Creating Backlinks for procurement agency for Defence

Selected answers from the Dumb SEO Questions Facebook & G+ community.

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  Travis Bailey: Don`t take the project unless you, or a contractor can become well-read on the subject(s). Otherwise it`s just mental abuse. I don`t know about you, but I`m getting too old for that.
  
  
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  Madiha Ahmed: Travis Bailey Totally agreed!
  
  
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  Michael Martinez: I`ll assume for the sake of discussion that you`ve audited the Website. And I`ll also assume that you`ve identified ways the site IS providing useful information to people interested in the topic AND ways the site`s informational value can be improved.
  
  Just because the site is a directory of defense industry-related resources doesn`t mean it should only consist of Website listings and nothing else. If it were my client, I would want to see that the site provided useful information on the industry itself - especially for companies interested in joining that industry.
  
  In all the major nations, defense contracting and sub-contracting is intensely regulated. Many small companies would like to participate in those contracts, but they have no idea of what`s involved in getting into the system. So if your client`s site isn`t doing that, you should try to persuade them to help take up the slack. It`s usually an under-represented topic in search results (because it`s such a specialized field of knowledge).
  
  Given that, if the listings for the companies in the directory are not robust, expanding them should help. You`ll never find many defense (sub-)contractors in any country who are eager to link out to a Web directory. You might find some.
  
  Your best bet for finding links is from individual historians and military information enthusiasts (hobbyists, ex-military who blog about the industry, pseudo-journalists, anti-war activists, and other people who write about defense contractors in some way) who would benefit from knowing about the directory.
  
  I wouldn`t ask these people for links, but I would let them know the directory exists and invite them to ask questions or suggest ways the directory could be improved.
  
  
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  Madiha Ahmed: Michael Martinez Thanks alot fir such detailed answer. i think I`m pretty much clear now.
  
  
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  Michael Martinez: One more suggestion. If any of the companies in the directory have Wikipedia entries, write better descriptions of those companies and what they do than Wikipedia has. The more concise you can make the descriptions, the better. But use better (Standard) English grammar and spelling than the Wiki articles, which tend to be poorly written and poorly edited.
  
  
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  Madiha Ahmed: Michael Martinez Thanks again..
  
  
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  Tim Capper: So the way I see this, it might be quite tricky because you are just a directory and dont sell anything - so you cannot leverage any customers per say.
  
  My initial thought is to create some Bad Ass type of Logo / Badge for the site that represents quality, that the listing companies would be proud to display on their own sites.
  
  Remember to use rel="sponsored" in badge link
  
  I would also trawl your own directory and create posts on unusual shit - mil veterans and people love that kind of crazy stuff.
  
  Try and do a sponsorhip with the likes of BRC or other veteran led businesses
  
  Just some thoughts
  
  
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  Michael Martinez: Tim Capper is too humble. He is a veteran and knows whereof he speaks, when it comes to things veterans love on the Web.