When it comes to linking strategies for your website you need to concentrate on one word. Backlinks! A backlink is defined as having your website address on another website. This creates a link pointing your visitor or a search engine back to your website. If you were in a game and were keeping score every backlink gives you a +1. An outoging link is the link of another website on yours pointing back to theirs. You would score this a -1.
If you were playing a game to win you would want the most pluses you could get. So it is with linking strategies. Here are some basic ways to get backlinks to your website.
1. You can buy a text link. Websites that get high amounts of traffic and are ranked high with the top search engines will let you pay them to put your website link on their site.
2. Forum marketing is a way to get a backlink. If the forum let's you create a signature file you can hyperlink you website to a keyword phrase pointing back to your website. You can also list your website in your online profile and get a backlink that way,
3. Writing and submitting articles is a quick way to get alot of backlinks. Create a bio box at the end of each article with a link for your website. Then submit your article to as many directories as possible. Or even better yet use a software of article marketer to submit your articles for you.
These articles can be picked up by other directories, webmasters, or online newsletters and spread all over the internet giving your website a viral marketing benefit.
4. Place classified ads with popular directories like USFreeAds or AdlandPro. Upgrade to paid member and you can place unlimited ads with links pointing back to your website.
5. Blog and ping. In each blog post include a sort resource box with your website address. If you archive you posts this gives you backlinks for years to come.
6. Trade links with quality websites. We are not talking about reciprocal linking to directories with thousands of worthless links. A better strategy is to trade a link with a website that closely mirrors your site without being in direct competition to it. Also look to place their link on one of your pages that has the same page rank as the link they are giving you.
7. Post comments on other peoples blogs. Take the time to read the post before you make a comment. Don't write something worthless like " I like your blog." Make your comments informative and relate to the blog post you just read. Then include your website address along with your name.
8. Internal linking can bring valuable backlinks to your home page. This would be when you put your website address in a hyperlinked keyword phrase and point it back to your home page. This is a great way to build keyword relavancy along with building up your backlinks.
These are a few linking strategies that work. There are many others. Just keep it simple and remember this simple formula.
However, as a certified Web CEO professional, and someone who also uses only "white hat" optimization strategies, I see people make a lot of mistakes when using this technique.
Below are some of the strategies that I use to make linking more effective, as well as raise my rankings in the search engines.
1. Do your homework first. You're probably wondering what "white hat" techniques are.
"White hat" techniques are techniques that will always work with the search engines, like writing articles, blogs, and press releases, and optimizing individual pages for the search engines.
These are the primary techniques I use in addition to linking because they work.
Just ask Tinu Abayomi-Paul, the owner of http://www.freetraffictip.com. Tinu is an expert when it comes to using search engines to build traffic to her sites.
She wrote me the other day to thank me for "inspiring her". I'm not sure exactly what that means, but I do know that she uses a lot of the same techniques I do to promote my sites. She now has over 90,000 relevant entries in Google, more than a lot of the top "gurus" on the internet.
The fact is, the more pages you have listed in the search engines, and the more links you have pointing back to your site, the more likely you are to be found.
Although writing articles, blogs, press releases, and optimizing pages definitely works, you still have to do your homework. This means actually doing a search in the search engines to find out how sites get to the top, i.e. what keywords they use, how their pages are optimized, etc.
I use Alexa, http://www.alexa.com, for this because it allows me to look at traffic stats, as well as see what sites are linked to eachother.
To get started, search for the keywords you are targeting. Take a good look at the sites at the top. This includes studying the keywords, titles, and descriptions they use in their headers. Also, read the text of the pages. It's not that hard to optimize your page(s). Just write search engine friendly content that repeats your keywords. Make your content easy for your readers to read and understand though.
Now this may sound juvenile, but again, it works. Tools like Keyword Density Analyzer, http://www.keyworddensityanalzyzer.com, and Web CEO, http://www.smallbusinesshowto.com/ht/search.html, can tell you if you are on the right track.
You can also read Linking Matters, http://www.linkingmatters.com. This short, and free ebook in PDF, will give you more tips on linking.
2. Link to complementary sites. I get link requests all the time, and I have to reject about half of them. The reason why is that I won't link to sites that have nothing to do with mine.
I offer small business, internet marketing, and search engine optimization and submission products and services. Links to quote sites, joke sites, and shoe sites don't fit with this.
The key here is to understand that not only does Google, the most important of all the search engines, look at how many links are pointing back to your site, but they also look at the relevance of the links.
Sites that are similar, or complementary to yours, give you more credibility and higher page rank than having tons of sites pointing back to you that have nothing to do with your site.
Make the links pointing back to your site relevant.
3. Choose relevant, highly searched for, low competition keywords for your anchor text. This tip relates to tip four. Before you start sending out link requests to other webmasters, make sure that you're targeting the right keywords. Not only are a lot of relevant links important, but your keywords should be keywords that will get you traffic.
4. Change your anchor text. Recently Google decided that links with the same text between your {{a href=""}} and {{/a}} text should be different. Too many links pointing back to your site that had the same text "looks" like spam. This doesn't mean it is spam, and sometimes, you don't have control over how others link back to your site.
However, if you decide to exchange links with others, vary your anchor text.
5. Try other alternatives to software. Although there are many software programs out there you can use to help you automate this process, I caution you to be careful when using this kind of software. Although it may speed things up for you, you may also end up with a lot of links pointing back to you that have no relevance. Also, these programs really won't help you as much as you think if you don't change your anchor text once in awhile.
If you do choose to use software to automate the process, make sure that you personalize your emails. Again, do your homework and make sure that you are actually sending out email to sites that complement yours. No one likes to receive emails that say "Dear Webmaster".
Using a directory script on your site can help you because others can visit your site and add their links. Just make sure that you check your directory once in awhile to see who is linking to you. Also, make sure that you set up your script in such a way that others have to have a link pointing back to you first before your script will accept their site.
Link Management Assistant - http://www.dirfile.com/link_management_assistant.htm
You can also find reciprocal link exchange sites like Link Metro, http://www.linkmetro.com. Sites like this will allow you to choose your partners, search for new partners, and exchange links without being bombarded with email or generic requests.
Regardless of how you develop a linking strategy for your site, you need to develop one if you want high rankings in the search engines.
Both Jeff Casmer & Jinger Jarrett 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.
Jeff Casmer has sinced written about articles on various topics from Affiliate Programs, Work From Home and Search Engine Marketing. Jeff Casmer is an internet marketing consultant with career sales over $25,000,000. His "Top Ranked" Directory gives you all the information you need to st. Jeff Casmer's top article generates over 110000 views. to your Favourites.
Jinger Jarrett has sinced written about articles on various topics from Marketing, Site promotion and Home Based Business. Jinger Jarrett is a writer and internet marketer living in Alpharetta, Georgia. She teaches search engine optimization strategies "for the rest of us". Get her best strategies, as well as a copy of her "Search Engine Secrets" ebook for free, when you visi. Jinger Jarrett's top article generates over 27100 views. to your Favourites.