You can probably agree that the main purpose of your website is to be seen by others on the Internet. Unless your viewers know the URL of your website, they will likely arrive at your site through a search engine. However, there are thousands of websites that could come up through a simple search of your keywords; how can you be sure that your site will be ranked highly enough by the search engines to generate traffic?
One of the main ways to improve your ranking in the search engine results is to acquire more quality backlinks. Back links are clickable links on other websites that lead directly to your site. These can be embedded in the text of another page or from an online directory. Your website will be measured for its popularity and page rank through its number of quality backlinks.
To increase your visibility, you need to begin by improving your search engine optimisation, better known as SEO, and acquire more back links. Here are 50 ways to do this:
50. Submit a guest blog to another site. – Most blogs will allow you to provide a short biography and a link to your own website when you guest blog for them. These are immediate backlinks to your main website.
49. Post in forums. – Begin your threads on other forums, as long as they are relevant to the topic, and conveniently place a link to your website in your post.
48. Use social bookmarking. – Utilizing Google Plus, Twitter, Facebook, and other social networking sites with references to your site are considered viable backlinks.
47. Add a blog to your website. – Blogs are significantly more likely to be backlinked than regular website texts. However, do not add a blog to just to have a blog; make sure that you are posting good content on a regular basis.
46. Post frequently. – The more often you post, the more likely you are to have a link to another site and to have an appearance on search engines.
45. Create authority or expert posts. – These are posts that take at least ten hours to write, are based heavily on fact, and are more likely to be linked by other sites. Expert posts give your site more credibility and therefore more weight on other websites.
44. Utilize sites like Digg and Reddit. – These sites allow people to vote on articles and sites that they like. The approval on these sites will get links to your website.
43. Use your family and friends. – Once you get a post on a site like Digg, have your family and friends vote to raise your profile.
42. Try list posts. – Lists of the “top” or “best” of anything are most popular among bloggers, and they are more likely to link to these posts. In addition, these are often the kinds of post that are searched and shared between Internet users.
41. Be a patron to your favorite sites. – If you link from your favorite web gurus’ sites, they will see the traffic you have provided for them, and the may be more likely to return the favor with a backlink.
40. Begin an RSS feed. – This subscribed newsfeed will provide current information, something that other sites are more likely to use in a link.
39. Comment on other blogs. – Most blogs provide a place for you to enter your website’s URL or your source when you comment, creating an instant backlink.
38. Answer questions from others. – You will be seen as an authority, and those people are more likely to link to your website in the future. A quick but knowledgeable answer goes a long way toward improving your credibility.
37. Write quality posts on during the week. – People are more likely to create links and like posts on Digg during the week than on the weekend. This exposure can net you more links.
36. Try deep-linking. – By linking your current posts to past ones, you are creating a larger network of your body of work that others will be more likely to link to themselves.
35. Trade blog reviews. – If you review and backlink someone else’s blog, he or she may be willing to do the same for you. While it may seem like you are helping your competition, your mutual assistance will pay off in the long run.
34. Hold a giveaway. – People are more likely to link to your website when you are offering the chance of a free raffle.
33. Write to different audience. – Write some posts for beginners and others for more a more advanced readership to increase your overall audience. Do not be afraid to target a particular group in your posts as long as you spread the attention in other articles.
32. Submit to news sites. – Even national news sites occasionally accept articles from freelance writers, and they allow links to your own website. Check out the ones that are most relevant to your website content.
31. Submit to article sites. – The same is true for sites like About.com and Article City.
30. Review products on other sites. – Through a series of reviews, you can establish yourself as an expert, and these sites will link to your personal website. Try some of the largest review sites, such as Amazon.com and Consumer Reports which allow personal opinions.
29. Write testimonials. – Similar to reviews, a positive testimonial can earn you a link from a reputable website.
28. Submit a press release. – Try sites like PRWeb which publishes freelance press releases and links to their authors.
27. Utilize your friends’ blogs. – Let your friends know when you have made a good post, and have them link to your site. You can return the love another time.
26. Act as a mentor. – When you encourage and assist other bloggers and webmasters, they are more likely to provide links to your site in return.
25. Insert a survey. – People who take and like your surveys will remember and link your site to their own. Put some time, thought, and even humor into your questionnaires to gain the most attention.
24. Poll your readers. – As your regular readers their opinions, and follow through with related posts. They will continue to follow you and provide more links to your site.
23. Cite your information. – Always provide credit to your original sources. The authors will appreciate your interest and will often reciprocate on their own sites.
22. Post links on forums and discussion boards. – These are see by a wide variety of people, and they will often click on the link you provide back to your website.
21. Work with local businesses. – Ask your local retailers, libraries, and other entities if they will add a link to your website on theirs.
20. Create images. – Design and build your own images and infographics for use on other websites. Provide these images with the stipulation that your site be linked directly from those utilizing your work.
19. Design and market a WordPress template or content management system. – Whenever anyone chooses and utilizes your templates or systems, they will automatically backlink to your website as well.
18. Donate your work to non-profit organizations. – Help out a local non-profit by designing or re-designing their websites. Be sure to add your own website link to the bottom of your design.
17. Moderate a question and answer session. – Host and moderate an online question and answer session for beginning bloggers or website designers. Many participants will automatically link to your website, or you can require it in order to participate in the session.
16. Release your posts in PDF format. – Convert your articles and blog posts into PDF format, and release them to document sharing sites for added backlinks.
15. Write a controversial article or blog post. – One of the best ways to get attention is by writing an inflammatory or controversial piece that will be read, cited, and linked by other bloggers or social network users.
14. Offer to be interviewed. – Offer to let other bloggers or news sites interview you for your thoughts on expert topics or on running a website. They will include a link to your site in their interview piece.
13. Target .edu and .gov forums and blogs. – These are some of the most reputable and most highly praised by search engine SEO rankings. Submit informative articles and opinion blogs that would most fit in with these sites.
12. Begin a contest. – This can be a blogging contest, a photo contest, or anything else that will naturally fit with the content of your website. Make sharing the link of your site one of the requirements for entry.
11. Create how-to and manual-type posts. – People are always looking for simple, step-by-step directions for completing important tasks. Write some of these posts authoritatively, and you will have more shares and backlinks for your site.
10. Film and share viral videos. – With the continued popularity of viral videos and YouTube, take advantage by filming short spots for your own website. Share these on social networking and video sites, providing a link to your website in the video description. Anyone else who shares your video will create backlinks.
9. Do community outreach. – Offer to speak or present to local groups or at events or seminars that will bring attention to you and your website. Include your site link in all your promotional materials.
8. Record a podcast and upload it to Itunes. – Take one of your most informative or most useful articles or posts, and translate it into audio. Record your podcast with energy and excitement, then upload it to iTunes or any other audio-sharing site. Be sure to include a link to your website in the podcast description.
7. Concentrate on current news. – Update your website with articles and blog posts that are both current and relevant to your overall vision. These are the types of pieces that will gain the most traction with your audience and elicit the most backlinks.
6. Utilize social networking. – As you build more interested followers, add a link to your website in your Facebook posts and Tweets. Encourage your friends and family to share and re-tweet your posts for further reach to new audiences.
5. Always post on important dates. – Find ways to make your website relevant to national holidays and other important dates. These are often entered into search engines and will more frequently lead to your site. For example, link your website to content about Labor Day, then share your post around that holiday.
4. Build Google profiles. – Create profiles for yourself and anyone else involved in the design and upkeep of your website. Include custom links to your website, as well as some of your site-specific documents and images to further increase your backlinks.
3. Amass resources and FAQ pages. – As you complete question and answer sessions or you add to your reserve of expert posts, create resource and FAQ pages that can be accessed for reference by others. Be sure that all of your pages contain your links, and make them available for sharing.
2. Become a sponsor. – Volunteer to sponsor a charity, contest, or conference in order to gain more exposure for your website. Advertise digitally, and include a link to your website on each advertisement.
1. Write quality content. – With the advances to the Google algorithm, as well as the methods of many other search engines, content quality is the most important aspect of ranking well and creating backlinks. When you have relevant and well-written copy on your website, you will rank the best, and other sites will be more likely to share and link to your website.
There are a vast number of methods for acquiring quality backlinks to your website. While search engine optimisation is always a factor in your ranking on search engines, you have many other options that will make your website just as successful. Give a few of these methods a try, and watch as your website traffic and overall ranking improves.
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