- Do you already have a web site and are not getting any traffic to it?
- Is your web site nowhere near the top in the search engines result pages?
Then it’s time to do some changes to it. Many website owners think that having a great website with good content is enough, but nothing could be further from the truth. If you fail in doing ‘Off-Page’ Search Engine Optimization, the only visitors to your website will be your family and friends.
The good news is that you can do most of it yourself and for free if you are willing to learn what you need to do and invest some time in doing it on a consistent basis.
What is ‘Off-Page’ Search Engine Optimization?
Besides great relevant content and an ‘On-Site’ SEO optimized website, it is even more important that your website has many links from other websites leading to it. Think of ‘backlinks’ to your website as ‘votes’ from other websites to yours. When more other quality websites link to your site than to the sites of your competitors, the search engines think that your website is more popular and will show it on top of their search results to their searchers.
Even if the search engines have highly sophisticated ways of calculating the importance of websites and include many factors in their calculation besides backlinks, it is a fact that having many links is crucial for a website’s position in the search results. Now, not all backlinks count the same, so here are a few things to keep in mind before your head out and start creating links to your website:
- Find websites with content relevant to your own site (e.g. rather find a directory specific to your own trade than a general directory)
- Links from popular quality websites with already high ranking count more (read about ‘Google Page Rank’ and install the free Google Toolbar in your web browser to learn about the ranking of other websites)
- There are ‘do-follow’ links and ‘no-follow’ links, and no-follow links are not as favorable. The different search engines treat links in different ways, so if you want to optimize your link building, get more information about this subject, but don’t worry too much about it when you start link building.
- Have a keyword relevant ‘anchor text’ in the link to your website. Don’t link to your website with the standard terms ‘click here for information’ or ‘Read more about ABC company’, but use your keywords in the links. E.g. a good link to our website would be <a href=”http://www.websitesare.us”>Web Design in San Diego</a>, instead of just ‘Visit our website’.
With the versatility of the internet there are many ways to build backlinks and thus optimize the ranking potential of your website and generating traffic.
Three Most Effective Free Methods To Link Building:
- Submit your website to local directories or directories relevant to your trade
This is a sure and proven method. Google for directories relevant to your niche or trade. There are many free directories, where you can just submit your website. Others will ask you to reciprocally place their link on your website. Don’t do that, Google hates ‘link exchanges’ and won’t count these links. Aside from directories you can also look for other websites in a related industry or niche complementing your website. Being listed on other relevant websites and directories also boosts your chances of getting direct traffic from the other sites. Click here for a comprehensive description of how to add your website to local directories in the San Diego area.
- Write and Submit Articles
There are many article directories in the internet which allow you to submit articles you write for free. If you want to save costs, you can do the articles yourself, but there are also many freelance writers who are willing to write for you for a small fee.
Write articles that are themed along with the trade or niche of your website. Write something that you have expertise on so that when they read it, they can feel your knowledge about the subject and will be eager to visit your site. Write articles that produce tips and guidelines to the subject or niche your site has. If you provide an informative and interesting article, they will go to your site for more.
Include a resource box at the end of your article that explains your expertise and links to your site.
- Join Online Communities and Forums
You can share your knowledge and expertise with many online communities and forums that have the same subject as your site. Build a reputation and trust with your expertise and knowledge. In return, you get free advertising and links to your website.
Share your two cents but don’t spam with superficial comments. As you build your reputation, you also market the reputation of your site.
All of these methods and more will get you backlinks to your site for free. All it takes is your effort and your time. But you must have the drive and perseverance to do it continuously, because depending from your competition there might be a lot of backlinks necessary for your website to climb up in the search engines.
Learn all you can about the methods depicted here, and find out how to monitor your backlinks and your page rank, and you will soon have a site with a great traffic flow without the costs for advertising and marketing.
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