A common question among those that are fairly new to SEO or internet marketing is how to best build links and promote a website that is brand new. Being that the website is new, it will certainly be a bit of an uphill battle at first. But here's a few tips and strategies to give you a bit of jump start to your link building and site promotion efforts.

Submit to Directories

While the true value of links from website directories is arguable, there are a few good ones out there that may be more beneficial that others. And there are certainly ones out there that aren't worth your time. A few that I would consider recommending are dmoz, lii (librarians internet index), business.com, and joeant.

As another option, there are some companies out there that will submit your website to directories for you. The fee ranges from minimal to absurd. But if you're looking for an easy way to get your site on a lot of directories, you may want to look into such services.

Article Submissions

There are many article directories on the Internet to which you can submit your articles and include a link in your signature. You typically get two benefits from doing this: 1. You receive a link for each article you submit and 2. You can get traffic from people who actually read your articles.

Because of the latter benefit it's important that you write high-quality and helpful articles. No one wants to find an article that adds no value and that was clearly only written for the (usually small) link value that it contains. Yes, it requires more work to write a quality article that will actually be of value to the readers, but the end result is always better -- more people will visit your website from your articles.

Comment on Relevant Blogs

Another source of free links is to post comments on blogs that are relevant to your website. When you post a comment you can enter your website so that your name will be an active link to your website. Avoid the temptation to use your keyword as your name (and hence the anchor text for the link). This is tacky and transparent and makes it clear that you aren't there to add value to the blog on which you're posting.

The same principle of only posting (or commenting) content that adds value to the website holds true for blogging as well as article writing. Only comment if you have something relevant to say that will enhance the readers experience when the come across your blog comment. The more value you add, the more likely people will click on your link.

Let me emphasize the importance of the website being relevant (or similar in nature) to your website. A link will provide little to no value if it is on a page that has nothing to do with your site's topic and content. The readers won't click it and the search engines won't count it for much. This principle holds true for all links, not just those from blogs.

Are these the absolute best way to build links for your website? Are these links going to hold a ton of value and weight for the search engines? Probably not. But for a new website without much of a budget, this is a great way to get started building links and promoting your website. Again, the links have some value, but you're also doing this to promote your site and get traffic from interested people.