Another problem with this method is *link relevancy*. If sites linking to you have content that is not related to your content, search engines will not give much weight to those links.

==> Reciprocal Links with Individual Webmasters

This will definitely increase your link popularity, especially if you seek out link partners whose websites share same theme as yours.

But this approach is time consuming - first you have to surf around looking for potential link partners, then you have to email them, then you have to confirm that they added your link and so on.

==> Writing Articles

This is technique I use for increasing link popularity and it works very well.

Write short articles of 300 - 800 words and then submit them to article announcement lists and online article banks.

There are thousands of webmasters out there who need free content for their websites and you'll soon find your articles appearing on dozens, even hundreds, of different websites.

At bottom of your article is your Resource Box containing a link to your website. It might look something like this:

-------------------------------------------------------------------------- John Doe is webmaster of yourdomain.com where he offers cutting-edge tips on all aspects of web marketing. To find more advice, tools and resources to help you succeed in online business, visit: http://www.yourdomain.com --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Most webmasters will make URL in your Resource Box an active link. If they don't, you should insist on it because it's part of deal - they get free content for their website and you get a free link.

This technique has two important advantages over other methods of raising link popularity:

(1) You don't have to clutter up your website with reciprocal links

(2) You don't have to invest huge amounts of time searching for link partners and then emailing them to request a link. If they like your article, they just add it to their website.

Happy writing!

(c) 2002 by Michael Southon

Making contact Once you have added a link to each of sites you have identified, it is time to contact site owners. Usually this is done by email. Due to volume of spam most webmasters receive, it is very important to let them know that you have actually visited their site in first few sentences. Compliment them on site and specifically mention attribute you particularly enjoyed (as previously noted). You should then let them know that you have already provided a link to them, and give them URL of your links page so they can see this link for themselves. Only then do you mention that you would appreciate it if they would reciprocate.

Monitoring Once all of your initial emails have gone out, check back to sites you have targeted periodically to see if they have added your link. If they haven't added it within a month, one follow-up email is normally acceptable. If you don't hear back from them for a month after that, it may be time to remove their link from your links page, unless you feel that resource they provide is of critical value to your visitors. Check your rankings every month or so to see how they improve, and, if necessary, start process again.

The List Of Don'ts Don't exchange links with sites that you would not want your visitors to see. This type of link can make your site look indiscriminate while defeating entire purpose of link popularity. Also, do not ever exchange links with sites that contain nothing but a huge collection of links (AKA "link farms"). Search engines have been known to aggressively penalize sites that are associated with such sites. In addition, do not harass people who do not answer your emails. Remember that you are contacting someone, out of blue, who probably has too much to do already. If they haven't responded within a month of your second email, don't expect a link. Finally, do not expect overnight results. Link building takes a great deal of time and labor, and there is no real shortcut- a primary reason why search engines place importance on it. If your site is terrible, you aren't going to convince many others to link to you, no matter how sweetly you ask.

Conclusion A properly executed link building campaign will help boost your ranking with many search engines, but this is only part of benefit. The quality sites that have agreed to link to you will also send you highly relevant traffic. Also, your brand and name will become better known within your industry as a result of link requests that you make. Finally, your additions to Yahoo and Open Directory will send you a great deal of additional quality traffic. Link building is a laborious process, but if done properly it is most definitely worth effort.