Fast, Free & Effective Exposure for your Website

Fast, Free & Effective Exposure for your Website

One of the most important pieces of measurement data for any website is how many other sites are linking to it.  Simply put, it's one of the most effective, free forms of advertising out there.  It serves several purposes, most notably:

• it drives new traffic to your site
• it increases your search engine credibility
• it is continually advertising your site for free

Link Building is defined as a process of gaining links from external websites with the goal of increasing both traffic and search engine exposure. 

Sounds pretty simple, right? 

Unfortunately, with all of the misinformation and less-than-ethical people out there it is not as easy as it once was.  Before you go hiring a company to help you with link building keep in mind that there are a lot of scams out there.  Some create websites {a.k.a. spam directories} solely for the purpose of link exchanges.  Some others are what they call ‘link farms’ which is nothing more than a bunch of spam sites that collect your information as well as your customers information.  Needless to say, you won’t be terribly popular after something like that.   

Quality trumps quantity.  The more QUALITY sites that you have linking directly to your site, the better.  Quality links are so important because there is a perceived correlation between YOUR site and the site you are linking to~ you should be very cognizant of where you direct and redirect.   When you have links redirecting to your website from reputable, relevant and authoritative online sources, you will find you will begin to rank higher in search engines.  The reason for this is that these links are considered a positive indication that your website contains quality information and is trustworthy. 

While quality prevails, remember that too much of a good thing… isn’t always a good thing.  Over-linking (too many links in too short of a time period) -especially without proper SEO tactics- will appear suspicious to search engines.  Conversely, too few links will do your site little good. 

Be sure to check for broken links-links that go to an error page either because the page has moved or no longer exists, or perhaps it was keyed in incorrectly.  Broken links look unprofessional and infer that the site is not regularly managed.  So schedule some time to clean up those broken links!

Some different ways you can use link building are:

Article writing and sharing: It defines you as an expert in your field while sharing interesting and useful information to those likely to have an interest in your industry and your products.  If you need help with article writing and dissemination practices, contact me.

Social Networking:  Growing exponentially, social networking is not only a place to advertise, network and connect, it’s a place to link to and from. Facebook business pages are a must. The number of people reachable through a social network is both targeted and plentiful.  To find that many targeted prospects in individual online searches would take more than a lifetime.  Oh, and it’s free.

Blogging: Blogging is a form of social networking and is yet another free resource to share ideas, sales, new products and more.  Due to the volume of visitors, the hosting provider for blogs are ranked highly by the search engines, thus it’s yet another form of free advertising.  Besides, people want to know who they are doing business with and (when done right) a blog gives them insight to who they are purchasing from.  If you’re stuck or pressed for time, we offer a ghost blog writing service.

Blog Comments: People love to get blog comments!  When you leave a comment on someone else’s blog while under your blog profile, a link will pop up on your comment.  The link will lead back to your site. If you present yourself as kind, knowledgeable, complimentary…people will likely want to see more about you and link back.  Be smart about it and don’t leave anything potentially insulting or controversial.  It’s never worth it.

Directory Submission: Submitting your URL to website directories will help you get found.  Websites such as Yahoo! Directory , Business.com, Zeal, and dMoz will allow you to create a personalized profile targeting the users you choose with your words.  We offer a service that will create profiles for you on social bookmarking websites as well.  It’s a time consuming venture to create a personalized profile for over a dozen different sites, but it’s well worth it.  If you want that extra exposure, check it out.

Video Marketing: Youtube is a great place to put your videos for maximum exposure.  You can link from youtube directly back to your own site.  If you create a particularly alluring or engaging tutorial, you can almost count on people linking back to your site to see what else you have to offer.

While link building is a very effective, proven and cost effective way to bring traffic to your website. It’s very unlikely that link building alone will generate great success for your business.  Used in conjunction with proper Search Engine Optimization (SEO) tactics, however, link building is an excellent way to build your brand online and bring visitors to your website.

Where will they land?  That’s the next crucial step, so….next we’ll talk about Landing Pages. 

Go get started building your links. Be sure to stop back often to discover new and innovative {free!} tips to grow your online business and increase your market share.

Melissa Bolton | Freelance Copywriter and Online Marketing Strategist | Owner, Designherbrands.com | melissa@designherbrands.com