2004 is turning out to be year when free ride is looking like an endangered species. Everyone is getting into act: Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, Verizon, and more. The phone company “Yellow Pages” people are growing their internet presence, and all these companies are searching for just right mix of keyword/pay-per-click/paid directory listing model. Already, paid options for website promotion far outnumber old-fashioned search engine placement. Where it will end is anyone’s guess. But what’s for sure is that free ride is nearly over. Exposure on Internet, like exposure in rest of media, has become a commodity. In future, many ways of promoting a webiste will resemble advertising models familiar from non-Internet world. To garner promotional exposure, website owner will need to expend more resources than ever. Whether resources are supplied personally by website owner, or by hired specialists, does not really matter. The new reality is that promotion on Internet is already looking a lot like promotion everywhere else in world. Vital, and valuable.

How does one build these kind of quality links? There are at least four well-known methods, and creative website owners can come up with more. First, you can ask for them. At conventions, conferences, meetings, anyplace where business of your website may be discussed, ask for quality links. If someone has a site you respect, and it relates to your product, simply ask them to link to your site. It’s good old networking at its finest. Second, you can write articles that promote your website, or your product or service, include a link back to your home page, and offer it for publication on Internet. There are numerous forums for doing just this – try Googling some search terms to come up with them. Third, get on Internet and find directories that relate to your product or service, and ask for a link to be placed. This is an easy step that most website owners can take themselves. Finally, and perhaps best way – build a great site! Put up great content, and other sites will link to you. Because, in end, that is what Internet is all about – disseminating information. Add valuable content, in terms of information, to your site, keep adding it over time, and gradually, people will link to you. If you build it, they will come.