Do you wonder why your site does not receive the traffic you believe it deserves? The only people visiting your website are current customers. Where are the new customers the web designer promised you? One of the most overlooked steps in creation of a website is Search Engine Optimization (SEO). We like to think that search engines will crawl our website and shazaam,Guest Posting like magic, we appear at the top of the results for our keywords. Unfortunately, it rarely works that way. We need to build relationships or “links” to our sites. While this can be a daunting endeavor, it can be very rewarding.
We are going to look at link building theory and practice. How do you let the world, more accurately the web, know you are open for business? Where do you begin building links? What about link building software? What are directories? Who are your top competitors? Who links to them? How do you ask for a link? Do you want reciprocal links? How many links do you need? These are the questions all website owners and link builders need to answer.
Search engines look at links as votes. The more links your website has, the more votes it has to be number 1, or the “authority” on your subject matter. Not all links are created equal. Links from more popular websites are weighted heavier then links from less popular sites. Search engines are now smart enough to know that content is related, so, links from relevant sites are more important then links from sites which are irrelevant.
The link text will help you rank better for your keywords. If possible get into the major directories. Avoid FFA’s or “Free For All” link farms.
How do you let the world know you are open for business?
PR or public relations. The way most link builders will approach this is to create a press release that is disseminated to the right people. How do we know we reach the right people? In a recent talk with Eric Ward, the father of link building, I learned that most of the press release web services allow a person to subscribe to items that interest them. If a person runs a widget website and is interested in widgets, they will receive any press release that is related to widgets. Often, they may list the new widget information on their own website. That’s an easy link. The press release itself is another link. Yes, it may cost a bit of money to draft and the service may not be free, but you have built several links with a simple press release.
Link Building Software
Link building software automates the task of collecting relevant sites and their contact information, based on keywords. Many of the available software packages include an automatic contact manager that allows you to contact sites with very little effort. It is generally excepted that you should not use the automatic contact features. Instead use the software to identify sites and contact them manually. Many webmasters feel the automated emails to be spam and will reject, with prejudice, any site that asks for a link using them. Software should be used in addition to other link building strategies.
The directories
The major pay for inclusion directories include Yahoo and Business.com. These directories charge to be included in their 오피어때 database of websites. They are often used by major search engines to help determine rank. Don’t forget the free directories such as the ODP and joeant.com. The ODP (Open Directory Project) is at http://dmoz.org. They are selective on the sites they include. Not all websites will be able to obtain a link at the ODP. joeant.com on the other hand is very easy to get into. You will have to join to enter your site into their database, it’s very easy to do, and is a super easy link to obtain.
Who are your top competitors?
It is important to seek out your top competitors, the websites that are ranking on the first page of search results for your keywords. Knowing who is at the top, and who links to them is the first and foremost part of link building.