Saturday, January 24, 2009

The 4 Levels of Link Building

SEO experts and internet marketing professionals know that the key to high search engine rankings is link building.They will also tell you that link building is not all that easy until you have done it for awhile, and that there are so many techniques for link building that It is hard to sort them all out.Here are the 4 levels of link building to take you from novice to expert.

1.Do It Yourself, Quick and Easy.The easiest links to build are those for which you do not have to rely on anyone but yourself.The easiest way to do this is to submit your site to directories.Simply submit your URL, the name of your company, and a short description of your company.Know before you begin that directories are managed by humans, so you may not see results right away.Also know that some directories require a small fee for your listing.

You should also use social media as a way to get links to your page.SEO experts do not find these crucial to success, but they are still a pretty simple and cheap way to target an audience that is going to be using the sites anyway.

2.Do It Yourself, Not So Quick and Easy.Before you start on Level 2, make sure you have started a business blog.This is crucial if you want to have good content to which others can link.And the way you are going to get these links is through press release optimization and article marketing.

When you are writing your articles and your press releases, always keep your keyword strategy at the front of your mind.Links should coincide with your strategy.Before you send your press releases and articles into the ether, use a press release grader to see if they pass muster.

3.Networking Plus Significant Time.Networking is by far the most effective way to get links to your site.It is time consuming and it can be frustrating, but it can also get you results that you never dreamed of.There are many ways to go about this type of networking, but the key is putting yourself amongst those who are potentially interested in what you have to say.

The best way to do this is to establish yourself as an expert in your niche.But never make people feel like they would be lost without your presence.Engage them.Show compassion.Share your own opinions and ideas and vulnerabilities.Start by reading industry-related blogs and commenting on them.Eventually you will want to establish a one-on-one relationship with bloggers, probably by casually mentioning third-party content that they might find interesting.

Ideally you will soon be asked to be a guest blogger on blogs that are related to your niche.In the process, you can link to yourself and let others in your niche know that you know what you are talking about.If all goes well, they will start following you as well, which leads to the final level.

4.Links Resulting From Good Content.Once you have reached this level, you have established yourself as a knowledgeable resource within your field.Although you can probably never afford to abandon the strategies mentioned above, you are now generating most of your links from people who respect you and enjoy reading your excellent content.This kind of success does not happen immediately.It takes a lot of time and effort, including effort in providing your followers with an array of high-quality, interesting, and relevant content.You may do his through your blog, through hosting webinars, or through publishing white papers.
The key to keep in mind as you are starting out is that, while content is crucial, you are going to have to start out doing more than creating great content.You are going to have to go out and find followers, and then give them a reason to stick around.It is not easy, but it will pay off in the end.


About the Author

Seomul Evans is a SEO expert with a leading Dallas Internet Marketing company specializing in Next Generation Search Engines and a contributor of Entrepreneurship articles


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Thursday, January 1, 2009

Building Authority And Search Engine Optimization For Higher Rankings

In the pursuit to deliver a better Internet experience, Google, Yahoo!, and the other major search engines diligently build better algorithms for ranking websites.While link popularity (the number of incoming links that point to your website) is still a valid search engine optimization tactic, it is far less vital to good rankings than trust and authority.In other words, if your website is considered authoritative, Google and Yahoo!will place it on the first page of organic listings for the competitive keywords you pursue.

The concept of trust and authority for search engine optimization is still hard to understand for many people.This article describes how a website becomes considered authoritative and explains the steps a website owner can take to build the authority of their website to enjoy higher organic rankings.

How A Website Becomes Authoritative


The best way to understand how websites become authoritative through search engine optimization is to consider research papers.

For example, if a particular research paper is cited by other research papers, it becomes credible.As more people cite the research paper, especially authorities in the same field as that of the paper, it becomes trusted and authoritative.Just like if Stephen Hawking cited a paper someone else wrote on black holes, others would consider the paper authoritative because Stephen Hawking is considered an expert in the field of black holes.

Authority through search engine optimization works in the same way.For example, when operating a website that publishes articles about golf, attracting links from Golf Digest or The Professional Golfers Association would increase the authority of your website within the field of golf.Basically, the more authority you have, the more likelihood you will place high in the organic listings of Google and Yahoo!

Building An Authoritative Website


Building an authoritative website through search engine optimization is difficult.

This is why many website owners turn to an seo company.First, you must carve out a successful keyword inventory that targets and forms the foundation of your search engine optimization efforts.This requires extensive research, competitive analysis, identifying existing authorities in your field, and knowing how well those authorities control the keywords you want to target.

Second, you must build a satisfactory number of critical incoming links to your website.Ideally, these search engine optimization links should come from websites that are authoritative within your field.It isn't usually easy (picture trying to get Stephen Hawking to cite your research paper), but with time and effort, it can be accomplished.By slowly working to attract incoming links from trusted and relevant content websites, mildly relevant education websites (or .edu domains), and social media websites, you will grow the authority of your website.As your authority grows, as will your rankings in Google and Yahoo!for your targeted keywords.

Receiving Qualified traffic


One of the main advantages to having an authoritative website is that the time, effort, and money invested in search engine optimization will begin to bring in qualified traffic over time.

As your website ranks higher, it gains exposure and respect, which attract more incoming links.The more this happens, the more authority you gain, the more exposure to qualified traffic you receive.

Building the authority of your website is a good search engine optimization strategy.Considering partnering with an experienced Chicago SEO company, or a search engine optimization company anywhere, to deliver the best results.


About the Author

Aaron Wittersheim writes informative articles for Whoast, a Chicago SEO company.

They help their clients boost their ROI through cutting-edge, ethical search engine optimization.Chicago serves as their headquarters, but they help clients nationwide.

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