Since 80% of the visitors to your website come from search engines, having a high rank in these search engines is of critical importance to the success of your online enterprise. Link popularity continues to be the primary criteria used by search engines to determine rank.

Link popularity is represented by the number of back links to your website. You build link popularity by increasing the number of websites that link to yours.

The following techniques are well-documented ways to boost link popularity:

1. Article Marketing. Many article directories are ranked very high on the search engines because the search engines love content filled web pages. Writing articles that relate to your product or service and publishing them on these high ranked article-publishing sites is probably the number one way of building your link popularity. Utilizing deep linking when submitting articles can boost the rank of the internal pages of your site. If done by hand, this marketing technique can be time consuming and expensive. The most cost effective way to reap the benefits of this technique is by using an article submission service. A good service can publish your keyword rich articles to hundreds of relevant directories. Send Articles is our recommendation for this because it is the highest quality article submission service we have ever seen and, well...we created it! A well executed article marketing campaign can create thousands of high ranked back links to your site in a relatively short time.

2. List your site on Web Directories. There are thousands of web directories that will provide you a link to your site for free. Get your site listed on all the high ranked directories. Make sure to choose the correct category and sub-category. Ones that contain your keywords in the title and link anchor text are ideal.

3. Post in Forums. Because of their ever-changing content, search engines love forums. Search for forums that are relevant to your site and post to them regularly. It costs you nothing but a little time. It's a great way to gain link popularity and to let people know about your product or service. Just be sure that each posting contains a link to your site.

4. Create Local Links. Don't overlook the value of links created by listing in local directories. Join the Better Business Bureau in your area a get your site listed on their directory. Another local link source is your city's chamber of commerce. Participate in the chamber and get listed on their website. The websites of most city and state governments have resource centers that list local businesses by category. Find out what it takes to get listed on their site. There's a great deal of public trust endowed to these entities and being listed on those sites will endow your site with a similar trust. Even your local library has a website where you can list your business for free.

5. By all means Blog. Search engines love all things blog for the same reason they love forums. The high volume of ever changing, information rich content found on blog postings are search engine magnets. Start your own blog and it is recommended you post to it at least 2 times a week. Be sure to link your blog site to your main website. Link to other blog sites from your blog. You can apply all the above steps to get links to your blog. Also get your blog listing on high-ranking blog directories. Post comments on other blogs. This will attract the attention of other bloggers who may then link to your blog.

The above techniques all boost link popularity. But they all require persistence and creativity. While economical, these techniques can be difficult, frustrating and time intensive. Investing in a marketing company that specializes in off-page optimization could be your most cost effective way to utilize these techniques. Consistent application over time of any one of these link building strategies will result in a high ranked website that will continue to rank high and attract a high volume of targeted traffic to your site.

Rafferty Pendery

CEO Studio98