If not, you may have fallen prey to one of five common misconceptions to achieving success with an online business.

Misconception #1: If you put up a Web site, people will come. Regretfully, this is far from truth. Competition is fierce on Internet, and you must learn how to compete in order to have a successful online business. Putting up a Web site is first step, but doing nothing more will ensure your site's failure.

Misconception #2: Amateur promotion will render professional results. Many people believe that they can purchase a handy dandy software program that will submit their sites to 999 search engines and directories, and their promotion efforts are over. The truth of matter is, majority of traffic to most Web sites comes from major search engines and directories, so submitting to 990 other ones is simply a waste of time and won't bring you any success.

131 (Legitimate) Link Building Strategies . . . "The Definitive Source of Link Building Strategies on Internet"

Co-authored by Robin Nobles, Eric Ward, and John Alexander

In search engine optimization, "off page" factors have become more and more important as they relate to rankings. In particular, solid link popularity can literally make or break a site with search engines.

Before we go any further, what is "link popularity"? In very simplistic terms, link popularity refers to number and quality of incoming links that are pointing to your site. These other sites consider your site important enough to link to. So, in engine's view, your site is considered important as well. What is meant by "link popularity" can get much more complex, which is discussed further in this article.

However, one of most difficult areas of SEO is building link popularity. Why? Because engines don't want "artificially created" (or useless) links, so there are no easy ways to build link popularity. The days of link farms and huge link exchange programs are over. Try those strategies now and you can easily find yourself booted out of an engine.

Rather, engines want links from authoritative sites, or links from sites that share same focus as your site.

But besides link popularity you gain by getting an authoritative site to link to you, you also gain additional visibility for your Web site. So, when working on building link popularity, don't forget those two basic reasons for requesting links.

The Purpose of this Article

Because building link popularity is one of most difficult and time consuming aspects of search engine marketing, we decided to join forces with each other and with other search engine optimizers to create a list of legitimate ways you can build link popularity for your site.

When looking through this list, you may find strategies that are subject to abuse. If you use them as recommended in this article, you will have no problems. Abuse them, and you're treading in potentially dangerous waters.

Stephen Baker with Fast said one of most memorable statements I've heard as it relates to what engines like or don't like to see. He said:

"Our position is pretty straight forward...it's not technique that we are concerned about, it's intention."

So, always keep that statement in mind when you consider linking or any other strategies for your Web site. Analyze your intentions, and if you wouldn't mind an engine knowing what you're doing, your intentions are okay.