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Directory Links
The only form of acquiring links that is 100% kosher with Google’s webmaster guidelines comes in the form of submitting your website to online directories.
Directory links come in all shapes and sizes. Some directories are absolutely worthless and some are extremely valuable. One of the nice things about directory links is that you can usually choose your anchor text which is very important for ranking for terms that you want to rank for.
Online directories vary in what they require for you to submit your site to their directories. A lot are free but take forever to review your site and the rest vary from a few bucks to hundreds of dollars.
Beware of seo companies that offer to submit your website to thousands of directories. A lot of the directories they submit your website to are low quality and could even result in penalties for your website. You’re much better off submitting your website to just a couple hundred higher-quality directories. Some of the most valuable directory links are from “niche” online directories. Niche directories are just directories that only accept websites within a certain niche/industry and links from these websites are a little more valuable to the search engines because they come from a “related” site.
Article Directories
Writing articles and submitting them to article directories is another way to get some anchored links for your website. Some article directories carry a lot of weight in the search engines and will actually generate some traffic for your website if you target the right keywords and craft a good resource box.
But the real value in submitting articles to article directories for search engine optimization purposes is the one-way anchored link that you get back from the article directory. There are literally a ton of article directories on the net but only about 5-10 that have enough authority to generate some traffic to your site. At the very least you should consider submitting a unique article to the top 5-10 article directories.
Web 2.0 Websites
The internet has a lot of websites that exist for the sole purpose of allowing people to share whatever it is they want to share. Typically you can create your own web pages on these sites just by signing up for an account and most, if not all of them, are free.
Some of these sites are a lot like article directories in that all you have to do is write up some content and then drop a link but others are more for socializing on the net like Facebook and Twitter.
In any event, this is just another area on the net where you can get some much-needed links pointing back to your site.
Social Bookmarking
There was a time when social bookmarking links carried a decent amount of weight in the search engines but that time has come and gone. Social bookmarking sites still have some use though but not so much in terms of link building and search engine optimization.
These days your best bet with social bookmarking sites is to use the high quality sites to promote your content because some of them get a ton of traffic. When you hear people talking about generating viral traffic they’re usually talking about using one of these popular social sites as a catalyst to initially get their story/content out there.
Side Note: Something a lot of “off line” authors don’t realize is that on the internet not only do you have to come up with and write your own content but you also have to promote it and social bookmarking sites are a great way to do that. So while social bookmarking sites don’t offer much link value they do serve a purpose…
Blog Commenting
Commenting on Blogs that have a similar theme to your website and dropping a link is another way to get some links back to your site. The trouble with commenting on blogs is that the blogs webmaster has to approve your comment before it will show up and inevitably some of these folks will be your competitors so some of your comments may not get approved.
Nonetheless, commenting on blogs is a great way to “lure” some readers from popular blogs in your niche. Make sure you add to the conversation and brand yourself and your company as well as leave good, insightful comments.
Blogging
Blogging is another way to get links back to your site. If you don’t already have a Wordpress Blog you should go get one. Wordpress blogs that are properly optimized are like search engine magnets. In order to get other webmasters linking back to your site you’ll have to write compelling and often controversial content…
Writing controversial content for the purpose of getting links back to your site is known as “link baiting” and it can be a pretty effective method for generating viral traffic or it can be an exercise in futility. Your best bet is to check out some of the social sites and see what kind of stories in your niche are getting a lot of votes from users.
The key though is to not only write great content but also to work equally hard at promoting it.
Guest Blogging
Guest blogging is a lot like submitting an article to an article directory only that you’re submitting a unique article to one blogger or webmaster. Allowing other blogger to post on their sites is a necessary evil for a lot of webmasters and small business owners because they’re often too bust to keep their websites fresh with content. The benefit for the guest blogger is an anchored link back to their site.
If you plan on doing some guest blogging, look for websites and blogs that are old, popular and authoritative as these websites tend to produce stronger and more powerful links.
There you have it some quick and easy ways to get some anchored links back to your site. Make sure you do your keyword research beforehand and choose some keywords that are not too competitive, have some good demand and will hopefully convert for your site.
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