To do this you are probably going to need to know a little bit about how PageRank works. Can you imagine how useful it would be to know what Google looks for in a top ten results and then do it?

Basically, the way PageRank works is that every time a website links to yours it is counted as a vote for your website. The more unique links to your website, the more likely you are to get a higher result and the more free traffic you will get.

The twist is that websites with a higher PageRank have votes that count for more. If msn.com suddenly linked to your website you may find that your PageRank suddenly went up and your search engine position with it.

Of course, this is unlikely, so how do we realistically increase our page ranks?

The first step is one of habit. If you regularly post on blogs, or comments on them, or on forums then include your link with every post. Put it in your "signature" if the bulletin board allows this feature.

The second step is a little more active. Link exchanges are a very good way to increase PageRank. You find a likeminded website and contact the webmaster by email. You offer to put a link to his website on yours if he does the same for you.

You set up a page on your website called "Links" and that will be where you put all of your links to other websites. You repeat this with other like-minded websites for free and easy traffic.

Any directories of websites like yours or even websites in general should have your link on them. Articles are also a good way of getting your link onto other websites as I have discussed in other articles.

If you can provide any other service for webmasters that allows you to put something on their website plus your link then do that. I once heard of a man who invented an automatic "quote of the day" script to put on websites and made his money that way.

Avoid "FFA"s or link "Free For Alls" at all costs because they are a waste of time and/or money. These are websites that ostensibly allow you to increase your Page Rank by placing your link there (either for free or a small charge).

However, search engines like Google do not check just the amount of links leading to your website but the relevancy. Therefore FFA sites with bundles of irrelevant links usually have low page ranks and so their link to you is worth very little.

Use of FFAs may work to increase your page rank but it is definitely working very hard for little rewards and I do not recommend it.

Sometimes banner exchanges are a good idea but that requires that you go to the effort to design a banner. This can be done for free but the visual affect is rarely stunning. Usually to get a good, traffic-pulling banner you have to hire someone to design one for you and so this technique has its financial downfalls also.

This article brought to you by Women About Biz. Get more business information at the #1 Small Business Resource for Women. www.womenaboutbiz.com.