Learning Ecommerce Link Building from Jeff Oxford, the Founder of 180 Marketing

Welcome to the marketing growth podcast. I’m your host, Shane Barker, and I have with me Jeff Oxford, the founder and SEO director of 180 Marketing, a marketing agency that specializes in providing results-oriented e-commerce SEO services. With over 10 years of SEO experience, Jeff has a proven track record of delivering positive ROI for his clients within one year of a contract. He is a pro at link building and founded Link Hunter, a self-service email outreach platform that helps brands build powerful links effectively today. He joins us to discuss common link-building challenges faced by e-commerce brands—and the approaches that have inspired him.

Now that we’ve touched on your background and link building, I really want to talk about link building specifically for e-commerce brands. Anyone with an e-commerce website probably understands how difficult that is, and I’d like to shed some light on that. So, why is link building so important for e-commerce websites? What is the real reason, and why should they even care?

Love it. I think that’s something a lot of people don’t realize. Talking about it helps bring the point home—there is an opportunity. I mean, why else would you be in e-commerce if there weren’t chances to outrank the giants like Amazon? There are ways to do that, and I call it the “Care Bear scare.” If anyone remembers the Care Bears—I still love them, though I don’t really watch them on Saturdays anymore—you’re putting all your effort into one specific page to outrank the competition. Amazon is obviously a giant, and you won’t beat them on every page, but if you can target the ones that don’t have tons of backlinks, you can pick off the smaller competitors. It comes down to figuring out exactly which keywords to go after and who to move out of the way, and usually it all comes back to the backlinks after you consider domain authority and ranking.

I love that. I was going to ask what tools you use—Ahrefs and SEMrush are obviously awesome. If anyone wants more information about SEMrush, you can visit my website; we have a review discussing its upsides and downsides. We’ve been using them for a long time, and Ahrefs has even been a sponsor on the podcast. Shout out to both companies for building phenomenal software. So what do you think are the biggest challenges for e-commerce websites when it comes to getting backlinks? What would you say is a key pain point for them?

I love that. So you actually get the backlinks first and then change the content to spread the juice around. “Spread the juice” should be the name of the session—that’s awesome. In your opinion, who is doing a great job with e-commerce link building? Other than the typical Amazon, is there anyone you think is really impressive, maybe a smaller player that people don’t expect?

I think they also work a lot with influencers and blogs. I remember hearing about them—maybe on a travel podcast—because they were involved in some major sponsorships as part of their strategy. When you mentioned that, I thought, “Oh, Tortuga.” It totally rings a bell. I’m always trying to figure out how to embrace that nomad life—especially now that we’ve had COVID and hopefully, once everyone’s vaccinated, we’ll start traveling again. I’m definitely going to look into getting my own Tortuga backpack soon. What advice do you have for SEO marketers trying to get backlinks for e-commerce websites, especially since things have changed in 2021?

Yes, I like that—that’s definitely a good point. Five years ago, people would say, “Add this to your article,” and I’d think it wasn’t a bad idea. Now, though, it feels like if I had a dollar for every time that happened, I could retire and move to the Philippines.

Yeah, I love it. You’ve got to think outside the box, right? Because that’s the thing—they always joke around, or maybe they’re not joking. They always say, “Marketers mess everything up,” right? So once a marketer writes about it on their blog and everybody else follows suit, suddenly I get messages on LinkedIn like, “Hey, we can help you grow your agency” or “Do you need more leads?” And I’m like, “Man, you guys are all watching the same person. There’s got to be one guy out there selling this. Of course, he’s probably made a billion dollars.” And it’s like, these templates that come over—two years ago it might have been a different deal and I might have engaged in the conversation—but now, you’re doing nothing out of the ordinary. It’s just mind-numbing the amount of stuff.

Whether it’s an email or LinkedIn, the minute I click on someone’s profile I think, “Oh my god, what just happened?” I knew the consequences, and here I am—gotta pay the price. I guess that’s what I get for accepting people into my LinkedIn life. So, regarding the e-commerce side of things, you definitely covered some SEO topics that people knew about, but you also added some valuable nuggets. I’m pretty good at SEO myself, and I thought, “That’s interesting—I like that.” Not being in the e-commerce space, which is clearly your expertise, I found it a fascinating way to think about things. That’s really why I started the podcast: to have these kinds of conversations with thought leaders and influencers while connecting with great people. I appreciate you taking the time today. I also know you love to travel—you’ve been to the Philippines and probably everywhere. On a personal note, if you could travel anywhere in the world for free (with no COVID restrictions), where would you go?

That’s crazy, man. Japan has been on my radar, though not as much as in the last 10 podcasts—I think I’ve had four people mention it. Don’t get me wrong, I love the food and culture, but other countries used to come to mind more often. Now, Japan has moved from my top 25 to maybe my top 12, because more people are talking about it. Maybe it needs to be on my radar a little more—shout out to my people in Japan. That’s right, let’s represent. So cool. I might even move it into my top 10. We’ll have to reevaluate. And don’t threaten me with a good challenge—I’ll meet you in Japan in a hot second. So, what about this: if you could have a superpower, what would it be?

I know you didn’t realize you were going to have to take notes. It would have been really beneficial right then—she was like, “Okay, ready for this.”

That would be nice. I think about the podcasts I want to listen to or the books I want to read—it really comes down to figuring out how to manage your time. The pause ability would let you take an hour for yourself. Now we’re talking—some serious “shame time.” You’ve been working hard; you’re worth it, absolutely. I like the concept of “shame time.” I’m going to start using it and tell my wife I need some “shame time.” Then again, you might need some “honey-do time” to get on that list. How about that? I need you to do it.

That’s it, exactly—I’ve got a new best friend. So we’re moving to Japan together, and we’re obviously going to go out there and eat a ton of Japanese food, because that’s what we’d do. So, tell me a little about your favorite books or podcasts. Is there anything you listen to religiously, or something that’s changed your career path or influenced you on a personal level? Give me some good stuff.

Good old Joe Rogan. It breaks my heart that I’ve never heard anyone say that about my podcast, and I have to add you to that category. I thought for sure—after all, I’ve got my mom and my aunt as listeners, right? We talked about that, and I’m just trying to get some of the people I interview to, you know, help spread the word.

There we go—look at that, all kinds of options. Do it yourself, or people can visit your website to get some knowledge. And for those who really want to knock it out of the park and have a nice little budget to beat out the big dogs, like Amazon, Target, and me—I said that just to see your reaction. Cool, man. Hey, Jeff, thanks for taking the time today and doing this interview with us. We really appreciate your expertise and for knocking it out of the park on the podcast. I’ll definitely be keeping in touch.

Yeah, probably, because I think he’s emailed me a few times. I’ve been like, “Listen, Joe, there’s a lot going on. We’ll come to you, buddy. Don’t come knocking on my door, getting desperate and trying to get on Shane’s podcast.” You know, I do a lot too—I like the UFC. I’m a comedian, well, sometimes I’m funny. I’m just saying, that sounds like something he would do.

Yeah, you’d expect that, but Joe Rogan is incredible—amazing at 19 different things. I don’t understand how that guy does it all; he even smokes weed. He jokes that he smokes weed between the 48 different things he does and excels at. Keep calm—that’s it. Shout out to Mr. Rogan. I’ll get back to you soon, Joe, and I’ll get you on the podcast if you keep begging me—obviously so cool.

Jeff, good interview buddy—this was fun. I knew it was going to be great. I told you that in the first 30 seconds when we were being a little smart aleck, and I thought, “This is going to be a good one.” It’s going to be a good one, folks. So if anyone needs to get in touch with you, Jeff, give us some details and tell us about your websites.

There we go, so look at that, all kinds of options. So do it yourself. Or people can go to your website, get some knowledge, and for the people that really want to knock it out of the park and have a nice little budget looking to go beat out the big dogs like Amazon Target, Target, me. I said that just to see her, just to see your reaction. Um, cool man. Hey, Jeff, thanks for taking the time today, buddy and doing this interview with us today. We do appreciate your expertise, bringing it to the podcast and knocking it out of the park. It’ll definitely be keeping in touch.

Thanks, bud. Talk soon.

Before we sign off, I wanted to take a minute to speak directly to my listeners. Now that you know how important link building is to your brand and rankings, you might be thinking about other ways to build powerful backlinks—that’s where my expert team at Shane Barker Consulting can help. We offer end-to-end digital marketing services, including content marketing, SEO, online PR, and influencer marketing. Feel free to reach out if you need help with any of these. For more information, check out our website at shanebarker.com (that’s S-H-A-N-E-B-A-R-K-E-R.com). Until we meet again, keep hustling and be safe.

Thanks, Jeff. It’s been a fun conversation with you—I’m sure listeners learned a lot about e-commerce, SEO, and link building. Thanks for being a part of this conversation. On the next episode, I’ll be hosting another industry expert, so stay tuned to the Marketing Growth Podcast.