Arguably the most important factor in achieving higher rank in the SERPs is the amount of links to and from your website pages. There are many ways of building inbound links yourself but don’t forget about the ways that visitors can perform this task for you, too.
Building Your Own Inbound Links
Besides linking the content of your site internally between pages, you will want to create some from outside sources that provide an inbound link. The first thing to decide is what keywords you want to use and what pages you want to optimise. Try to concentrate on one keyword phrase per month.
Where can you create links for these keywords? There are many places if you use a bit of imagination and research. Here’s a list of some of the most common ways of building inbound links…
• Blog commenting – find blogs that allow dofollow links with content that is related to your keywords and include the direct URL of the page you are optimising.
• Microblogging – use social media sites such as Twitter or Friendfeed to post a link to your page; be sure to include a compelling update to grab attention.
• Social bookmarking – submit your latest blog post to sites such as Delicious and StumbleUpon etc. Make sure both the description and title include your keywords.
• Guest posting – volunteer to create a blog post for someone else and be sure to include your page link in the title and by-line.
• Article syndication – create an article relevant to your keywords, along with outbound links from those keywords in the content, and submit it to several directory sites that allow syndication.
• Link exchange – use your internet contacts to find appropriate sites where you can exchange links, i.e. be added to their blogroll.
Getting Others To Link Content For You
Now let’s talk about ways you can get other people to do some of the link building work for you…
Of course, content is always king. If you want visitors to virally spread your content, it had better be informative and interesting. Adding a bit of humour usually helps. This applies to all types of content: text, audio, video, etc.
Make it easy to spread your content around the internet by providing a sharing toolbar on your site that gives easy access to social bookmarking and social media sites.
Remember that when expecting visitors to virally spread the URL of your page or post, sometimes the best thing to do is just ask. Include a message that says “if you enjoyed this post, please consider sharing it”.
Building inbound links to your content takes a bit of time and effort, but it should pay off in increased page rankings, brand awareness, and ultimately, increased sales.
If you enjoyed this post, please consider sharing it 
Have a most outstanding day.
Sean RasmussenAussie Internet Marketing
www.SeanSEO.com © 2008 - 2010
{ 21 comments… read them below or add one }
Hi Sean,
I am also going to read it a couple more times. There is so much valuable info here that it takes time to comprehend it all. You’re so generous with this knowledge! I once thought this type of info would only be available to those who pay for it and pay dearly.
I have indeed enjoyed this post and will be happy to share it and pass it on.
This is such a great opportunity you have made available here, Sean. Thanks so much!
P.S. I don’t know why but my blog is not registering in the comment posts. I will try to post it again here: http://1stchasslifestyle.com/
Even so I it’s logic in a way I didn’t do that before – concentrate on one keyphrase per month. I changed with each post. Hm. Sounds like I have a series of articles coming up and a lot of commenting to do to build up some Inbound Links.
Great strategies once again Sean. I am in the process of implementing all this
Hi Gee,
you must have added a couple of hundred back links over the last few days
Hi Jill
When there is no link at the bottom I usually click on the name and that takes you to that persons site
Rita
Hi Sean,
One keyword a month that would save time and effort then you could write 4 or 5 posts at a time making it easier on your self, well that is sound logic., why did’nt I think of that
Rita
It is a good strategy Rita, hope it works for you
That is because he is the teacher Rita Ha ha ha. and a good one at that.
My thought as well. You can write one nice long article, cut it into segments and post over a few days. Same keyword, keeps the visitors coming back for more and safes on finding new keywords
Very clever from our teacher.
That’s one long article… It would definitely test my creative juices! Even if you post once a week, you’re looking at a 2,000 word article, approx! But, it might very well be worth it. Would love to hear everyone’s experiences and feedback about this approach.
Thank sean i forgot to put some link back to my site from other website and comment, so here is my first Link http://www.robep.com.au a lot more is need and will be done in the next few days.
if you get a chance can you review my website for me and give me any feedback on how to improve it.
Regards Karen
Some good sound advice that has helped me. This is great each time i read your posts i pick up something new and the magic thing is i can come back here while i’m learning.
Hello Sean,
Great tip about blogging for a month on one key word. It makes sense to use the one month on a keyword, because then you are “the expert” for googel to pick up. Like that idea.
Also like the idea of being a “Guest Posting” – posting as a volunteer on another blog with a link back to your blog. That is a great idea
Cheers
Lisa
Article Syndication is definitely a great way to build inbound links. The great thing about article syndication is that if your article is high in quality and uniqueness, people copy and host your article on their own websites.
All content and links must remain the same in order to do this. So, what you have is several more inbound links coming from other websites.
I am still wondering about this with the articles. How come it is not counted as duplicate content by Google??? Do you have to mark it specifically as an article you took from the directory??
I think if you post the content on your site first and it is indexed as such, any subsequent copies indexed will be marked as a duplicate. So you will not be penalized and will benefit from the links pointing from the article directory as well as any other sites that have used your article.
Not sure how this works exactly, but with Google being Google they know all
You see so much about building inbound links nowadays, it seems like everybody has something to say. But this post is the best summary I have seen and it contains points that others leave out.
Hi Sean,
I seem to spend so much time trying to build inbound links. There are so many ways to do it and I just need to get a schedule to address them so that I know I’m covering each area.
I also didn’t think of just targeting one keyword phrase a month. I change my keywords with each post. Maybe this is why Google doesn’t associate the keywords I want with my site.
What is a SERP?
Try to concentrate on one keyword phrase per month. Why?
And how do you install a Sharing Toolbar to your site?
SERP = Search Engine Results Page, which are the pages returned when a search is performed.
Why concentrate on one keyword a month? It’s a good way to build rankings for that particular term (through both on and off page SEO). It’s also hard to focus on many keywords at once.
You will find many “sharing” or bookmarking plugins within Wordpress. It’s as simple as locating them and installing them
Hi Sean
This is a very neat strategy, starting with a keyword phrase each month and then putting that phrase into articles, microblogging posts, guest posts etc.
Getting other people to build in bound links is another good strategy. I like Jazz’s idea of
getting a schedule going when building inbound links . This is something I would need do to keep a track of everything and tick things of as I go. Thank you