Link building 101

Link building techniques seem to go be ignored by many individuals who use Internet marketing methods to generate traffic. It's not that people don't use link building to generate traffic because thousands of people do.

But too many individuals seem to think other methods of getting traffic are better. Link building is probably the best method to gain exposure and one of the foundations that makes the of the web go around.

Many Internet marketers seem to be unaware of the fact that link building is also a good part of SEO practices. This gets you into a higher ranking and rating with the major search engines.

But with the popularity of article marketing, list building, PPC advertising and other techniques, many Internet marketers forget just how powerful a tool linking building can be to them. To have good link popularity for your site means having a lot of links on other sites that point directly to yours.

Reciprocal link building is the cornerstone of it all. This is the exchange of your link on someone else's site for their link on your own. Reciprocal link building might have been the very first method of Internet marketing. It's a trade, almost a barter. We used to do this as cave dwellers before currency and the Internet was invented.

Keep in mind though, that this means *real* reciprocal linking - not automated linking from-and-to unrelated sites.  Real reciprocal linking is hard work.

All other link building practices and methods derived from this simple yet effective reciprocal link building method. It's an easy, no-brainer that a lot more people should be doing more of to generate massive traffic.

Your only real consideration should be to swap links with others, keeping it relevant to your topics. If your website is offering a professional wedding photography service, you might not get many hits by exchanging links with a lonely hearts club site.

You are probably aware of that phrase, "If you build it, they will come." That phrase is very true. If you work toward getting your links out there on everyone else's site, your link popularity will soar. The nice thing about it is that good link building as ongoing as residual income. You wouldn't be able to stop the traffic pouring into your site if you wanted to unless you shut down your site.

One method to getting your links out there for circulation is submitting your website to website directories. Many consider this a first step. This can be very time consuming work if you do all of this one directory at a time. There are paid services that will automate this whole process for you if you have the budget.

Another area that goes unnoticed by many are the forums. Forums have established rules that the members follow. But once you are established as a good forum member, back links to your own site is usually an excepted practice. Just don't be blatant about leaving your links all over the forum.

It's always a good idea to wade into forums. Take a look around it first and test the water before diving right in. Is it a busy forum? What do the forum rules say regarding linking and spam? Are other forum members leaving posts with their own back links?

Link building with other websites that have a relevancy to your own site can be one of the most powerful methods of gaining exposure. This is time consuming but the payoff is tremendous.

The idea is to find other sites that are within the same scope of topic as your own but not directly related to your product. This would be beneficial to both parties to exchange links. A site that offers pet supplies that has a link to your dog training site would be considered a match made in link building heaven!

Using blogs for link building practices is the hot ticket right now and with good reason. Blogs are hot! More people are blogging and reading blogs than ever before. Exchanging links with popular blogs is a very good idea.

The best link building practice with bloggers is to develop a relationship with them first. Drop some comments on their posts and be friendly. Concerning many blogsites, you will be able to leave a back link to your site within your comments. Don't abuse this practice or the blogger might begin deleting your comments.

Most bloggers have "blog rolls". These are lists of the blogger's favorite sites, usually on their first page. Blog rolls relevant in theme to the blogger's theme but not always. Contact the blogsite owner and ask about inclusion of your site's link to the blog roll. It never hurts to ask.

There are always blog forums that include blog roll exchange lists. They are generally free to join. The only consideration is that a lot of these lists are saturated.

Having your link swallowed into a group of a hundred or more other links might not be great but it might not hurt you either. A disadvantage to this could be if you end up a a monumental reciprocal links list on your site. After awhile, these huge lists are not paid much attention to by visitors.

Overall, link building practices pays off very handsomely. You just can't deny the exposure or the search engine popularity that it provides for your site. With just a few hours per week dedicated to link building, your site can suddenly triple it's traffic and more. The sweet thing about it is that your site's exposure keeps growing the more you practice your link building.