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Generate Backlinks to Your Site

Increase Traffic and Page Rankings

Backlinks.

In order to make your website rank soar, you will need as many back links to your site as possible.

What are backlinks?

Back links are references or links from other websites to your website. For instance, if someone mentions your website in their blog, providing a link, then that is a back link.

Interested in seeing what sites have linked to you?

Try SiteBuildIt’s free tool SearchIt! and find out.

Why do you need back links?

Back links drive organic, prequalified traffic to your site. In addition, Google spiders look for back links when determining your page rank and popularity.

So how do you get them?

Link Exchange

Currently the most popular way to obtain backlinks is through a link exchange.

This is where a group of similar websites, blogs, or even similarly minded people get together to promote one another.

Typically, each promoting member will have a page on their site devoted strictly to these links.

There are a few cautions when using link exchanges:

Quality Websites
As the webmaster of your own site, you are responsible for the links that you promote and the quality of the websites you point to.

What that means is that your Google Page Rank will be affected, negatively, if you choose to point to multiple low ranking or poor quality websites. You have to examine the sites in your link exchange.

What are their Alexa ranks? Do they offer quality content?

What kind of Google PR do they have? Do you, as a human being, enjoy the sites?

If the sites in your link exchange are not quality sites, do not participate in the exchange. It will only hurt you in the long run.

Link Farms
There are many websites out there that exist as Link Farms.

They have no purpose other than to link to other sites.

Many people think that these sites are valuable as a link exchange or in their link exchange, but the truth is, they are not quality sites, and will hurt your scores.

Avoid Link Farms.

If you go to a website and are just running around in circles, with no clear point or purpose, then chances are the site is not of value to you.

Participation
Often members of link exchanges that are less that scrupulous will put up the links on their site only for a temporary amount of time.

For instance, they will add their names to the exchange and submit the exchanges on their site, but after a few weeks they will remove the links altogether. This secures their position in the exchange, and prevents their traffic from visiting any other websites.

To prevent this from happening, periodically search the sites in your exchange for your own backlink. And do not succumb to these dishonest methods.

Invisible Link Page
Another form of dishonest link exchange methods is to create an invisible links page. This is a page that exists, but cannot be accessed by any other page.

Most link exchanges require your link page to be accessed by your home page. Invisible pages do not have a link from the home page, or any other page.

For instance, the rule may state that you name your page, mywebsite.com/linkexchange.html. They may require that your homepage has a button on it saying “Mommy Link Exchange”.

An invisible link page would have the correct named page, but would not have the button directing traffic to it.

MomPack
Probably the best link exchange system is offered for free through the Mom Pack. Once every 3-4 months, a new list is published.

If you go through the links, you will find that many experience decent Google PR and Alexa rankings, and I can’t help but think that that is due, in part, to their participation in the exchange.

You can join the exchange at MomPack here.

Value Exchange

Another method of link exchange is Value Exchange.

This is a free program put on by Site Build It. The concept is that you enter the free database and tell it what your site is about. You will then be matched with other sites who also want to exchange links.

You weed through these sites looking for those that would be good matches to your own.

After finding the right sites, you contact the owner and offer to exchange links.

Access the FREE Value Exchange System Here

Unlike a typical link exchange, Value Exchange does not recommend that you create a page specifically for links.

Instead, you find sites that you can weave into existing pages.

For example, if you have a page on cloth baby diapers, and you find Value Exchange sites on cloth baby diapers, you simply weave the link into that specific page.

Again, you are held responsible for all sites you link to, so make sure that those you offer to exchange with are quality content sites that not only can offer you a valuable exchange, but will add to your visitors experience as well.

Make sure that you are not promoting competitors. Sites too similar to your own may inadvertently drive traffic away from your site.

Find sites that will go into more detail about specific topics, but not the majority of topics of your own site.

As another free bonus, you can download your copy of Make Your Links Work here. It’s free, and goes into depth about link exchanges, backlinks and adding quality and value to your site.

Directory Submission

Getting your site referenced in a directory can go a long way towards boosting your ranking.

Many people think that directory submission will improve traffic, and drive searchers to their site, but honestly, the main reason you purchase a directory listing is to gain backlinks.

Most internet users do not search for websites through a directory anymore.

Directory listings usually cost money, some much more than others.

Yahoo
Probably the best directory to get into is the Yahoo Directory.

This comes with a $300 annual fee, which does not guarantee your acceptance to the directory. A Yahoo directory listing should be considered if you are in a competitive niche, can afford it, and if you are in need of quality backlinks.

Open Directory
A submission to the Open Directory is free! This makes it extremely worthwhile to do.

The only drawback is that it can take 6 months or more for your listing to show up. Still, make sure you take 5 minutes to submit your site to this valuable directory.

Niche Directories
The best directories for your website are those that are niche specific. Find directories that promote similar sites and determine if the fees, if any, are worth the backlink.

You can find a listing of directories at Strongest Links or use the free SiteBuildIt tool Search It here.

Article Marketing

One of the most significant ways to obtain backlinks to your site is through successful article marketing.

This is where you write quality articles about subjects related to your website and offer them for free for publishers to use in their site, blog or newsletter.

On each article is a section that lists you as the author with your website referenced.

Over time, you can generate hundreds, even thousands of backlinks to your site from a single well-written article.

In addition to generating links, you are also generating organic traffic.

Complete information about article marketing can be found here.

This is actually the main way I personally gain quality backlinks to this site.

Posting Comments

Another useful way to generate backlinks to your website is to get out on the internet and make comments.

Join forums and message boards on topics that interest you. Make sure that in your signature line or bio line your website is featured.

Every time you make a comment or answer a topic, your website will show up as a back link forever.

This is also particularly useful when making comments about other people’s blogs.

You usually have the ability to add your website into your comment field. Make it a goal to submit quality comments to 5 blogs a week, and watch your backlinks soar!

Please remember: you are not looking to spam forums, blogs, and message boards. Make sure you are adding quality to the sites in exchange for them offering a backlink to yours.

Eventually, if you have a quality site, you will get free, organic back links from strangers who do not ask for anything in return. They will simply link to your site because they like it.

Although you are responsible for the quality of the sites that you link to from your site, you are not responsible for the quality of the sites that link to you.

Also, whenever possible, avoid using banner ads as back links to your site. A text link will go a lot further towards improving your rankings.