. The first source is traditional: journalists and news outlets. This approach involves conducting outreach campaigns to secure mentions and links from established media sources.
- Journalistic outreach: A direct, outreach-heavy approach to secure links from news agencies.
- Educational websites: Universities and educational domains are targeted with inbound strategies, emphasizing content that appeals to academic or research-focused audiences.
- Government sites: Local and national government websites, which require content that addresses societal issues and public interests.
Bart's team creates unique data sets to build compelling articles that appeal to journalists, universities, and government bodies alike. This content is often based on original surveys or data gathered by the team, ensuring it stands out in a competitive landscape.
The Power of Original Data
One of the core techniques Bart uses to gain visibility is creating original data that can’t be found elsewhere. This approach not only attracts attention from high-authority sources but also strengthens SEO rankings through unique content.
He explained that, by collecting data directly from their audience or through external surveys, they can build content that fills gaps in existing information.
- Conducting surveys: Gathering first-party data from consumers or industry professionals, like installers, can yield valuable insights for content creation.
- Leveraging external data: If original data is not available, existing datasets can be restructured to make them more relevant and useful for your audience.
Bart emphasized that this data-driven approach helps create high-quality content that ranks well in search engines, often attracting thousands of backlinks from authoritative sources.
Building Content for Low-Volume, High-Impact Topics
A unique aspect of Bart’s strategy involves targeting low-traffic, high-impact topics that are underrepresented in the SEO landscape. These topics often don’t have high search volumes but are of great interest to specific groups, such as government agencies or non-profits.
By focusing on these niche areas, Bart’s team can generate links from authoritative sites that others might overlook.
- Government and nonprofit sectors: By publishing content on topics that align with public interests, such as sustainability or safety, Bart’s campaigns gain traction on government and educational sites.
- Low-search-volume content: Content centered around topics with lower search volumes can still attract valuable links if it is timely and relevant to key audiences.
This strategy is particularly useful for businesses looking to target niche markets or those with limited traffic. It highlights the importance of understanding the context of a topic and how it aligns with public or institutional priorities.
Outreach Strategies for Digital PR Campaigns
When it comes to outreach, Bart uses a combination of active and passive strategies to ensure success. For journalists and media outlets, the team focuses on data-backed stories that appeal to news organizations. This involves creating surveys or collecting unique data, which can be shared as part of a broader story.
- Active outreach: Bart’s team reaches out to journalists directly, offering them unique data sets that can be used for their stories.
- Passive strategies: For educational and government sites, the strategy is more passive, focusing on creating content that is discoverable by these institutions without direct outreach.
Bart’s team also uses tools like Hotjar to collect data directly from their website visitors, offering them an incentive to answer questions or participate in surveys. This data is then used to fuel their outreach campaigns, ensuring that the content is both relevant and original.
Scaling Digital PR for Smaller Teams
For businesses with smaller teams, Bart shared some tips for scaling digital PR campaigns effectively. One of the key strategies is to start small and focus on highly targeted campaigns. By narrowing down your audience and niche, even a small team can run successful digital PR campaigns with minimal resources.
- Niche down: Start by focusing on a small group of people or businesses to gather data from, ensuring the campaign remains manageable.
- Efficient outreach: Using automated tools and templates can help scale outreach without overloading a small team.
Bart’s example of a campaign for dog shelters in the Netherlands, which involved reaching out to 130 shelters and gathering data via a short survey, illustrates how small teams can manage large outreach efforts.
In just a few days, the campaign garnered valuable backlinks, showing that it’s possible to generate significant results even with limited resources.
Tools and Software for Digital PR
To streamline their digital PR and SEO efforts, Bart recommended several tools that help his team stay organized and efficient. For outreach, Muck Rack is an excellent tool for finding and contacting journalists. For collecting data, Hotjar helps engage website visitors, while AI tools like LLMs can assist in generating creative subject lines for email outreach.
- MuckRack: A tool for finding journalists and media outlets for outreach campaigns.
- Hotjar: A user engagement tool that helps collect valuable data through surveys and pop-ups on your website.
- AI tools: AI-powered tools can assist in generating content ideas and headlines, as well as improving outreach success.
These tools help Bart’s team scale their efforts while maintaining the quality and originality of their campaigns.
Final Thoughts
Bart van der Meer’s approach to digital PR and organic SEO traffic combines creativity, data, and strategic outreach to build high-authority links and drive massive organic traffic. By focusing on unique data and niche topics and leveraging powerful tools, businesses of all sizes can apply these strategies to improve their SEO performance.
Whether you’re a small team or part of a larger organization, the key takeaway is clear: focus on creating original content that answers important questions and builds relationships with authoritative sources.
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