Inbound links, usually referred to as IBLs or backlinks are essential if a Website is to become popular and rise to the top of the SERPS (Search engine results pages), and over time, a site with plenty of quality content will naturally get linked to by related sites. This is all well and good, but if you are in a hurry to build Web traffic (and who isn't?) it is useful to know that there are some things we can do to speed things along.

Before embarking on your link building strategy be aware that some of these methods are open to abuse which could have a negative effect or even get your site banned, so please excercise some common sense and only submit your site's link when it is relevant and reasonable to do so.

So without further ado, here are my 10 tips for obtaining search engine friendly outside links:

1 - Find online forums related to your site and become part of the community (along with a suitable signature that links to your site).

2 - Add comments to blogs with a link to related content on your Website.

3 - Submit on-topic articles to article directories and include your link in the author bio.

4 - Submit your link to the many free online directory sites.

5 - Add your comments to a guestbook and include your url.

6 - Email the webmaster of a related site and ask to trade links.

7 - Offer to provide some content for another site in return for a link back.

8 - If you have an eBay account, create an "about me" page and include a link to your Website.

9 - Program a useful tool or script that Webmasters will happily add to their sites.

10 - Create compelling and perhaps even controversial content on your Website that people will want to link to.

Of all of the above tips, numbers 7 and 10 are by far the best for an ethical and long term link building strategy, but don't ruile out the others for some quick link building. Overall; with time and experimentation you will find that by building a quality site with interesting content the links to your site will develop all by themselves!

Getting visitors to a Website can take both time and effort, so it is worthwhile remembering that time spent link building is time well spent for your site and your business. Good luck!