As a new company with a new website, we are seeing first hand how difficult it is to gain traction against well entrenched competitors. When it comes to organic search results, the age of a site is a major factor. So we have embarked on our own journey using the same techniques we suggest for our clients with our SEO service. One of those is link building.
Each search engine is different, but the amount of imbound or backlinks you have pointing to your site the better. There are a number of ways to go about getting these backlinks. You can submit your website to online directories. You can employ social media. You can participate on online forums and blogs.
One thing you might be tempted in doing is to pay someone for inbound links. They come in two flavors. The first type of offer is from companies who advertise hundreds of inbound links for prices ranging from $40 to $150. Stay clear of these offers. Not only will you get useless links from offbeat directory listings and link farms, but you could be penalized for using such tactics. The second type of offer is for links from high page ranking sites, where the backlink has more value. Costs for these types of link building packages start at around $250 and can go up to $750 or more. You’ll get a lot fewer links, but the link quality will be better. If you don’t have the time to build your own quality links and are willing to pay, then this is a viable option.
Your last option is to start the link building process yourself, one link at a time. First you have to have a reference point to guage the effectiveness of your efforts. You can find out how many backlinks you have by visiting www.backlinkwatch.com. Just type in your URL and a few minutes later you’ll know how many backlinks you have.
The first time we checked our site, after our site was one month old, we had a measly 20 backlinks. After a solid month of link building we increased that number to 139. Which technique worked the best? We used a number of techniques including directory listings, press releases, and forums. We also made use of this blog to write original articles like this, which are then redistributed through Digg and ping services.
There is no magic pill for getting to page one, despite claims to the contrary. You don’t create authority overnight. But you also have to start somewhere. Sometimes you have to build links one link at a time. And such is the case with this post.
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