Links are what make the web work. Having a link to your site on another site that has related subject matter benefits you in several ways. You will get increased traffic from people clicking on the link and in addition search engines like Google will find the links and increase your PageRank Score

Finding Sites To Link To You

By doing a search on any search engine using the type of keywords that are related to your site, you will find a whole list of potential sites that could link to your site.

It helps if you have a site that contains useful content. It will be hard to convince another site to link to you if your site has a low value or interest to them.

Another way to find links is to find out who is linking to your competition. You can do this by using the search engines. For example entering link:www.mycompetition.com on Google will list all the sites that Google has found that links to your competition. You could then approach these sites to ask for a link.

Requesting A Link

When you have found the target sites that you would like to obtain a link from send them a courteous and polite email. State who you are, explain briefly what your site is and why it could be of interest to their site. Keep your email short and to the point. It is probably a good idea to already place a link to their site on your site. It is always worthwhile to put in your email the URL of the actual page that you would like a link on. If after 1 month they haven't added your link then remove their link from your site.

Giving Out Awards

One novel way to gain links is to give out awards. An award could be "Well Designed Site Award" or something focused around your business or web site theme. This award should be a nice graphic that links to your site.

Free For All (FFA) Pages and Link Farms

Although it seems tempting to list your site on an FFA or link farm - don't do it. FFA page are lists of links. When you first submit a site it will be at the top and gradually move down the list until it drops off the bottom. FFA's will bring you no traffic and will fill your email box with thousands of Junk emails. Even worse, search engines like Google may find your link on an FFA page and ban you from their search engine. Avoid these at all costs.

Guest Books and Newsgroups

It is possible to gain some links from posting on guest books and also by putting your URL in the signature of postings on newsgroups. Although this can be a valid method of gaining visibility and links, be very careful not spam. It is rude and will not be appreciated if your only reason to post is to create a link. This will damage your reputation and backfire if done irresponsibly. Newsgroups often have rules in place that are designed to keep the board useful. Follow the rules, and contribute to the newsgroups by entering discussions and helping others with their problems.

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