Have you ever wondered how to get backlinks to your website? You’re not alone, many webmasters spend their precious time scoping out quality backlinks because this is a natural way in which you can build and grow your websites or blogs. First, a backlink is when another website links to your site or redirects traffic to your site in some way that is index-able by the search engines. Keep in mind that if you have quality backlinks coming from quality sites, you look better, but if you have linking coming from cheesy sites, you also look cheesy.
If you see someone that is well-dressed and hanging around with top business professionals, you assume he or she is also a top professional even if they are just an intern. Moreover, if you see a group of doctors in white coats at a hospital, you assume all of them are established in their careers when some of them may actually be med students. That is the society we live in, who you hang out with is how people perceive you, and it is no different in the online community. If your site is associated with professional websites, others view you as credible and professional. If you get a backlink from ABC News, it certainly is going to carry more weight than an unknown website that just began three days ago.
Are Directory Submissions Good or Bad?
There has been a lot of controversy over if directory submissions were good or bad, but the truth is, the submission is only as good as the directory’s credibility. For instance, if you submit to Yahoo Directory, it is certainly going to stand out as more reliable than a directory that includes a lot of low quality websites. As previously noted, if you are in the same directory with less than desirable sites, you will also be looked upon as less than desirable. Therefore, only submit to high quality directories to ensure that you have the best shot of shining above your competition.
Other Ways to Obtain Quality Backlinks
There is a variety of ways to get backlinks to your website, and quality backlinks at that, but you have to be very careful in the process. Research each site before you agree to have your site linked on it because one bad linking decision can push back your efforts in link building by months. One of the fastest growing ways of getting backlinks is via video marketing on sites such as Blip.tv and YouTube.com because both allow you to include your link along with a description of your website when you upload the video.
Make sure you take your time creating the videos and that they are useful; do not create videos that have no worth. Keep in mind that millions of videos are viewed every day on YouTube alone, therefore, pull the talents you have to create a polished video because when you have something useful, other sites can link to video, which is organic linking and it costs you nothing, except your time to make the videos. You might want to begin a series of videos on something related to your site. For instance, if you sell designer handbags, take some time to show some of these handbags and their features, such as a walk-though of various handbags, but break it up into different videos.
Social Media
Social media is really hot right now with Facebook and Twitter as the two most popular sites for friends reconnecting and to get information out on various products. Spend some time building pages that are professional, after all, if you are linking your webpage to the Facebook page and it is not professional, you probably are not going to get quality traffic. Therefore, make a fan page that is professional and use strong keywords to name it so that when people search Facebook they can easily find you.
Pitching Successful Websites to Get Backlinks
Piggyback on another website’s success is nothing new. After all, if you can get another website that is relevant to your site agree to link your site on their page; you have instantly boosting your website traffic. How do you get these top performers to link to you? You have to call or email the top performers and pitch them the reasons why they need to link to you. You might offer them something in return, SEO article writing, working to help improve their website for free, or something that is valuable to them. You might even asked if you can rent a space on their site, but do this as a last resort, if you can get the link for free all the better, but 9 times out of 10, they will want something in return.
You will hear a lot of “no’s” but all you need is to get a yes from a handful of quality websites to really help your site. Don’t take no’s personally, many webmasters that are successful feel no obligation to help the little guy. It is not difficult to get backlinks, but the challenge is getting quality backlinks, which is what you want. Never consider poor quality backlinks because that is not spending your time wisely, you want to always have links from quality sites.
