Link Building | The popularity contest

Link building is the process of getting other websites to link to yours, which generates direct traffic while increasing your search engine rankings.

There are many different ways to get websites to link to yours. For example, you could encourage members and partners of your organization to link to your site from their blogs or MySpace pages to show their support. You could also write articles or other content for other websites which contain links back to your website (these sites could include local “portal” sites, community event calendars, or comments on blogs).

Another approach is to look for niche publications specific to your field, and then offer to submit content. You may be thanked for providing helpful, relevant content, by receiving links back to your organization's website. This works well for both print and electronic publications. You may find potential publications easily by just typing your subject matter into a search engine.

Write media (press) releases and submit them to distribution and syndication services. Some, such as PRWeb.com will distribute your release for free.

Note: be sure to call your release a “media” release, to include both print and electronic media.

Submit your website to web directories. Here is a list of some of the more popular web directories you should try to get your site listed in:

Look for directories which include sites for your local area, or for anything that you have a membership in (such as chambers of commerce or other groups).

Nonprofits also have a major advantage over businesses in SEO in that many governmental bodies and educational institutions frequently partner with nonprofit organizations and will provide links to your site if asked. For example, if you work with a student group on a university campus, you might ask if they would publish a flyer advertising your next event, with a link back to your website for more information. If you're helping to organize a conference in partnership with a government body or a local library, ask if they'll announce the event on their website with a link to your website's conference section.

Participate in relevant online discussions. It is not only useful for improving your search rankings --this kind of posting also generates dialog on the issues your organization is actively concerned with, and can create a community of interest in your work.

Consider commenting on related blogs, again with a link back to your website. Take special care to ensure that your comments are on-topic and relevant to the blog article; blog spam is frowned upon, and can actually hurt your search engine rankings more than it helps you.

Whenever possible, try to have the sites that link to yours use your keywords in the link text, rather than always using your URL or organization name. For example, the Red Cross website may want to get links with keywords like "First Aid Training" and "Emergency Disaster Relief," rather than simply "Red Cross". The keywords used in the link text will directly influence your rankings.
You should develop links to your internal content pages as well as to your home page.

A word of caution: while link-building is a legitimate means of increasing your search engine rankings, some people abuse it. It is common for unscrupulous SEO firms to send out mass mailings asking for links to their sites in exchange for links back to yours. Many of these firms will also "spam" your blog or website pages with comments containing links back to their sites. Always be careful about the sites you link to from your site; one link to a site that uses questionable SEO tactics can get your site banned from the search engines completely, and ruin your reputation. Any website that asks for a link should be screened carefully.

Link building is not a one-time event. Continually search out and find new sources of links to your website. As you add more and more links over time, your site’s position in the search engines will continue to improve.

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