What did not work
- Cold outreach for guest posts (~150 emails, 4 responses, 1 link)
- HARO responses (8 attempts, 0 links)
- Directory submissions ($50 spent, 0 quality links)
- Reddit promotional posts (got downvoted to oblivion)
What worked
- Original data: 800-application Mercury approval rate study generated 18 backlinks in 60 days. Niche bloggers love linkable data.
- Honest comparisons: "doola vs WyomingLLC" got linked by 7 founder blogs because we are honest about doola's strengths.
- Open source content: GitHub repo with our LLC handbook got linked from 9 forums + 4 blogs.
- Founder Twitter: building in public + sharing real numbers attracted founder community attention.
- Reddit value posts: comments answering specific questions on r/Entrepreneur (without promoting) generated 5 organic links.
Original data: the highest ROI
Our "Mercury approval rates by country" post (800 applications dataset) became our most-linked piece. 18 backlinks in 60 days. Key: real numbers nobody else publishes. Other LLC services have similar data but do not share it. Originality + transparency wins.
The honest comparison tactic
Most LLC services write "doola alternative" pages that are aggressive sales pitches. We wrote "doola vs WyomingLLC: when doola wins" admitting their strengths. Counterintuitive but it drives links. Other founders share honest comparisons. Sales-heavy ones get ignored.
Building the founder presence
I write on Twitter about LLC formation, banking outcomes, and pricing. Not promotional. Building public. Share customer wins (anonymized), failures, lessons learned. Community attention follows. Some of those followers became customers; some became link-providers.