Backlinks - What, Why and How?

Seasoned internet marketers maybe well versed in backlinking but what about internet newbies who don't even know what backlinks are, let alone how to generate them? This article sets out what backlinks are, why you should have backlinks and how you can go about acquiring them.

A backlink is a link from an external website which links back to your own website. The reason backlinks are so powerful is because they increase your website's page ranking at the mighty Google and other search engines (and a higher page ranking = more traffic = more $$$).

Gone are the days when you could simply put reciprocal links in place to increase your page ranking. Whilst link sharing does still carry some weight in terms of improving your rank (although it depends on the status of the site linking to yours), search engines place greater value on natural inbound, (ie one-way) links, so this is ideally what you should try to achieve.

There are a number of ways to help you create backlinks - for free as well as through paid, link building services. Listed below are some of the free methods you can employ to generate good backlinks:

Article marketing

Writing articles and submitting them to article directories will generate backlinks if you include your website URL within the author description box at the end of the article. Here you can add two links to your website: your website URL (written as http:// so it's clickable) and an "anchor text link" to another relevant page of your website (NB. more than one hyperlink on the same page to the same source won't help as only the first link pointing to a site works). As well as increasing your backlinks, article marketing has the dual benefit of positioning yourself as an expert in your chosen field, thereby increasing your brand and overall exposure online.

Submit your web address to online directories

Submit your website address to online directories. When you're starting out you might wish to do this manually yourself, however it is a laborious and very time consuming process so it is advisable to outsource this. Search engines favour directories which have a high page ranking as well as relevancy to your chosen niche - and the more niche these directories can be, the better, for the obvious reason that it will generate better quality visitors to your website.

Post comments on Blogs & participate in Forums

Another way of generating backlinks is by posting comments on blogs, linking to blogs and by joining forums and starting conversations by commenting on people's forum posts, or answering questions, as this will lure people from the forums onto your website. Include your website URL as part of your signature to your forum account or at the bottom of the blog so that every time you post a reply or a question in the forum, there is a link that people can click on. Please don't openly advertise your URL, it's too 'salesy' and will have the opposite affect to what you want to achieve; concentrate on providing advice and adding value to the readers and then people will be attracted to you naturally.

Tip: Aside from the obvious websites within your chosen niche, try doing a keyword search for terms that you want to rank top in, then pick the top 20 search results and use these sites to post messages, articles and backlinking with an inbound link to your website.

Share your content

Content sharing can also be useful in generating quality backlinks. Google favourably reward sites which make it easy for readers to share the content on their website. For example, you can provide free RSS feeds of your content to websites that are interested in it. When your RSS feed gets published by the other website, your site will receive an inbound link. Similarly placing 'Retweet this' twitter buttons and Facebook links is good, as this will make it easier for your content to be recycled and thus create backlinks to your website. This will also drive visitor traffic from people who want to get more information from the excerpts they have read on another site. The tip here is to write quality content and keep it regularly updated so that people will want to share it.

Online press releases / PR

Write a press release and then submit it to an online press release distribution service such as i-newswire to generate editorial in publications which will then provide that all important backlink to your site. Unlike the others on the list this isn't something you would do daily, but only when you have something newsworthy to promote to the press.

Finally, a word of caution

Follow the methods listed above and you will build backlinks to improve your website's page ranking and thereby generate traffic for your site. Ensure all of your link-building efforts are done so ethically and honestly. Build links naturally over time, provide value and do not spam in an effort to create multiple backlinks. Search engines discriminate - they will reward a good backllnk strategy and penalise bad practice.

About this Author

With over 17 years of sales and marketing experience, Lisa Oliver is an internet marketer and mentors others to achieve success online. Find out more about her revolutionary home business opportunity [http://lisa-oliver.com/opportunities/] and get your 7 day FREE Wealth Online Bootcamp [http://meetlisaoliver.com/].

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