There are a handful of ways to build backlinks for webmasters and SEO experts that are widely known. Some of them work and some of them don’t. Some of the links are quality links and some of them are not. I have personally tried most of them and have found that some work better than others.
Building links is a necessary part of digital marketing services. Many will tell you that all you have to do is just write AWESOME content and the links will come flooding in. Well, that’s true enough, but, unfortunately, for most of us, writing STUNNING content is more of a pipe-dream than reality. The harsh reality is that we have to manually build our own links with nice descriptive anchor text as a means of helping search engines understand what our pages are about. Here are some that work for me.
Article Marketing. The more I pursue this as a link building avenue, the more I love it. It’s just SO easy. Sure, not all of my articles get approved. Some days when I read my old articles, I ask myself…” What the heck was I thinking when I wrote that?” Very common. But, on average, article marketing has been VERY rewarding for me and continues to be. As your articles are syndicated from the article directories that you submit to you get numerous backlinks and you brand yourself. Article marketing is a must.
Blog Commenting. I have had just as much success with this as with article marketing. But this is one of those things that you have to learn how to do. If you are new to a blog, getting your comment approved can be a hit-or-miss thing. You will not always win the favor of the blogger. BUT, if you find a blog that links out through comments and does not apply the Nofollow attribute to your name-link, then do yourself a favor. BOOKMARK THEM! And visit that blog regularly. Leave thoughtful, relevant comments. Give them valuable user-generated content. In a couple of months’ time, you will build a huge list of blogs that link out. Build a professional relationship with that blogger and help them make their blog look well-trafficked. Odds are, they will return the favor. Blog commenting is a must.
Guest Blogging. Very similar to article marketing is guest blogging or guest posting on other blogs. The one downside to guest blogging is the fact that guest post is almost never syndicated. However, a guest post on the right blog can go a long way to drive traffic to your site. Additionally, links from strong blogs can benefit both your Page Rank and Trust Rank greatly. This is a technique recommended to those who have tried and have become comfortable with article marketing. Article marketing is a great way to train and prep yourself for guest blog posting.
Forum Signature and Profile Links. This one is a bit misunderstood because webmasters see mixed results from this type of thing. However, it must be pointed out that the quality of your link using this technique will be directly related to the quality and level of trust that the forum holds in the eyes of search engines. Obtaining a massive number of profile links can be an effective way of gaining trust and influence with the search engines, but I have a very sneaky feeling that this phenomenon will be short-lived.
Instead of simply dropping a profile link on a forum that you will never be visiting again, take the necessary time and actually contribute to the forum. I have personally found that a strong contributor in a forum will drive traffic to their site through visits to their profile page and signature links. Additionally, if the forum has enough trust with search engines, your signature links as well as your profile link will be indexed.
I know this because I have a Google alert set up for links pointing to my site and Google is always sending me emails whenever it finds a link pointing to my site. Oddly enough, in many cases, it refers me to a signature link I just dropped when commenting on a trusted forum. Usually, signature links are of low value. But, sometimes the thread builds PR and benefits all of the signature links of all of the contributors.
Building links is a slow process that benefits webmasters that “stick it out”. However, the long-term benefits are trust, rank, and money.
