Objective: To build quality incoming links to help increase traffic and search engine rankings.
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Use Keywords in Links: Search engine spiders read the text in a link and this may help your rankings for those keywords. The idea behind this is if people are linking to you with those words in their link, then they must be relevant to your site.
WARNING: Make sure you vary the keywords in the link (also known as anchor text) and don’t use the same one all the time. It looks very suspect to a search engine if every link coming into the site is “best baby shoes”.
You can put a keyword phrase in a link with the following HTML code:
<a href=”http://www.mysite.com”>Keyword Link Text Here</a>
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Link-Building Opportunities: There are so many ways to build links to your site. Here’s a great list for getting started.
NOTE: Some linking opportunities don’t link directly to your website (they are tracked through a tracking system) or they might come with a “no follow” link that doesn’t get indexed by search engines. However, not all links need to be created specifically for search engines. The extra traffic directly from the links can be worthwhile too.
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Create a page where people can get the information about linking to you. Make it easy by providing with them the HTML that they can easily pasted into their web page editor.
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List in large directories like Open Directory Project (http://dmoz.org) and Yahoo Directory (http://dir.yahoo.com – requires payment). Google uses Open Directory Project listings in these directories to formulate its own directory.
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Write and distribute a press release. Submit it to online newswires like PRWeb (http://www.prweb.com) or PRLeap (http://www.prleap.com). You can also submit directly newspaper websites and other topic-related sites that accept press releases.
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Join associations related to your business or field of specialty. Many of these associations will link to their members.
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Have your articles with your byline published on other websites. Submit your articles to article directories and to websites that reach your target audience.
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Allow trackbacks on your blog. If you use WordPress or another platform that supports trackbacks, allow your readers to easily link to your blog. Allowing a trackback automatically gives your reader a link back and encourages them to link more frequently.
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Comment on Other Blogs: Post genuine and helpful comments on blogs. Don’t put a link into the comment, but use the but use the URL field to post your link.
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Offer testimonials for products and services related to your industry. Many websites will give links in return for testimonials.
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Seek out interviews on websites that will provide a link back to the website. Some website owners publish written interviews or they may want interviews for their podcasts.
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Create an account at OnlineWire.com (http://www.onlinewire.com) and submit your blog entries. Online Wire allows you to easily submit to a number of social bookmarking sites.
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Build Pages at Some Social Networking Sites. You can build pages at sites like http://www.myspace.com, http://www.ryze.com, http://www.squidoo.com and other sites that allow you to link to a website.
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Add your link to your signature on message board. Just make sure it’s allowed according to the forum rules.