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How To Add Links To Your Website
By Patrick Hare
Expert Author
Article Date: 2010-02-15
Most online entrepreneurs end up finding about SEO accidentally, but they usually follow the same pattern to link building. First, they build a website and wonder why it isn't getting found on search engines. Next, they read up on SEO, start with some metatags, and may get limited results. They may even add more content. At some point, they learn that Google, Bing, and Yahoo need to see links from other websites in order to give the website credibility and better rankings.
Here are a few ways to get new links to your website:
Buy Them. The fastest and most obvious way to get links. Google's official position is that it is against people buying links to inflate PageRank. If you engage in low-quality link building schemes your site can get penalized. If you invest in high-quality link building without masking your activities, you can also get flagged. If you are trying to make money selling anything online, your competitors are probably out there buying links, and they buy more every month. There are ways to get links without being seen as a flagrant buyer of PageRank, and you can promote your site online simultaneously.
Create Link Bait. If you want to know how to get links for free, link bait is usually the best way. The problem is that you either have to make something useful or viral that is going to get repeat visits and recommendations from other netizens. This can be expensive and it doesn't always work. If you have content that is interesting, humorous, or frequently updated, you may be creating link bait without even knowing it. One way to get links is to create controversy, because even if you're dead wrong, people will link to your site in order to criticize it. Naturally, some lines of business don't work well with controversy, and other link building methods are recommended. The tough thing about link bait is that you may have to "prime the pump" with PPC advertising in order to get people interested.
Build Tools and Calculators. The creation of a useful set of online tools is generally a great way to get links, and Web.com Search Agency has had success with its SEO Tools and Widgets, which are popular among DIY SEO types. People who keep coming back to use your tools also have a high likelihood of becoming customers. In our case, our tools may help define the customer's problem, but it still takes experienced experts to build a solution to low rankings. If you have a site that helps people refinance mortgages, the ideal type of tool would be a calculator that shows people how to reduce their interest rates. One of the most successful tools of all time, the Adobe Acrobat Reader, is also the reason that Adobe has such a high number of links and usually gets a PageRank score of 10.
Tell People What They Want To Know. In the past, advice forums got links, but forums need to be maintained and scanned for spam on a regular basis. Adding white papers, procedures, and useful tips to your site is a good way to get links. Blogs, Advice and Resources sections, and news updates may help people understand a topic. Furthermore, if you're an expert in a certain niche, you can expound on the nuances of your product or service, and you can get found by people who are looking for what you have to offer.
When people use free utilities like our link popularity checker to see how they stack up to the competition, they may start to panic. Competitors may have several thousand links pointing at their sites. However, factors like link quality, on-page SEO, and even your domain name may offer you a leg up when you embark on an optimization project. A few good links from the right places can counteract thousands of low-quality ones. Your competitor may also be getting links that aren't relevant to the keyword you're going after, so the actual "important" link count can be much lower. Even in highly competitive fields, there are proven methods for link building that get results, but naturally it costs a lot more to acquire links in these fields. Nonetheless, understanding the playing field helps you create a strategy for acquiring the best links, and in an expensive field like internet marketing, this can be tremendously advantageous.
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About the Author:
Patrick Hare has been managing online and offline marketing projects since 1999. From 2005 to present, he has been with Scottsdale Arizona's Web.com Search Agency (formerly Submitawebsite). Patrick provides Search Engine Optimization and Marketing advice to in-house customers and Web.com Jacksonville’s web design group.
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