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When you think about link building, forums probably aren’t the first thing that comes to mind.
Most of us think about guest posts, digital PR, or getting featured in industry publications. And obviously, those can all work.
But I think smaller, niche communities get overlooked.
Getting a backlink from a big site is great. It looks impressive, and the authority is there. But if hardly anyone reading that site cares about what you sell, you have to wonder how useful that exposure actually is.
Now compare that with a smaller forum where people are already talking about your industry, asking questions, recommending tools, and looking for solutions.
That’s a pretty relevant place for your brand to show up.
The problem is, you can’t just join a forum, drop your link, and disappear. People can spot that from a mile away. 😅
You actually have to get involved. Answer questions when you have something useful to add. Share what you know and get to know the community a little.
Then, if you have a resource that genuinely answers someone’s question, sharing it won’t feel forced.
And this got me thinking about niche link building more generally.
We tend to focus so much on finding bigger sites that we can miss smaller opportunities right in front of us. A niche directory, an industry association, a small creator, a community resource... they don’t sound exciting on their own.
But if that’s where your audience actually is, maybe that’s the point.
Sometimes, relevance beats reach.
What’s one link-building tactic you think gets overlooked?
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I build landing pages that convert visitors into clients, not just clicks.
Friday Question: When Did You Last Check Your Website on Your Phone? 📱
Not on your laptop.
Not in the editor preview.
On your actual phone. The way your customers see it.
This week I did exactly that with my own website. And I didn’t love what I saw.
The menu button was plain. The dropdown felt like an afterthought. And the most important button, “Let’s Talk,” was just another line of text in a list.
So I rebuilt it.
✔ A clearer menu button
✔ A proper slide-out menu
✔ A call-to-action you can’t miss
Nothing was “broken.” It just wasn’t helping anyone take the next step.
Here’s a 60-second test you can do right now:
→ Open your website on your phone
→ Tap the menu
→ Try to contact yourself
How many taps did it take? Did anything feel awkward?
Friday question: when did you last check your website on your phone? And what did you notice? 👇
Most manufacturing websites are just PDFs in disguise.
An engineer lands on your page with a real constraint: “I need a castor that holds 2 tonnes, survives a cast-iron floor, and fits a 150 mm wheel.”
Then they scroll through 40 products, open 6 datasheets, and leave to ask a competitor who answers faster.
I recently designed a Castors & Wheels catalogue page for an industrial castor manufacturer, and these are the principles I’d now apply to any B2B product catalogue:
1. Let buyers search by constraint, not by product name.
Industrial buyers rarely know your model names. They know their load, their floor, their wheel size. So the filters are load capacity, wheel material, diameter and duty class.
2. Put the specs on the card.
Size, load capacity and material are visible before the click. If someone has to open a page to find out whether a product is even relevant, the page has failed.
3. Offer a second way in.
Some buyers think in products, others in industries. A “Looking for your industry?” row (scaffolding, heavy engineering, material handling) gets them to the right range in one click.
4. Let them sort by what matters.
Defaulting to load capacity, high to low, matches how this buyer actually narrows things down.
5. Treat “we didn’t list it” as a lead.
Most manufacturers can build custom, but the page never says so. A “Didn’t find your castor?” block turns a dead end into a quote request.
6. Make the enquiry form ask the right questions.
Industry and application go in the form, so sales starts the first call already knowing what the buyer needs.
7. Design for export from day one.
Language options, a separate export contact and a clear route to a quote matter when your buyers sit in a dozen countries.
A catalogue page isn’t there to show everything you make.
It’s there to get the right buyer to the right product faster than your competitor can.
👇 If you’re a manufacturer, what’s the one thing buyers keep asking your sales team that your website should already answer?
And if you’re a buyer, what makes you close a supplier’s tab?
this is amazing work