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Inbound links exist when someone else links to your blog. Not only is this flattering, but it lets search engines know that someone out there considers you an authority in your niche. Some of these links will be developed over time as you deliver unique and relevant content to your readers. Hopefully, some of your readers will find your content so valuable or entertaining that they’ll share your blog through a popular social networking site, such as Twitter or Facebook. But if you want to create a successful blog, you’ll have to spend some time generating these inbound links.
As a blogger, you can take advantage of social networking to generate some quality inbound links. Join as many social networking sites as you can. However, be prepared to participate in these sites. Some of them, such as Digg or Stumbleupon, will label you as a spammer and delete your account if all you do is post links to your blog. Take the time to make friends and follow their posts, and they will likely return the favor. Building a loyal following on Twitter, Facebook, Stumbleupon, or any other social networking site does take time, but if you’re willing to do the work, you’ll soon find your social networking friends are generating some of your inbound links for you.
Inbound links will carry more weight with search engines if the links are relevant to the content of your blog. A link from a site about global politics to your dog training blog might be ignored by the search engines simply because the two subjects have very little in common. If you want relevant links, you’ll need to spend some time reading other blogs first. Search out those with content that complements yours. When you find something suitable, leave an insightful and useful comment, including a link back to your own blog. Some blog owners might even be open to the idea of link exchange. This means that they place a link to your blog on their site, and you return the favor. It never hurts to ask. But remember to keep it relevant or you might be penalized by search engines.
Guest blogging is a powerful way to generate inbound links. Guest blogging is when you post on a blog that isn’t your own. You might do this because you have been asked to by the owner of the other blog, or you might have approached the owner about the idea. When you guest blog, make sure it’s on a blog that has similar content to yours and post a link to your own blog at the end of your guest post. This generates at least one more quality inbound link.
If you’re an avid writer, you might want to consider article marketing. The idea here is that you produce quality content that is related to your blog and post in online (but not on your own blog). Make sure to include a relevant link back to your own site. This can help not only with the page rank (PR) of your site, but it can help drive readers from your articles to your blogs. Just make sure that every article you choose to link to your blog is relevant is some way. Also remember to check the terms of service at each site you post your articles on. Some of them will have rules about linking to your own blog directly from an article. However, most of them will allow you to place a link in your profile, which still serves as a valuable backlink.
Consider adding a review page to your blog. On this page you can review other blogs of similar content and post this review on your site. When you’ve completed a positive review, send a note to the owner of the blog you’ve finished reviewing. Let them know how much you’ve enjoyed their site, and that you wanted to share their site with your readers. If your review is well written and flattering, the site owner will usually include it on their own site, complete with a backlink.
Search out those directories that allow you to list your site. These should be quality sites with a review process, not simply a post-and-run approach. Sites that have humans reviewing submissions tend to have a higher PR than automated directories, and so will actually help your blog. Once your link has been approved, search engines will consider the backlink to be one of quality. Don't get impatient and submit your site to an automated directory, as your PR will likely drop in the long run.
There are sites out there that promise to provide incoming links for a fee. Don’t even consider these websites as a viable option for generating quality inbound links. Building links takes time and effort, and your blog will attract links as your content grows. Remember that search engines often reward a blog for quality incoming links, but penalize these same blogs for irrelevant links. Purchasing inbound links is not only a waste of money, but it can damage the PR of your site in the eyes of the major search engines.
Take the time to interact with your readers. Answer questions left in your comments section, read their blogs, and consider creating a forum section on your blog for readers to interact with each other. These are all valuable ways to ensure your readers remember your site, and this increases the chance that they will generate backlinks for you. A good blog with strong content almost generates links on its own.
Remember, most search engines ranks websites and blogs to determine who shows up first in search results. The higher your PR, the higher your site will be on the long list of results, and the more visitors you will have to your blog. Taking the time to explore possible inbound link ideas is never a waste, and just might help you generate additional traffic to your blog.
