If your website traffic is composed of "targeted visitors"...folks with a high level of interest in the subject of your blog or website, that's even better.

And, it's better still if your traffic is free...if it comes as a result of good search engine rankings or free links on other websites rather than from paid advertising.

Thus, one of the big secrets of promoting websites is not a secret at all. If you do not have (very!) deep pockets, you must have high enough search engine rankings to produce a substantial volume of organic traffic for your website.

Nobody can argue against the often made statement that "content is king" in developing a good website and in achieving enviable search engine rankings. And, if you emphasize the wrong keywords on your website and in your promotional activities, you're sunk. But, anything and everything else you do will not get you where you want to be in the search engine rankings without an aggressive, ongoing link building effort.

Many website owners have received thousands of links (literally) by writing articles not unlike this one. If well received, a single article can result in nearly 1,000 links. And, there are organizations which will distribute your articles for a fee, and software programs which enable you to do so pretty quickly and easily.

Requesting links on appropriate websites can also move you well up the search engine ladder. And, while you can do it manually, there are several relatively inexpensive pieces of software which can make link building far faster, easier, and less tedious. Most SEO software offers a free trial, so try a few options before making a purchase.

My organization has offered a free ten lesson course in search engine optimization designed to help website owners for more than five years. Of all the many things we discuss in the ten lessons, we have found out, over and over again, that nothing is more important than linking.

Webmasters who want as much traffic as possible (and who among us doesn't?) need to commit to a focused, aggressive link building effort. If they do, their efforts are almost certain to be rewarded.