SEO Tactics, Tips & Helpful Advice - No. 36

Much has been discussed about link building and earning high-quality, relevant one-way links pointing to your website.

Some thoughts and opinions about link building:

• Do not send an e-mail blast to "webmasters" asking for a link to your website. It's SPAM.
• If you are a re-seller for a particular manufacturer or represent a specific line of products/services, it may be "OK" to send the manufacturer an e-mail about being included on their re-seller's page. First, check to see if your business is currently listed. If so, make sure the link (if they offer one) pointing to your website is correct.
• Look to Directories for links, especially vertical directories in your industry (real estate directories, automotive directories, etc.).
• Comment in relevant blogs. Make it a real contribution to the blog. Don't write "I agree" to a blog post in order to get a link. Your post will likely be removed.
• Write a guest blog for someone.
• Write articles, tips and tricks for other websites.
• Participate in discussion forums. Make it a real participation. You must contribute. Follow the same blog rules mentioned above.
• Consider offering a download, such as a trial version of something you sell or a white paper. If the quality of the download is good, website owners will link to you. Bloggers will write about your download and link to you.
• Don't focus on trading links. Yes, you can trade a little bit but let's not make the focus of your website a directory of links. 
• Avoid buying links. Google is starting to frown on link purchasing and some SEOs believe it's a "black hat" technique in search engine optimization. If your website is new and/or if you do not have a good link following, then you should avoid buying links. If your website is established and you have quality links pointing to your website, then you can probably buy a few links. Be careful. You can get into a lot of trouble here. There are many other free and ethical ways to earn good quality links without buying them.
• Submission to Yahoo Directory is a wise investment ($299 a year). While some consider it a paid link, it's still worth it.

Comments

[Steve Williams]

I was curious about the Yahoo! directory and if it was worth $299. Now you made me consider it.

Thanks.

[Marble Host]

Hello,

This is great stuff. Don’t get me wrong. However, this is more like “how to become an SEO expert”, not “DIY SEO”.

If a small biz owner or internal marketing person is going to do SEO, I think they should focus on keyword research, content creation and landing page creation. Then, gradualy learn the rest as they start to see results. This list of things to do and learn makes it seem very daunting.

http://www.marblehost.com