How to make links work for your Website – Backlinking:-

Simply put, a backlink is a link on a website (including blogs) that leads back to your website / blog.

In search engine optimization (SEO), page rank is at least partially determined by the number of sites that link to yours. It’s important to gain backlinks honestly, and if a lot of other sites link back to you, you will naturally get more traffic to your page.

 Quality links from external websites will help get more of the right people to your website. Well written links within your website will ensure your readers can act in a way you want them to. Linking is about driving action. It’s about getting the right people to the right content as quickly as possible.

 If you have a blog or website it is important that you get backlinks for it. Backlinks are links on other websites that point to yours. It helps you to get discovered by search engines faster, and more often, as well as providing more opportunities to get more views. The more quality links pointing to your website the better page rank you will have and you will be more visible in the search engines. If your plan was to buy thousands of links then you will most likely be getting very poor links that will not help you much, unless those links are from websites with a high page rank (PR). This will just be a brief article to get you started on your long journey of backlinking.

 Where to backlink

Here are some easy websites where you can start building backlinks; these just require you to create an account and fill in your website under your profile in the designated spot for URLs. To start with, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Digg, Linkedin, Vimeo, and Tumblr are all website with this option. Making a Facebook page is a great way to get more links. Every time you write a new article put a link to it on your wall. For Twitter you can use twitterfeed to automatically post your new blog articles onto your Twitter account. Tumblr is like a mini blog and you can post links to your website and articles with it.

Websites that require a little more work are Squidoo and of course this website – HubPages. On Squidoo you have to finish all the steps to get your lens “featured” before it will become visible to the search engines. In your lens you can place all sorts of links to your websites and possibly earn money from Squidoo. Yahoo! Answers can also be a great way to make back links. When you go to answer a question you can place your link under the “sources” section. Before that link will become clickable you must have at least 200 points. You earn points by visiting Yahoo! Answers everday and answering questions.

 The more external links you have, the more ways there are to get to your website. A link is like embedded word of mouth. It’s a very positive thing.

The more times people see links to your website, the more likely they are to visit. The more links you have, the more likely you are to rank highly in search results.

Here are some tips when getting external links:

1. Get relevant links. If you’re selling content management software, there’s no point in being linked to from gardening websites.
2. Avoid reciprocal linking. Getting a link by giving a link is generally not a good idea. Unless the other website absolutely makes sense to link to, don’t link to it.
3. Get linked from websites that don’t link to too many other websites. If you’re just one link among a long list of links, there’s not much value there.
4. Get linked from websites that are also well-linked. The more other websites that are linking to the website that is linking to you, the more valuable a link from them is.
5. Get links that reflect how people search. Let’s say that your customers search for “content management workshops”. If you can get links with that exact phrase, the chances of you being found during those type of searches are increased.
6. Don’t keep changing the structure of your website. If you change the structure you risk breaking incoming links.

Ways to Improve Your Blog SEO with Inbound Links

• Create Content Others Will Want to Share

All search engine optimization (SEO) starts with content. The first step to generating incoming links is to create content that others will want to share. Blog posts that solve problems, provide a valuable resource, entertain, demonstrate innovation or even create controversy can all generate incoming links. Average content won’t cut it. It needs to be outstanding.

•  Blog Commenting

Writing guest posts (like I’m doing here) on highly ranked, highly trafficked websites can also generate powerful incoming links.

Writers often will offer to write free posts in exchange for a link back to their own website. If the publisher will allow it, a link or two in the body of the post anchored to related keywords (deep links) can be even more valuable than the link in an author bio.

• Link to Others

Don’t be afraid to link to other blogs or publications. Linking to content of value not only provides a service for your readers but the incoming link will show up in the other blog’s analytics. Many blogs even display incoming links along with the comments. These links are one way to direct other bloggers back to your site. If they see something they like, they might return the favor.

Google also likes to see outgoing links to relevant and reputable websites.

• Don’t Forget Internal Links

If you have a blog post that has achieved a good Google page rank on its own, use it to build in a couple of links to other pages within your site. The link will still hold search engine value even though it’s coming from within the same site.

Link-building takes time and should be an ongoing process. It’s also a world in which the rich get richer. As a website moves to the top of the search returns, lazy researcher syndrome kicks in. Reporters and bloggers will often click on the top returns just because they’re the first to pop up on the page. The upper positions on the search returns also bring perceived credibility just because of their position. As you work your way to the top positions, incoming links will start to develop on their own.

• Article Directories

Submitting your articles is a straightforward process.

You simply copy your blog post, add a bio with a link or two back to your site in the resource box. Then you submit these articles to article directories.

Some popular Article Directories for you to try out are:

http://www.ezinearticles.com

http://thewhir.com

http://www.goarticles.com

http://www.buzzle.com

http://articlealley.com

• RSS Directories

I mention this technique over and over again but there are so many people who just don’t use it and it is one of the easiest ways to get automatic backlinks.

• Web Directories

Only a couple of years ago, submitting your blog to the web directories was a must. Nowadays, Google, it is believed, doesn’t put so much importance on the free Web Directory listings.

However, I still do submit the sites to the Free Web Directories. As far as I am concerned, the effort it takes is quite minimal, it only has to be completed once and you still get more backlinks and some of them are high Page Ranking.

So I recommend you submit your domain to various Web Directories.

• Web 2.0 Sites

Write a unique blog post and create a hub page using Squidoo or HubPages. These sites provide excellent backlinks.

• Forums

By joining a forum and adding a signature – each time you add a forum post, you can get a backlink (depending upon the forum).

Forums are regularly indexed by search engines, and by joining and adding a signature in your profile, it is another way to get some good backlinks with your desired anchor text. If the forum is a popular one, a backlink can be extremely valuable.

Further Promotional Activities

Further real-world promotion

• Have business cards made & leave them everywhere (friends, bulletin boards, etc.). Always carry some with you.
• Send out press releases to local newspapers & newsletters.
• Is there a local radio show that would like to interview you?
• See if the local newspaper will write an article about you. (The little local weeklies that are distributed for free are a good bet.)
• Put up flyers on bulletin boards at your school, church, grocery store, work, etc.
• Include your web address on any advertising material you produce for your business.
• Writers should include their web address in their books, musicians should put it on their CDs, and so forth.
• Promote your site with free merch. Give away stickers, guitar picks, pens, buttons, or other stuff with your name, logo & web addres s on ‘em.

Further free online promotion:

• Put your web address & brief description in your email signature.
• If you participate in online forums, newsgroups, or blogs, use your web address in your signature (if permitted).
• Add fresh material to your website regularly to keep visitors & search engines coming back.
• If you publish your work online (in online magazines, newspapers, music sites, etc.) make sure those webpages link back to your new website.
• You could also write articles and submit them to ezines & article databases such as Article City. This can lead to many links and helps to establish you as someone knowledgeable in your field.
• When your site goes online, send an email announcement to your mailing list. (But don’t spam!)
• Start an email newsletter & send one out about once a month. This will keep your site fresh in people’s minds.
• Offer free stuff with a purchase from your website, or to your fans. (See “free merch” tip under “offline promotion” above.)

further paid online promotion:

• Buy pay-per-click (PPC) ads from Google, Yahoo, or other providers.
• Paid directory listings and paid links and on successful sites related to yours may be worthwhile. Choose carefully. Paid links are often frowned upon – or discounted – by Google.
• Banner ads are often tuned-out by web surfers, but it’s something to consider.

Website Promotion Results…

How long does it take to get results, after your initial promotion campaign of your well-designed, well-written, optimized website?

In a few months – often 3 to 6, but perhaps even sooner – you will see more visitors to your site. And, the visitors will be better quality – by focusing on specific keywords/phrases, the visitors to your website will be more likely to be the ones looking for the information that you are providing.