Most of the SEO advice out there assumes that your content is interesting and engaging all the time, and you just have to market it right by showing authoritative sources that you’re a relevant and awesome company. And it shouldn’t be too difficult as long as you have a plan in place. Easy as pie. But what about if you work in a boring industry? What if your company is so niche that no major publications care about your content? As much as you may try and make your content interesting, how are you going to find those link building and visibility opportunities?

4 Ways to Find Content and Link Building Opportunities in a Boring Industry

While it is going to be more difficult for your business and take some more creativity, keep in mind that you likely have less competition. If you’re looking at all of the major publications that other companies are creating relationships with, you might be looking in the wrong place. It’s not about figuring out how to fit in, but rather finding an unconventional strategy to map the way for your SEO efforts.

Below are the steps and a few tips to making sure that you’re still improving your SEO and your content strategy is moving forward despite how “boring” the public (or even you) may think your industry or company is:

Step #1: Master creative content

Your first step to finding these opportunities is going to be making sure your content is creative. You will likely get the basic stories out of the way, such as How To articles, lists, common myths in the industry, and tools you can use. Once you hit that roadblock, however, it’s time to think deeper. Below are a few different ways you can find inspiration for your content so that you keep things fresh:

  • Conduct interviews or human-interest stories. There may only be one personal story that someone has about your product or your industry all year, but you need to cover that story. If someone has a cool story about how they got involved in your business, why they love what they do, a customer has a funny story about using a product, etc., that is going to give you a great blog topic.
  • Look at your competition. Even if you only have five competitors in your area, look at their blogs and branch out to others to see if you can gain inspiration from their content. Is there another angle you can take or a small piece of information to latch onto for your own content?
  • Always incorporate pop culture. This goes for the news as well. If something is happening in your area, try and connect to it in some way so that your readers can make a connection/ are more likely to click.

Remember that creating valuable and creative content, even in a boring industry, is going to take you far when it comes to link building. It’s first important that you use this content to build up your own blog before trying to guest post, so spend some time with your team at the start of each month coming up with topic ideas. Learn more ideas here.

Step #2: Define the important blogs in your industry

One of the biggest things we see is boring industries trying to compete for a spot on Forbes or talk about something unrelated to get on a website like Mashable. It’s important that you realize that the authoritative blogs in your industry probably are not going to be nearly as authoritative as major publications, but they are still important to your audience. This is where you will find relevant readers, so it gives you a better chance of earning natural links and social shares. These websites are also more likely to include a piece of your content or a link, so it’s a win-win all around.

Step #3: Spend a lot of time creating a social community

Social media is where you have direct control over building a following. Because finding those who find your company relevant is few and far between, you need to gather up everyone possible. This means talk with your loyal customers about connecting so that if someone they know will find you relevant in the future, you have that connection. Take social media seriously and don’t just try and connect with everyone and anyone. Even if you have a small niche community, that will be enough to keep you competitive. It’s quality over quantity.

Why It Matters

If you work in a niche company, that really only means it’s boring to the majority of people. For some, it becomes relevant without you even having to try. For example, if you work for a bug exterminator, most people don’t find you relevant until they have to find you relevant. This is why it’s important to consistently be spending time on your content and on your SEO. It will pay off in the end.

Are you working in an industry that has the reputation of being “boring”? Do you have any ideas about creating content and finding link building opportunities? Let us know in the comment section below—we would love to add your idea to the list!