Getting links alone is not enough, because Google does not value all links alike. PageRank is one consideration, but relevancy plays a much bigger role these days. That’s why you should focus your link building efforts on finding relevant links, instead of high PageRank links. A relevant high PR link is of course optimal.

These free sources can get you relevant, high quality backlinks. Most will require some work on your part, like writing content, but many are worth it in the end. For tips on creating new content from your old articles, see my posts on turning posts into articles and combining articles.

1. Article marketing - Write and article and submit it to article directories.
2. Social media marketing - Submit, bookmark and market your content.
3. Link baiting - Create content that baits readers to link.
4. Blog carnivals - Feature your blog posts on other relevant blogs.
5. Squidoo lenses - Create a relevant lens and link back to your site.
6. HubPages - Squidoo with a different name (use both).
7. BloggingZoom - Like Digg, but with more backlinks and less banning.
8. Forum marketing - Use the signature space on relevant forums.
9. Blog comments - Dofollow blogs are best, but others work.
10. Guest blogging - Even where link exchanges fail, post exchanges usually work.

Click the links above for more information on the various methods. They link to my earlier posts on those topics. Feel free to discuss these, as well as other free link building methods in the comments. Please share your experiences on what works and what does not.

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The idea behind article marketing is that you write articles on a topic, and include an author box with them linking back to your website or offer. The article will then be published by other webmasters, who need content for their websites. Every copy of the article will include your author box and link back to your site.

To make your article available for others, all you need to do is submit it to article directories. Most of these directories also display your author box and so give you a backlink. This means that article marketing will at least get you links from the directories you submit to, even if no one else picks then up for their site.

You can often turn a blog post into an article very easily. All you need to do is rewrite it to a more article like form, if your posts are not normally structured enough. The rewriting process will also make the new article unique content, so that you will not be penalized in search engines.

After you have rewritten the post into an article, you will want to submit it to directories. I have already written a post on where to submit, but you can use whatever directories you like. If you only want to submit your article once, I recommend Article Marketer, because they will distribute your article to a range of other websites and newsletters.

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Though a successful link bait may have a great effect, coming up with a good enough topic may be difficult. Here are 10 link bait ideas that you can adapt to your niche, and create a successful link bait.

1. Write about a news issue. The more popular the topic, the more interested people will exist, but that also means more competition.
2. Be helpful. Tutorials and guides on almost any topic are often linked to.
3. Create a list. A list can be about almost any topic. The more items, the better - as long as quality is good.
4. Create a free tool. In could be a simple form based online app, or a piece of software.
5. Share your images. Free art and images get used by many, and by using a creative commons license you can require a backlink.
6. Top 100. Compile a list of top resources on something. If you link out to other websites, they might link back too.
7. Share your code. The same applies to source code.
8. Be funny. Jokes and humor - especially in the form of video content - gets a ton of links. If it’s funny.
9. Polarize. If you write a thought provoking article, you may get links from both those in favor and those who oppose.
10. Improve others’ work. Many themes and plugins are free software. Modify and create a better version of a popular one.

After you’ve picked your topic, and written your piece, don’t forget to promote it. Even a great link bait idea may lead to nothing, if no one hears about it. The best place to promote link baits is social media.

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Lets start with the HTML structure of a link. In HTML you define a hyperlink (an anchor) with the ‘a’-tag. In its simplest form, the HTML code to create a link will look something like this:

<a href=”http://take.me/away”>Take me away!</a>

The ‘href’-attribute tells where the link should take you and the text between the tags is displayed, but you probably knew that much. There’s not much you can do differently with the ‘href’-attribute, since it must point to the target document. However, be sure to either always use http://www.example.com/, or always use http://example.com/ to avoid duplicate content penalties.

The anchor text is the most important part of the link SEO-wise. The anchor text tells search engines what keywords the target document is relevant for. Never use ‘click here’ as the anchor text, if you can use a more descriptive one. Don’t just target the main keywords, keep in mind the long tail too.

You are able to create a link using just the ‘href’-attribute and some anchor text. However, there are other attributes that can be used in the anchor tag. Of the 10+ allowed, only two, ‘rel’ and ‘title’, are thought to have SEO effect.

The ‘rel’-attribute defines the relationship of the target document with respect to the source document. There are a number of values allowed for the attribute, and you can use many for one link by separating them with spaces (not commas, as is often done). The relationship type with most SEO effect is ‘nofollow’. It is a common standard by some of the most important search engines and tells the crawler that the link should not be followed.

Different search engines treat ‘nofollow’ links in different ways. In Google, such link will not pass PageRank, but Google may follow the link and crawl the target page. Yahoo! does pretty much the same, but even a ‘nofollow’ link can add keywords to a page in Yahoo! search. MSN/Live search discards the link most thoroughly, pretending it does not exist.

Another link relationship that is often used is ‘bookmark’. It is used to identify permalinks on blog s (though that wasn’t its original use). Its SEO effect has not been proved, but since such links by the original definition should point to a “key entry point”^[ref] into a document, search engines can crawl them more frequently. As I said, no proof exists, but you should use it for permalinks.

The other anchor attribute that can have an effect in SEO (though it is debated), is the ‘title’-attribute. It should be used to explain the link when the anchor text is not clear. You should always make the anchor text clear, since that has more effect, but you can add information with the title tag. Most browsers also show the title as a tool tip, when you hold your mouse over it, so it should be information that readers can use - not just an endless list of keywords.

To combine all of the above together, the link you use as the permalink to your post should look something like this:

<a rel=”bookmark” title=”The Anatomy of a Link - permalink” href=”http://blog.yourwebsiteprofit.info/2007/10/the-anatomy-of-a-link.html”>The Anatomy of a Link</a>

This article is part of the Internet Marketers Group Writing Project.

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The carnival will be published every other week. For more information on the carnival, and submission guidelines, please take a look at this page. If you want to know more about Blog Carnival in general, see my post on blog carnivals. They can get you some free links and traffic.

If you need help navigating the Blog Carnival website, I suggest that after reading my post you take a look at this excellent walk-through by Courtney Tuttle. You’ll learn the best ways to use Blog Carnivals, too.

If you have a related blog that you would like to host a future edition on, feel free to contact me. You’ll find my email address here. If you have great articles, submit them through this form.

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So, again, I went through some of the blogs listed last time, and some of the ones I follow regularly, and picked some good new posts to list. I think this is much better than simply listing the blog URLs. If you decide to copy the list, use the “visual” editor in WordPress or the “compose” mode in Blogger, when copying the list - I’ll save you a lot of work. If you have the time, please visit some of the blogs, and pick another post you like. Getting links to different posts is much better for various reasons.

If you are not on the list, copy the list and leave a comment here - I’ll add you to it. If you are already listed, please copy the list nevertheless - everyone will get more visibility that way. Besides, if the list grows too long, I may be inclined to remove the links of those, who have not posted a list themselves…

The List

Long-Tail Keywords - Post Ideas A to Z - Digg Promotion - 2,000 StumbleUpon Hits - The New WordPress - Top 10 Plugins - 3,000 Stumble Visitors - Maximizing Potential - Viral Experiment Results - Competition - eBay Sales Report - Entrepreneur Mind - MacBook Mini - PageRank Update - Increase Technorati Authority - A Beer a Day - Network Marketing - 10 Title Tips - September Report - Health Insurance

• Don’t see your link? Post the list on your blog, and leave a comment with your URL.

• Got listed? Make the list spread by bookmarking this post. You can find the bookmark button below.

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I use blog carnivals regularly. Almost every Saturday I go through the list of active carnivals and submit a post to each that matches one of my recent posts. I was last featured on The Carnival of Bloggers Helping Bloggers on Topic Factory, and though the traffic is not huge, many blog carnivals give me a few hits (and there quite a few I’ve submitted to).

The BlogCarnival.com navigation is not very good, but basically you should sign up for an account, then log in. Then you browse carnivals for those that match your posts. When you find a carnival you like, you click on the name and select ’submit an article’. There you just paste in the permalink URL of the post in question, and the script usually gets most of the other details right.

The contents of the ‘Remarks’-field are shown on the listing of some blog carnivals. You should mostly submit to the ones with a ‘next issue’ date shown, as they are the most likely to get published. Some of the carnivals in the list had the previous issue published almost a year ago, and will never see another issue.

I’m thinking about hosting my own blog carnival on making money with a website. Leave a comment here, if you would interested in submitting entries, or acting as a host on some editions. I’d like to make it a regular carnival, but need to know it’ll get entries. Meanwhile, get some free links and traffic to your blog entries with the ongoing blog carnivals.

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This makes link baiting one of the preferred search engine optimization techniques, because the links will look natural to search engines, and so are more valuable than bought or exchanged links. This post gives ideas on successful link baits, and ways to execute them.

Lists

Good lists on a topic are often consulted by those in need of help, and if help is found, it is natural to link to the resource. Good lists are helpful, and objective - instead of just listing the pros, also mention any cons. To be a successful link bait, a list should not have very much competition, so lists of article directories, or web directories will rarely earn many links.

Tools

Useful tools are likewise shared by those that found help. Some examples of successful tools are ip-address lookups, who-is query services and manual submission tools. All these already exist, so the best idea would be to come up with something different. Keep in mind that the larger the possible audience, the more potential for linking.

Controversy

Controversy sparks interest, and if the reader disagrees, he might write a rebuttal on his blog, or website linking to the source of controversy - you. Remember not to make anyone angry, as that might cost you readers. Current events, politics and religion are some oft used themes for controversial articles, but be careful with religion, as it has the highest potential to make someone angry.

Contests

Blogging contests often have linking as a requirement, so they are naturally link baits. Some other competitions manage to have a link baiting effect without stating it plainly. Any contest with a good enough price will spark enough interest to act as a link bait.

Popularizing Your Link Bait

It is not enough to post the link bait on you website, it you don’t have many visitors. Popularize it on relevant discussion forums, or post about it on other blogs. Use all the normal methods you use, when publishing you articles, and then some more. Social bookmarking is a great way to popularize your link bait, which is why every good link bait should have a ‘bookmark this‘ button in a visible place.

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This isn’t anything nearly as exciting as Drunken Virals at dcr Blogs, but it won’t be as much duplicate content as direct copying would. So here I have the list of posts from the blogs on the list.

Get Listed: Copy the list, and add your post - I’ll link back, if you tell me about it. It will be much more interesting to compile a list of your own by visiting some of the blogs, and finding another post you like.

The Social Marketing Strategy - 10 Traits of Successful Bloggers - People Shooter - Silly Love Songs - How to Get Free Drinks - Illusion of Space - Blog Action Day - Puppy Training: Orientation - Creating Niche Websites - Funny Commercial - My Cat Wanted a Blog - Beware Job Scams - eBay Bets $50 - Veggie Power - 200+ Articles for Bloggers - Blog Action Day 2007 - Spider Pig Clip - BidVertiser Review - Overcome Writer’s Block - Bobcats Game Poll - Get Linked In - Blue Whales Seen - Chinese Are Richer - 12 Link Building Tips - DNA 2.0 - Comment for a Stumble - Downside of Blogging - First 3 Steps in Sales - 3 Proofreading Tips - Traffic Exchange & AdSense - I Love E-Mail - Sponsored Themes Blog Suicide - Alexa Widget - Build Traffic - Between Post Ads - Vegan Sandals - 102 Ways to Earn - Latent Semantic Indexing - Got Gas? - Sell Your Used Phone - 8 Banana Uses - Raven on the Roof - Why Blog About Olympics - What Women Think - DollarPays Review - Against Comment Moderation - Jailhouse Rock - Thanks for Remote Desktop - The Nuclear Iran - Why do You Believe - Building Relationships - Choosing a Host - Outsourcing Experiment - Wii Success - Tap That Mana - Discount Shopping - The Flagship Post - Sync Thunderbird Profiles - Where’s the PR Update - 5 Links for 1 - Optimize for Google

Note to all on this list: Please make sure your blog front page does not show 100 posts and 50 video clips the next time I visit it. No, really, it scares away potential readers with a slow connection. And if you’re looking for more exposure for your link, there’s the ‘Bookmark’ button below

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In its simplest form, article marketing is a type of advertising through which a business writes short articles related to its respective industry. Once written, the business makes these articles freely available for distribution and publication in the marketplace. Each article contains a ‘bio box’ and ‘by-line’ which include references and contact information for the author’s business. Well written content articles released for free distribution have the potential of gaining the author business credibility within his or her market, as well as new clients.(WP)

It is easy to see the value of article marketing, when you understand that each time the article is published, you get a free backlink (or backlinks). The articles aren’t likely to get published on PR 9 sites, so don’t wait for miracles, but a hundred links from PR 0-5 sites are still valuable. And the more articles you publish, the more links you get.

How to Publish?

There are some, who argue that you should only submit your articles to a select few article sites. They usually argue that a) doing otherwise is a waste of time, or b) submitting the same article to many sites increases duplicate content, and makes your articles rank worse in search engines.

Now, on a) I agree; you shouldn’t waste your time with low quality article indexes, but submit to all that you think will benefit you; I’ve compiled a list of the important ones for you. On b) however, I totally disagree. The articles, if they are successful, will anyway be published on a number of sites, identical. Submitting on more indexes only helps publishers find them, search engines are not going to hate the content any more than they already do. Besides, I see backlinks as the more important use of articles. Secondary traffic from articles coming up in search engines is only a bonus.

Where to Publish?

1. Ezine Articles

The biggest player with the most articles. You get a free account with 10 submissions, make them good and you’ll get a platinum account with unlimited submissions.

2. Article Marketer

They send your article out to publishers. The complete publisher list submission is a paid service, but you can submit to the partial list for free. The only problem I have with Article Marketer is that they don’t show the distribution information to free publishers.

3. Article Codex

A newer and smaller directory, but one that offers Revenue Sharing. They take your AdSense publisher id, and 50% of page loads on your articles will use your id for ads. So you might even get some revenue, while marketing your website. Articles are automatically accepted, unless they fail some test.

4. Articles Base

Not very different from all the other article directories, but their submission is very easy, and articles get accepted quite fast. They have also accepted all my articles without modification.

If you found this guide useful, please consider buying me a beer

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If you are interested in having a link to your site from this post, link to this page with the text ‘Your Website Profit’ from anywhere on your site, and post a comment here. I’ll add a link to your site from this post. You can specify the details in your comment.

If you’d like to have a link in the side panel, please contact me at user@yourwebsiteprofit.tk.

Lavaball is a seo firm with proven results in SEO.

Classesandcareers.com provides an online education blog with education articles, resources and advice.

Resources and Options when working at home.

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Traffic Exchange Programs

While these may not strictly be a form of viral marketing, some are very close. While programs like Instant Buzz offer no incentive to visit the advertised site, some programs do. In Traffic Swarm, unlike in autosurf programs, you have to view each site for about 20 seconds, and then manually move on to the next one. You also select which sites to visit and which to skip. This gives some incentive to read the content, and may lead to actual visitors.

Link Referral takes this to the next level. Members who wish to earn more publicity not only need to visit sites they choose, but need to review some of them. This means they are likely to pick interesting sites to read, and may stay on these longer.

All traffic exchange programs also have a referral system. For instance, Instant Buzz offers to send an invitiation to refer 10 friends at sign up. This is similiar to the viral marketing model: existing social networks are used for advertising. However, most of the advertising may go to premium paid members and the service itself.

Interesting Freebies

Now this does not mean an advertisement like “One out of every ten computers free!”, but something that does not seem like a product. It could be a fancy screensaver connected to your site’s content and including a link to your site, or it could be a free mp3 from your garage punk band, which just had your address read aloud at the end. The important thing is for it to be creative, and different from your products.

Now you should not only have it on your site, but let visitors freely redistribute it. This way they will tell their friends, who will tell their friends etc. If your freebie is software, a very good idea is to licence it under GPL. This way no one will flame you for distributing the link to it (and your site) on free software forums and sites.

Continue to Part 2 on Viral Marketing.

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