Increase On-Line Traffic Using Link Building

The good news if you're looking to increase on-line traffic to your website is that with a few basic techniques you can rapidly grow those numbers and so boost your sales as a result.

In this article we're going to look at link building as a way to not only increase visitor numbers directly, but also indirectly as a result of the search engines giving you a boost up the rankings thanks to your newfound link popularity.

Before we go any further it's vital to understand the basic principle of why linking works and what it can do to increase on-line traffic to your site.

When a website links to yours it noy only provides a "channel" which visitors can use to get from that site to your own, but in the eyes of Google it also acts as a "vote".

Under the assumption that most websites will only link to sites containing good quality information, Google sees sites that have higher numbers of links pointing to them as higher quality, and so ranks them higher in their results. The actual words that other sites use to link to you control which words you are likely to rank well for.

Hence if you wanted to rank highly for the phrase "increase on-line traffic" you would try to build links to your site that include this exact phrase.

In terms of linking there are three broad categories of links you generate generate that point to your site. Firstly are one-way links, secondly are reciprical links and lastly 3-way links. Each of these methods have their own strengths and weaknesses so let's examine them a little closer.

One-Way Links

These are possibly the most valuable links of all whereby another website links to yours, and expects nothing in return. These links look most "natural" to Google, are likely to lead to higher rankings in the search engines and you will also likely find it easier to keep the traffic you generate because you won't have links pointing out to all sorts of other sites from yours.

Reciprocal Links

Also known as two-way links, using this concept two website owners exchange links in a "you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours" way. Each webmaster agrees to link to the other - thus reciprocating. Due to the way these links are given in exchange for another rather than because your site is any good, reciprocal links tend to have less value than one-way links.

Three-Way Links

In an attempt to "cheat" the system, some webmasters try to combine the best of both previous methods. You link to one website, and a different site links to you. It's a reciprocal link but includes 3 sites instead of 2 so is harder for Google to spot.

On the flipside 3-way links can be risky because if Google catches you, you may well lose all your rankings. In addition, many private 3-way links involve you linking to a popular, high-traffic site, while they link to you from another junk site with little or no traffic so it's difficult to find a "fair" way to do a 3-way link exchange.

This is why there are now a number of managed services which control 3-way links, ensuring they are as fair as possible for everyone involved and if you are considering this link building method I would strongly advise you to use one of these providers.

As stated, one way links are the hardest to get but highest value links, with 3-way links second (so long as you don't get caught) and reciprocal links worth least. You can if you want use a combination of all 3 techniques to maximuse your chances of success or simply go for all one-way links but appreciate what a tough gig this can be.

Here, then, are the six best ways to build one-way links to your website and so increase on-line traffic:

1) Directory Submissions

Submit your website to the various directories online. Many of th lower quality directories are free to submit your site to whilst you can pay considerable sums to be included in the higher quality directories like Yahoo. There are both dedicated business and pieces of software that will help you to submit your site to hundreds of different directories in a matter of hours.

2) Article Submissions

You can write articles of around 500-700 words in length and then submit them to the article directories so other website owners can publish them on their sites. Every article of yours that another webmaster uses will link back to your site. Examples of places to submit your articles are Articles Factory and GArticles.

Also consider approaching high traffic sites and blogs directly and offering to wrote them a unique article specifically for their site in exchange for a link back to yours. Popular sites are always in need of high quality content to add to their network and you can be rewarded handsomely for your efforts.

3) Testimonials

Used a product or service you liked? If so, write a testimonial that includes your name and website address and email it to the vendor with express permission to publish it on their site. Of course, they may well use it because it will help to increase their own sales and you then benefit from another link back.

4) Forum Posts

Find forums related to the subject of your website using one fo the forum search engines or by simply typing your keywords into Google with the word forum (i.e. dog training forum), then visit them and answer questions other members may have in as much depth as possible so you really stand out from the crowd as someone who knows what they are doing and is very helpful indeed. Place a link back to your site in your signature file.

5) Blog Comments

Find related blogs using Technorati or Blog Catalog and add useful comments to posts on subjects you know well, linking back to your website.

6) Press Releases

Use one of the many online press release distribution sites like PRWeb.com and have them submit a press release about your website that links back to you. Many sites will publish this, further building links back to your site.

I'll be the first to admit that none of these techniques are anything revolutionary. Quite the reverse. They're all pretty boring if you've been online for a while but ask yourself honestly have you really put some focused time into building links like this? Have you ever spent half a day adding blog comments? A day on forums answering posts? The answer, for most people, is likely to be "no". The techniques outlined really work if you're willing to put the time in.

The skill of course is having the discipline to just go out, get your head down and so the link-building work that needs to be done. It might not be the latest fancy technique - you might even get bored doing this after a few days but if you're willing to put the time in these techniques will pay off in a big, big way and over the coming months you will see a signficant increase in on-line traffic to your site.

And isn't that what we all want?