It's easy to get into a rut when it comes to building links. In many ways, link-building is the most frustrating part of the search engine marketing business. You can't afford to ignore the work, because it's just so important to your overall success, but it can often be frustrating, tedious, and time consuming work. If you only use one method of link building, you



are extremely vulnerable to an algo change by the search engines. For this reason, you need to ensure you get links to your website from a number of methods, rather than relying on just one technique that may be negatively profiled at some point.

Most people who build links don't keep careful records of who they trade with, and don't monitor the trades closely. This ends up meaning they link to a bunch of bums who have quietly dropped their links back. This happens so often, I can almost say it's guaranteed to happen, especially if you compete in any keyword category considered to be competitive (i.e. for money). Link trading is still a great source of quality backlinks, despite what naysayers may tell you, but make sure you take a good look at the sites you lin to and always see if the page is cached in Google. This will save you a world of headaches later on. Automating this process is the best solution.

Other methods of acquiring fresh backlinks are to submit to the ever growing article directories and websites on the internet that allow for and encourage the submission of free-for-reprint articles. There are several growing submission services which will automate this process, so if you are well-versed in a subject, you can greatly increase the readership of your website by article submissions.

You can always purchase links from established web directories and related websites. Plan your budget for a good mix of both types of links, and spread your spend across as many websites on distinct IP address ranges as you can. $1,000 spent very well on link development can make a huge difference in your link popularity and the success of your wesbite. When you look to purchase links, think quality and not quantity. Think of purchasing links primarily for the traffic it can bring to your website. That way, any search engine ranking improvements are secondary, and you earn back your link purchase money by the visitors who convert on your website.

Don't overlook Press Releases as a great source of direct traffic and potential backlinks. If you do something truly newsworthy, and publish it widely enough, you can expect a great number of visitors in a short amount of time. Who determines what is newsworthy? I'll leave it up to you to decide. But suffice it to say, if you can come up with a clever

promotional idea, your link building job will get easier and easier. People link to you fastest of all when they're genuinely interested in your website, so try to make your site worthy of all the links you get! Once people find your website and love it, word of mouth will be all of the advertising you'll ever need.