Getting Backlinks to your Website

Getting people to your site invariably involves getting backlinks to your website, both for the traffic those backlinks bring, and for the better search engine results you'll see from having those backlinks. I've been studying and thinking about linking and link building for quite a while now, and I've got some strategies that I use to get links to my sites that I think are well worth using.

• Isssue a press release announcing your site's launch. Naturally you'll include the name of your site and a link to the site in your press release.
• Submit to some of the better quality directories on the internet. You can find lists of web directories in a lot of places, but try Strongest Links --they have a solid list of directories available there. Also, be sure to look at the quality of the sites listed in the directory, and don't bother listing with a directory that is obviously listing any site willing to cough up a listing fee.
• Write articles and submit them to free articles sites.
• Trade links with other quality sites related to your niche.
• Join forums related to your niche and include links to your website in your signature line.
• Make legitimate comments in blogs related to your niche.

Things not to do in order to get backlinks to your site:

• Spam blogs.
• Spam forums.
• Join link farms or free for all pages.
• Trade links with crappy sites with little or not content.
• Send blatant form emails to every site and email address you can get your hands on requesting link trades.
• Submit to crappy directories who list any site willing to pay their fees.

Any of the above can do a lot more to hurt your search engine rankings and traffic than it will potentially help your SERP's.

One final piece of advice: set goals, create an action plan with specific steps, and work the steps of your plan.