Eight Ways to Generate Links for Your Website
Every webmaster wants better search engine rankings, and there is no better way to improve search engine rankings than by obtaining links from other websites. Here are eight proven techniques for doing just that.
1. Writing to other website owners to request links on their sites. It’s a lot of work, but it can help raise your search engine rankings measurably, especially if you can get links on subject-related, high ranking sites.
2. Submitting your site to directories can result in your obtaining a lot of links in a relatively brief period of time. If you can get listed in dmoz.org, you may get an immediate rank boost. No other free directory is as important, but those with high Google PR, like the-big-brain, will also help your site.
3. Article writing: like requesting links, article writing is a lot of work, but it is well worth it. By writing articles and submitting them to article directory sites, one article (with links to your website in the article box) may wind up on thousands of websites.
4. Press releases: you can write your own news releases or pay to have them written for you. Either way, be sure they include links to your websites. There are services that will send out your press releases to a few news outlets for free, or numerous outlets for a fee.
5. Unlike the other kind of writing which can generate links, blogging is very simple because you can write about nearly anything related to your website, and good blog posts need not be very long. All webmasters should have at least one blog, write a minimum of one post a week, and link from the blog(s) to their website(s). In addition to short articles, many bloggers post link exchange offers.
6. Some webmasters have enjoyed great success obtaining links as a result of their Facebook listings and inviting their website visitors to include their site on social bookmarking sites. There are dozens of such sites to which you or your visitors can submit your site.
7. Guest blogging, like blogging, is fast and easy. Offering articles to bloggers who share your niche is a great way to get links and reach your targeted audience at the same time.
8. Useful, relevant posts in guestbooks and on forums and blogs, with your URL in your signature, can produce many links with little effort. But, do not spam. Post only when you really have something of value to say.
Whatever else you do, link buying is probably not a good idea. Google has weighed in against it, and it is likely that all the search engines penalize sites that purchase links. Website owners are far better off using the techniques listed above.