Linking Strategies
Google has a measure called Page Rank that reflects the quantity and quality of incoming links and is indicated on a scale from 1 to 10. Each website that links back to you must in itself contain quality content and have a high PageRank for it to impact positively on the PageRank of your website. Below are a few strategies to get other trusted websites to link to your website.
1. Request Reciprocal Links
Search on Google for websites that promote services/products related to services promoted by your website (e.g. if your website promotes acupuncture treatments, you might be looking for websites about women's health, children's health etc), and choose the websites that appear first in the search results list (first 5 for example). Contact them DIRECTLY, through e-mail or phone and negotiate with them to let you advertise on their websites. Some of them might not even charge you if you agree to reciprocal links. Make sure you have ready a relevant image to send (say 120x120px) that would link back to your website.
Warning: Only link to complementary sites, no matter how often you are bombarded with requests to exchange links with a mortgage site that has nothing to do with your baby shoes store. Getting reciprocal linking is hard, tedious work, but it's also cost-efficient! Keep working at this continuously, a little bit at a time. Patience and persistence will get you some good links, so keep at it.
2. Submit Your Website to Trade Organization Websites and Specialized Directories
You probably already belong to various trade associations that feature member directories. Ask for a link. Even if you have to pay something for a link from the organization, it may help boost your PageRank.
Marginal directories, however, come and go very quickly, making it hard to keep up, so don't try to be exhaustive here. Beware of directories that solicit you for "upgraded listings." Unless a directory is widely used in your field, a premium ad is a waste of money -- but the (free) link itself will help boost your PageRank and hence your search engine ranking. Be careful to submit only to actual directories, not "linking sites."
Local directories may as well help boost your website's PageRank.
3. Write Articles for Others to Use in Websites and Newsletters
You can dramatically increase your website PageRank when you write articles in your area of expertise and distribute them to editors as free content for their e-mail newsletters or their websites. Just ask that a link to your website and a one-line description of what you offer be included with the article. This is an effective "viral" approach that can produce hundreds of links to your site over time. You'll find lots of information on how to do this from the most popular article marketing site, EzineArticles.com.
