Okay, you're the proud mama or papa to your brand new website. Now what? This isn't like the movies ? just because you built it doesn't mean they'll come. The Internet is a huge limitless space with ever-growing numbers of websites. You are just one small website among millions. How will anybody ever find you? How do you become visible? Right now, you just exist out in the web, untethered. You need to become visible when someone searches for you and one way to become visible to people is to become visible to search engines. And one way to become visible to search engines such as Google, Yahoo, or MSN is for your site to be tethered, or linked to other sites.
If you've spent any time reading Internet marketing blogs you know that link building is a huge part of a marketing campaign. Backlinks ? links that point to your website ? are a major factor in determining your popularity or ranking with the search engines. And of course, just like in high school, you want to be popular.
You can buy your way into links, but here we're talking about a few free and easy ways. An obvious and natural way to build links is through content. When you start a link-building campaign for your new website, focus on attracting links that will add value for your website visitors and best represent your most important keywords too. It is invaluable to have visitors go to your site and share your content.
Here are a few easy and mostly free ways to build links for your website.
Blog-Based Link Building
One way to get natural links back to your website is by setting up a blog for your company. Make sure you network online with other blogs that complement yours. If you share industry news and have useful and relevant content, you'll attract links. Reference other bloggers in your content and link to other blogs in your industry.
For blogs, content is extremely important. Every time you add words to your blog or website, you are presenting yourself to a potentially huge audience. How does your blog's content reflect your company? This content could be the page that carries your company's name around the Internet world. Cheap content is just that ? cheap. Create content that people want to read and that will make them come back again and again.
Reviewing products and services and posting those reviews on other sites is another way to build links. Your honest evaluations and smart opinions can also build your reputation as an expert in your field.
Link Building with Social Media
Another way to build natural links to your website is through social media sites like Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace and Twitter. These sites allow you to set up a user profile where you can add information about you and your company including a link to your website.
Some sites, Facebook for example, also have a way to promote your business with a page, ad or group. Just keep in mind that there are good ways and bad ways to promote your business on social sites and you should observe proper etiquette when you do.
Link Building with Organizations and Directories
If your industry has professional organizations or associations that you belong to, check with them and see if they have an online directory with links to member sites. They may or may not charge a fee for this. If they do, it shouldn't be much.
Check with your local Chamber of Commerce or Better Business Bureau. Links from sites like these can be very helpful. Check with other local businesses and organizations that have lists of businesses and request links from them, too.
Online directories are another opportunity to look into. Yahoo! Directory is a good one. If your business is in a specific geographical area, you might also find some local directories to submit to that will boost your local visibility.
Links from Charities or Non-profits
If your company makes charitable donations to organizations and non-profits, see if they have a "donors" list on their website and ask if they will link to your website.
Links from Press Releases
Has your business just started or have you just launched a new product? A press release is a great idea to announce your news. There are quite a few press release distribution services available and some have a free first time offer.
Links from Partners
If your website offers information about other partner websites like business directories, you should make sure to use all your linking potential. You could have a badge that your partner could put on their site linking to you and one for your site that links to theirs.
If you have an RSS feed or a widget on your site that has good value to visitors, those can be taken from your website and displayed on another person's website, linking back to your site.
The Internet is constantly evolving and there are thousands of ways to build links. Look around at other websites and see what they have and how they work. Look at your business, think outside the box and you might come up with other ways to develop links. If it all seems like too much, there are many online consulting companies that can help with link building, SEO optimization and brandcasting.
Free Easy Website Building
Although there are many experts who claim to know what makes a website successful, upon researching one would find that almost every expert would agree that navigation has a large part in the formula. Easy website navigation is the key to repeat business. There are thousands of websites out there floating around. Not every one of these websites is successful and that is mainly due to the website structure itself. If you want to create a website that is structurally capable of leading to repeat business, then you should consider these tips during the creating and building processes.
Easy website navigation needs to begin with the design of your website. Before your website is published on the web, it should be finished and able to be easily navigated. Don't wait for the problems to present themselves through use to figure out what works and what doesn't, especially if you are running a web business. There is simply no room for needless error when it comes to your business. The first thing to remember during initial design phases is that your website should be so simple to use that an eleven-year-old child should be able to figure it out. It is unlikely someone that young would ever be conducting business online, but many adults need the simplicity on websites. You should also keep it simple enough to run on even the slowest computer you can imagine someone owning. Not everyone has the fastest and newest computers around, so you will need to keep that in mind. If you only design for the highest forms of technology, you will likely loose quite a few potential customers.
When it comes to the actual design, try to use things that are easy to the eye. Pictures and graphics work really well, as long as they are not too large or complicated. If you are using photos, make sure you use thumbprints that can be clicked upon to reveal a larger image of the photo. The thumbprints will load quickly for those with slower connections, but also allow the option of seeing the image in larger form. Consumers would much rather gather information from pictures on the web than by reading boring text. A good rule is to offer a majority of images, with a little text mixed in.
When adding content to your site, there are a few things you should not do. First, you should not repeat common information. If you assume your audience is ignorant, they will likely be offended. Second, you should not repeat information from other websites with the same subject as yours. This will only make you look uniform and basically convince consumers you have nothing unique to offer them. If they can get the same deals at another website, they just might take their business there. Be sure you are adding valuable information and products on your website. Consumers are intelligent and want to be treated as such.
When trying to figure out how to link each page to another, you will need to keep an “obvious” state of mind. This means that any place that you feel you must type “click here” should be so obvious that even without the actual words “click here”; the consumer should feel that is what should be done next. Designing your site with predictability in mind is a great idea. The more comfortable the consumer feels with the site, the better your business will be and the more repeat business you can expect. When the customer “knows” what will happen next, they will automatically feel comfortable. Surprising customers is not usually a great idea, so make sure everything works as it should. Place links in appropriate places so the viewer does not need to search endlessly for the link to the next page.
Lastly, remember to avoid backgrounds and colors that distract from your products and website in general. Never use anything blinking in your site design. Blinking ads and content are annoying to everyone that uses the internet and can even cause medical problems in some viewers. Repeat business will not exist if you use content that is difficult on the eyes or it annoying to viewers. To get people to come back to your website, you need to create a place that can be navigated with complete ease. Make sure that all links are checked daily to ensure that your website is running as smoothly as possible. Also, be sure to have all of the “kinks” taken care of before you even publish your site online. Do these things and you are sure to have repeat business.
Both Gen Wright & Anton Cheranev are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
Gen Wright has sinced written about articles on various topics from Terrier Dogs, Acne Treatment and Lose Weight. Enzo F. Cesario is a Copywriter and co-founder of , the only online marketing and advertising company employing. Gen Wright's top article generates over 1220000 views. to your Favourites.
Anton Cheranev has sinced written about articles on various topics from Computers and The Internet, SEO Search Engine Optimization and High Cholesterol. Question #1: Are You an Internet Marketer? Question #2: Are You an Ezine/Newsletter Publisher? Question #3: Do You Use Email to Send Messages to Your Subscribers, Prospects and Clients? If Yes, Check Out Here:. Anton Cheranev's top article generates over 90500 views. to your Favourites.
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