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Well actually, linking isn't fun at all. In fact, it's quite tedious. Seeking, responding to requests and adding links takes time and effort. But, if you're not actively building links the RIGHT way you are going to be left behind. In other words, your site will be "Lost in Cyberspace". The plain fact is Google, and to a lesser extent, other important search engines, reward sites with links from relevant and important pages.

If you want your site to deliver lots of targeted search engine traffic (and who doesn't?) there are two equally important factors:

1) lots of keyword-rich, search engine friendly content
2) lots of relevant, incoming links from the RIGHT sources

For real success you need to cover BOTH of these strategies. Don't concentrate on one and not the other.

So, how do you go about building your links? It's not rocket science, but as I said, it does take time and effort. From my own experiences, here's what you should do:

1) Download and install the Google Toolbar:

http://toolbar.google.com/

This will show you the PageRank of the page you are viewing. PageRank is a measure, rated from 1 to 10, of the "importance" that Google gives to that page. There has been a lot written about PageRank. You don't need to become obsessed with it but it IS an important consideration when determining WHO to link to. A link from a PR-5 page is worth FAR more than a PR-0 page.

2) Establish a resource or links directory for your site. This lets potential link partners see that you are willing to exchange links. You should make it clear on your links pages what your linking policy is i.e. under what conditions you will agree to exchange links.

3) Your aim should be to build a resource directory that is relevent to your business. Don't try to build a mini Yahoo with umpteen different categories. Keep your directory focussed on your site theme. When you first start out you will be inclined to link to anybody in exchange for a link FROM anybody. This is a mistake. Be patient and choose your link partners carefully.

4) Before requesting a link from another site, add that site to your directory. Contact the webmaster and tell them you added their link because you believe their site would be of interest to your visitors (and so it should). Give the url where your link is located and ask for a return link, along with instructions on how you would like your link worded. NEVER demand by saying things like "if you do not link to us we will remove your link".

5) If you have not received a reply after 2 - 3 weeks send a polite follow up. Again, don't demand. No one is under any obligation to link to you. If you do not receive a reply to your second request it means that the webmaster does not want to link to you, or they are simply too busy to respond. In that case, leave it and move on. I receive dozens of link requests a day. Sometimes it takes me many weeks to get around to responding. You'll go mad worrying about links that have not been reciprocated. Your time is better spent.

6) When you receive a link request visit the site and check that it meets with your requirements as set down on your link pages. Is it a quality site with good content or just a "link farm"? If it doesn't meet your requirements don't link to it.

The webmaster SHOULD have already linked to your site but be prepared to overlook that breech of linking protocol if it's from a good quality, high PR site.

7) Beware of webmasters who add your site to their "directory" which turns out to nothing but a link farm i.e. has no useful content, just a bunch of links, and asks you to link to an entirely different site, one that HAS good content. These webmasters are playing you for a sucker. The benefit is all theirs.

8) As I said in point #1, links from high PR pages are worth more than links from low or no PR pages. Seek out high PR linking partners but keep in mind it is the PR of the actual page your link is on that matters, NOT the PR of the home page. In other words if the home page PR is 5, but the page your link is on is several layers deep in the directory, it will probably have a PR of 0 and be of little benefit to you. Check the PR of the actual page your link is on, or is going to be on, before agreeing to exchange links.

Each page on your links directory should be no more than one click away from your home page, and your linking partner's site should be the same. If your link is placed on a page which looks something like this - directory/category/subcategory/subcategory with your link - you will derive NO value from that link.

9) Be prepared to negotiate your links. Savvy webmasters understand the value of links from high PR pages. If you add a link to a PR-0 page on your site don't expect your link partner to put your link on a PR-6 page, and your link partner shouldn't expect the same from you. Exchange value for like value.

When you first start out your site may not have any PR due to a lack of incoming links. This reduces your bargaining power. However, you can overcome this by getting your site listed in as many large business directories as possible. Some of these you will have to pay, such as Yahoo and Microsoft's Business Directory, but many others are free. You'll find a good list here:

http://www.strongestlinks.com/directories.php

10) Be specific about how you want your link partner to link to you. It is MOST important that the link to you contain your targeted keywords in the anchor (linked) text. When I ask for a link to my site I don't want the link title to be:

Steve Pronger Web Business Solutions

Instead, I ask for:

Website Designer Australia

or whichever keywords I am targeting at the time.

11) And finally, here is an excellent resource to help you find quality link partners. It's called Value Exchange, and will put you in contact with like-minded webmasters:

http://www.stevepronger.com/value_exchange.htm

Steve Pronger is a website designer and affiliate marketer helping small businesses achieve success on the Web. Visit his Web Business Solutions site at http://www.stevepronger.com

Practices that can be considered 'good' are as follows...

• Submit your side to reputable directories such as DMOZ and Yahoo directory. The former is free and the latter is paid for. Both are human edited and do not accept sites deemed to be of low standard.
• Only link exchange with other website which are relevant to your website. Irrelevant link exchanges can be regarded as spam resulting in a lower rating of your website as a whole. You can also link to relevant pages without an exchange. It will not penalise your site or result in 'pagerank leakage' provided that the site that you link to is relevant and does not engage in black hat SEO.
• Use links within the content of your site that make use of anchor text made up of keywords that you are trying to promote.

The following are practices which are best left avoided with regards to links...

• When you have a link in the content of your page, avoid the use of images or the text "click here" to represent the link. This is because Google uses the anchor text found in links to help determine the keywords that are best associated with a particular webpage.
• Keep away from any link farm or link exchange program run by websites that engage in spam or black hat SEO. And do not link to sites which are irrelevant to your website as this will confuse Google's keyword appraisal of your website.
• Check your site for broken links and fix them as soon as possible. Google webmaster tools automatically warns you of broken links if your site is too large to check manually. There are also a large variety of free link check tools available to use.
• Do not obfuscate any links on your site as, although difficult to detect, once found out will result in a penalty imposition upon your website. Link obfuscation is as serious as hidden text. This includes using a full stop or period to link to a page or a 1 pixel area image.
• Do not sell links. As of 2007, the selling of links without nofollow is in breach of Google's webmaster guidelines unless your website is a reputable directory or where the advertising link is declared prominently as such. If you sell links whose purpose is to manipulate rankings then a competitor could report this to Google to ban your site.
• Do not buy links from websites that exist only to sell links. This is to prevent website owners from buying many links in order to manipulate their rankings.
• Do not insert keywords excessively. If you are worried that your use of your site's keywords may have been overzealous then there is a wide variety of free keyword density tools that give you the percentage of text used on your site that are keywords. Reduce the number of keywords used if it exceeds 30%.

http://www.b-1st.com

Link building is an essential ingredient in ranking your website highly on the major search engines. There, now that we've got that brilliant grasp of the obvious out of the way let's move on to what you can do to actually create them. Before we launch into the nitty-gritty of link building, no beginners guide would be complete without a brief explanation as to why links are important and the different elements of them. Being a beginners guide this won't be an entirely complete list but it will be enough to get you going on the right path. Understanding what you're trying to do will help you do it better and more importantly, understanding the "why" of the situation will help you stretch your tactics outside of this and other articles on link building.

Why Are Links Important?

To put it simply: a link is a vote. Every link pointing to your site from another website tells the search engines that the other site finds your resource valuable and thus, the engines read this as a vote for your site. So it must be about getting tons of links and you're done right? Wrong. This is incorrect as ...

Not All Votes Are Created Equal

Unlike your own vote in an election, some votes are worth more than others and some votes are worth SIGNIFICANTLY more than yours (unless of course you're a content writer for the Google.com domain in which case you obviously have the top vote). The basic factors that affect a link's value to your website are:

The site strength - the strength of the site that is pointing to yours is a significant (and historically abused) factor in the valuation of links. In the absence of other easily-visible criteria let's look at PageRank as a key valuation of a site's strength. If a site with a PageRank 8 links to your site, this vote is worth significantly more than a link from a PageRank 3 site. This is because a PageRank 8 site is, in Google's eyes, a more important site than the PageRank 3 site.

Relevance - the relevance of a site linking to you is, if anything, more important than a site's strength. If you run a bed a breakfast in Utah a link from a PageRank 3 bed and breakfast will be worth more than a link from a PageRank 5 web design site. This area is a bit grey in that it relies on the engine's ability to determine what is relevant and what is not however we've seen evidence that this area is strong at this stage in the game and is only becoming more important over time.

Anchor text - the actual text used to link to your site is extremely important. I've seen extremely strong sites get beaten out by weak ones simply due to the poor use of anchor test. If you're building links to your site be sure to include your keywords in the text that links back and, if possible, the exact phrase you are trying to rank for. At the same time, you can't make all your anchor text exactly the same - how can that possibly look natural?

Position - the position of a link on a page and the number of other links on that page impacts the value of a link. A link in the footer of a page is given less weight than a link near the top, a link in the content of a page is given more weight than a link in a list of links and a link on a page with 50 other links is given less weight than a link on a page with only a few other links. If we think about it - this makes sense. All of these things indicate whether the site with the outbound links actually intends for one of their visitors to click the link or not. From an engine's perspective - the more it appears that a site wants a link to be clicked on, the higher the weight that link (or vote) is given.

Admittedly there are a number of other factors but this is a beginners guide. Following the considerations above will insure that as you make each link decision - you're odds of making the right choices will be significantly higher than if you ignore them. Ignoring them may not get you penalized or banned but it will make your task far more time consuming as you secure less valuable links and thus need to build far more than following he right methods.

So far we've covered briefly the why of link building, now let's get into the real-life, here's-how-to-do-it side of things. Below I'm going to cover three of my favorite link building tactics. These are tactics that apply to virtually every scenario. The number of ways to build links is only limited by your imagination however and this should not be viewed as a comprehensive list. This is, after all, a beginners guide and I'm trying to list the tactics that apply to virtually every scenario.

Side Note: Reciprocal Link Building

I'm not going to count this as one of my favorite and so it won't count as one of the three noted above and I'll only touch on it briefly. There have been a number of assertions that reciprocal link building is dead. This is simply not the case. I have seen and competed against sites that were very successful with reciprocal links as their primary link source.

The problem with reciprocal links isn't so much in their value which does seem to be a bit lower than non-reciprocal links however often more easily attained. No, my problem with reciprocal links is in the management. Unethical webmasters' removing links after you've put the link up to them, sites expiring and not being renewed, sites getting penalties of their own due to their bad tactics are all inconveniences the reciprocal link manager must deal with.

As an SEO company, a huge issue we faced was leaving our clients with this task after a campaign was over if they decided not to go on a maintenance package. Non-reciprocal links may be a bit harder to attain in some cases however that issue is much easier to overcome than the sum of all these issues.

And now on to the top three ...

Articles

If you're paying attention as you read this you'll probably have guessed that I'm a fan of article writing as a link building method. If you look to the "about the author" section you'll notice a link to the Beanstalk site (and if you don't, well ... let me know as somebody's stealing it without permission). While I genuinely enjoy writing and sharing my experiences with others - the purpose of getting the article distributed is primarily as a link building tactic, secondarily as a great source of qualified traffic and thirdly for my own enjoyment.

You are an expert in your field. Who knows more about your business than you? So share. Writing an article may not be easy but it is rewarding. If you can't think of a topic, think of what you get asked. If you're asked common questions repeatedly then chances are, it's a good topic for an article. I often get asked about link building, and you're reading the result.

Once the article is completed you need to get it syndicated. Using an article submission service is a simple way to get your article out to a large number of publishers quickly. On top of this you'd do well to seek out specific sites in your field using one or all of the major search engines to find highly relevant sites that accept articles and submit to them.

And oh, don't forget an "about the author" section. :)

Directory Submissions

Directory submissions are likely the most painful of the link building tactics you'll employ. Why? Because it's tedious and time-consuming work. To be done right directory submissions must be done manually, the titles and descriptions must be tailored to the specifications of the directory in question and often, you'll have to decide if a review fee is worth it.

While there are a good many directories that accept free submissions there are also a large number that's require a review fee. The fee can range from a few dollars to a few hundred. If you see that a directory has a low PageRank, is general in it's nature (i.e. it isn't about your specific field) then it likely isn't worth more than a couple dollars if that. If the site is strong, and strongly related to your site then it's obviously worth more.

There is no hard-and-fast set of rules for how much a listing is worth. I'd recommend to start your hunt for directories (don't forget the topic and/or region specific ones), submit to all the free ones and make a list of all the ones that require a fee. After you've gotten a solid number in you "needs to be paid list" you can get a general idea as to what's out there and what you can get and for how much. This will enable you to make solid choices knowing what all your options are.

Forum Posting

I just know I'm going to get a couple comments and/or emails for listing this as a link building tactic but if it's done right there's nothing wrong with it. Forum and blog posting got a bad reputation as a link building tactic when it came under huge abuse by unethical webmasters spamming forums with useless garbage just for a link. They even went so far (and still do) as sending out spiders to automatically submit posts. To this end, I have to agree that it's a bad tactic however ...

If you're seeking out forums related to your site, reading the threads and responding with solid advice or with questions and not just firing off some sales-pitch then you're doing what you're supposed to be. Another perk to this is that, like articles, if you do this right you're gong to see traffic as well and what more can you ask from a link building tactic than traffic as well as links.

Conclusion

Above we've covered the basics of link building. As I've noted repeatedly, once you're done reading this and applying some of what you've read you'd do well to read other articles, forums and blogs. This isn't a complete breakdown of everything link-related (that would be a full book) but it will keep you out of trouble and save you countless hours of wasted time getting poor links that haven't held value since 2003.

Dave Davies is the CEO of Beanstalk Search Engine Optimization, Inc. Beanstalk offers SEO services, consulting, training and link building services.

Dave has been involved in SEO since 2001 and shared his experience through articles, speaking at conferences as well as on his weekly radio show Webcology on WebmasterRadio.fm.

(i) Link popularity is hard to understand
The basic concept of link popularity is simple. If someone links to your site, you get a point. If you link to another site they get a point. As mentioned earlier, not all sites are equal and therefore not all links are equal. A link from a high traffic directory such as DMOZ is definitely worth more that a link from a lowly ranked page such as Jack's Homemade Videos.

PageRank is how Google measures the importance of a particular page. On a scale of PR0 to PR10, a site that is ranked PR7 will get much more 'influence' than a site that is ranked PR2. This is important as it affects ranking of the sites with inbound links to and outbound links from a site with a high PR.

Google, Altavista, Excite and Hotbot all use variations on link popularity when ordering their results.

(ii) The more inbound links to your site the better
This sounds convincing. When you have more links to your site, people will have a greater chance of stumbling upon your site? However, bear in mind that if you spend a lot of effort creating links from sites that are not deemed 'important' by Google, chances are that there is little chance of people finding your site too. Effective linking is not about getting as many links as possible: it is about putting your resources into getting quality links that will drive traffic to your site.

(iii) Cheating Search Engines is easy
Since the time Search Engines exist, people have been trying to fool the Search Engine using black-hat Search Engine Optimization (SEO) techniques, and Google has constantly been modifying its search algorithm to better guard itself against these malicious sites

History has seen the rise and fall of keyword spamming, free-for-alls, link farms, hidden links and others. The effort involved is huge and the success if any is transient.

However, the aim of search engine has never changed - great content, well-organized, well-published and well-linked. If you give what the Search Engines want, they will give you what you want too.

(iv) Little commitment is required
Effective linking is a continuous process and you need to constantly add links. Once you have done the fundamentals, naturally people will request to link to yous site, however this is not sufficient. You should continue to provide content and resources for the sites that already link to you and you should spend some time every week looking for new links.

As your knowledge and experience grow you will be able to further develop and expand your linking strategy.

(v) Automated software is as good as human effort
Software at most can facilitate article sumbission to article directories, however it is unable to replace human interaction that is the bedrock of effective linking. With advanced trash filter in email inboxes, anything without your name in the body will go straight into the trash bin.

Therefore by selecting a few good sites, emailing them individually with details of exactly what you can offer and where you think a link might fit in with their existing content, you will not only get a greater response rate, but the links you get are sure to be far more valuable.

Despite so, there are a couple of software that can automate the link-request process. These are primarily Arelis and Zeus, both of which have similar functionality. They find relevant sites using your chosen keywords and save them in a database from which you may automatically send out link requests. They also automatically create a reciprocal links page if you wish.

Extracted from: http://www.passiveadsenseincome.com

Copyright

There have been a lot of changes on the web since I wrote the first edition of "Power Linking Your Way to 1 Million Hits" in 2002. Back then I told everyone that the only thing that will never change, despite search engine shake-ups and search technology improvements, is that links will always be the most important part of any website promotion campaign.

In fact, the people best able to withstand major changes and shifts in the search engines that affect their rankings are the people who have a broad, multi-faceted marketing campaign.

In order to weather any drops from single-sources of traffic to your site, you must have a lot of irons in the fire (links). People you have targeted as your best prospects should be able to find your site virtually everywhere they surf.

Web site owners who rely solely on search engine ranking are leaving 90% of the marketing pie on the plate! For long-term stability and steady, predictable traffic, you simply must broaden your reach and utilize a host of different publicity tactics in order to keep sales up.

One of the most effective tactics I talk about is article publishing. It is also one of the most misunderstood and abused tactics I teach. If you don't get it, don't do it. Below is my explanation of why we write articles and other short publications in the first place.

Publishing and Syndication of Your Articles

A lot of people miss the boat on this one. And it's too bad that many people see that articles and other published works are important, but they don't produce quality work, therefore their work doesn't get picked up by big web sites and newsletter owners.

You see, most people focus on article publishing as a way to get a link published to their site. (Solely for search engines to find) Problem is, once they have syndicated their article to tons of free content sites, all they have at the end of the day is a link pointing to their site.

No one is READING the articles! Why? Because, honestly, they are terrible. Or they are just short of being blatant ads. People pick up on an amateur article within the first sentence or two and move on. Didn't you write your article to get traffic?

Produce shoddy work and there is no click on the link. There is no traffic produced. The webmasters who focus totally on getting links as a tool to increase their pagerank in Google are missing the point entirely.

The point of Power Linking and all the tactics in the system was never to get high search engine rankings. Getting ranked well in the search engines was and still is a BY-PRODUCT of a properly executed Power Linking campaign.

When I talk to my clients about getting links, what I am talking about is getting links placed in places where human beings will see them and click on them. Not just link directories which are created solely for boosting link popularity with Google.

So when you publish an article, take the time to think about what people in your market need or want to know and give it to them. And write a GOOD article!

Linking is not just something that looks like this: www.power-linking-profits.com. Real linking is networking and making connections with future customers on an emotional level through your publicity pieces.

Linking is about respect. You gain respect by being published and being seen as the expert in your field. And it goes without saying that your published work needs to stand up to basic quality expectations of savvy readers in your target market.

Come off looking like a hack who is only interested in getting a link published at the end of their cruddy article, and you lose all respect. So even if someone does click on your link, they have reservations about you right off the bat before they even get to your site. This is no way to sell products and services.

If you remember nothing else, please remember this: No matter what linking method you work on this week, keep in mind that the most important links of all are the links intended for real people to see and click on!

Get linked in content directories and on web pages that get hit by as many of your target prospects as possible. And link to get traffic, not search engine rankings!

People focus too much on search engine marketing. If you do your job as a marketer, you will naturally rank high in the search engines. There is no need whatsoever to focus your marketing campaign on search engines entirely.

Focus your marketing efforts on people, your customers, and you will have what I call "Natural Search Engine Rankings." You see, Google wants the most relevant results. That's where their bread is buttered. Well, what I have been trying teach thousands of customers all this time is that you need to focus your marketing campaign on your customers so that you are the MOST relevant site on the net in your market.

Don't worry about Google. They WANT you to be #1 if you deserve to be. How to be #1? By marketing to your customers directly on sites they surf the most and being the natural relevant result in their search.

Good search engine rankings will follow a great marketing campaign. By the time you get your #1 position on Yahoo though, you should have so much traffic and sales because of a properly implemented marketing campaign that you hardly notice you finally made it!

That's the REAL power of linking.

Copyright 2004 Jack Humphrey

About The Author

Jack Humphrey is the author of Power Linking 2: Evolution, now in it's 4th revision at http://power-linking-profits.com He is also the CEO of http://EquipMint.com, a membership site for anyone who sells anything online.

Directory submission services are a great way for your website to attain considerable online popularity. This is done by submitting the URL of your website to hundreds of excellent site directories, for the purpose of increasing its exposure in a specific category. Normally, people flock to directories to gain easy access to a number of sites, and you can benefit from this by making your website accessible in these directories.

When you submit your site to a directory, the name and URL of your website will come up during directory searches for a particular category. The websites in these directories are ordered according to groups, making it easier for internet users to find the specific site that they are looking for. Along with exceptional website content, appropriate keyword placement, and effective online marketing efforts, directory submissions will help your website achieve higher levels of long-term publicity and credibility.

The Clear Advantages of Directory Submissions

One of the plain advantages of manual directory submissions is enhanced exposure. Through this your product or service offerings will be more accessible to a wider range of clients. Your website is not merely available through search engines, but in various directories as well.

Secondly, this SEO technique will improve your page rank over time. As more traffic streams into your website, these web directories are bound to place you on higher rankings through a particular category. This translates to even more page views and increased quality traffic to your website.

Third, your website will gain better link popularity through link sharing. Directories typically classify the various websites, thus when one visitor clicks on a particular website, there is a good probability for the other websites to be viewed as well. This is primarily due to a sharing of links.

Relevant Linking from Directories

It is not enough for a website to achieve simple link building. A website must be able to attain appropriate link building. This means that the inbound links of your site should come from quality websites that search engines recognize, and one that is highly related to your website.

Search engines normally rank websites both ways: through outstanding website content and first rate inbound links. This makes linking an even more attractive goal for most websites. When highly credible websites link to your site, this means that your website must have top quality content. These inbound links are typically what search engines look for in their ranking trends and algorithms.

A poor link will be frowned upon by discriminating search engines. Since web directories normally divide websites into categories, there is always a better prospect for quality link building.

Submissions of websites to directories are typically done for search engine marketing purposes. There are hundreds of directories available online, and it is smart to choose the established and highly reliable ones. Any website will stand to benefit from this highly effective and reasonably priced SEO technique. The benefits of manual directory submissions will allow any website to weather the next competition within a cutthroat online industry.

Sunita Biddu is a search engine marketing expert. She also writes tips and articles on SEO strategies. Currently, she is offering manual directory submissions, article submission and various SEO services. To know more about these services, please visit http://www.seo-peace.com

When you are putting your work on the internet, one of the first things that you will need to think about is how people are going to find it! While of course you will do link exchanges with people that you know and with whom you do a great deal of business, you'll find that one thing that you need to think about is getting the attention of the search engines. When you take into account the fact that many people will go to their search engine the minute that they need some information or to spend some money online, it is easy to see that drawing the search engine's attention to your site and improving your ratings is something that is very important to do. You'll find that one great way to do this is with one way links and with some more information about this, you'll see exactly why.

A one way link, put most simply, is a link that someone uses to link to you without your linking back. Essentially, this "proves" to the search engine that your content is compelling enough that people will link to your site without getting anything in return for it. This means that things like link exchanges do not help you when it comes to putting up one way links. While they won't hurt you and they can in fact bring more people to your site, you'll find that they will do nothing at all for your search engine listings.

When you work on one way links and what they can do for you, you'll find that you are working on link building, which is something that is very important; link building draws people to your site via the use of the search engines and when you think about how few people even bother to look on the second page of their search, you'll see why your ranking and your placement is so important. Link building helps you nudge your website higher up in the rankings, something that integral to building up a good web presence.

You should also be aware, however, that there are some disadvantages to one way links. Mostly, this has to do with the fact that they can be difficult to implement appropriately. One service that many people will attempt to use is a triangular linking service. For a small fee, you can have your link put up on other people's websites, and you will host links from other people. Because of this, it is not a link exchange because the people who are hosting your link and the ones whose link you are hosting are different. While this sounds good, it is important to remember that this can be costly in terms of money and there is also the chance that this activity can end up making you look like you are link spamming, which will eventually drop your search engine rating even further.

If you are thinking of a good solution when it comes to one way links and what you can do with them, make sure that you look at article directories, blog comments, and industry specific directory listings.

Derek Rogers is a freelance writer who represents many UK businesses. For One way links, he recommends Impact Media Ltd, one of the UK's leading specialists of Link Building Services.