Many sites will link back to you if you offer a reciprocal link, but I know I don't want my site filled with all sorts of banners and buttons, with content that may not even be of interest to my visitors.

What if I told you there was a free way to get hundreds of web sites to link to you absolutely free without a reciprocal link? Interested?

Think about it. You're a webmaster. Don't you love it when somebody writes to you telling you how great your site is, how useful they found content, how original design is etc etc. I know I do! Many webmasters, in order to give their sites credibility and their visitors confidence, have testimonial pages. These testimonial pages usually include not only testimonial received, but source with a link back.

.. A client got in touch with me last week concerned about approach of Christmas, and fact that nothing had been done to promote their website (ever!). They simply wanted to know what options were available to promote their site, and how much it was going to cost.

I have reproduced my advice within this article (without associated costs, obviously). The advice is relevant to those of you who *are* actively promoting your websites too. (Always be careful, however, not to promote same page too often to same search engine or directory!)

<== Advice begins...

Dear Concerned Client,

Following on from Friday's telephone conversation about promoting your site, I have summarised possible options you might want to take. The options are as follows:

1) BASIC site submission.

This does not *guarantee* extra site traffic. A listing on major search engines and directories is absolutely necessary, nevertheless, to provide at least chance of search engine traffic. Activities include:

* Determination of suitable keywords and site description; use in search engine (and directory) submissions.

* Hand submission of site to 10-20 major search engines including Google and other major UK search engines

* Automatic submission to 50+ directories

* Hand submission to DMOZ and Lycos human-edited directories

* Hand submission to 10-20 UK shopping guides. (Not all guides will list site for free. Some require you create a reciprocal link, whilst others require a listing payment or an affiliate program to join (so there is at least possibility of earning income).

* Automatic submission of one web page to major search engines via Inktomi. This guarantees web page will be listed on several search engines within 48 hours. (Page listing is refreshed every 48 hours for 1 year thereafter.) It does *not* guarantee a good listing, however.

- http://www.shoptour.co.uk/webmaster-promote/ - http://www.dmoz.org - http://www.lycos.co.uk

2) BASIC search engine report.

A simple report can be generated each month, that determines search engine ranking for 5-10 specific keywords; e.g. 'key word 1', 'key words 2', 'key words 3' etc. (These keywords would be determined in option 1) above.) There are many sites that allow you to do this yourself. My favourite tool can be found at

- http://www.did-it.com

3) Create a LINKS PAGE.

Create a links page and engage in an active reciprocal linking campaign. The ideal solution would be to swap links with sites that already rank well for your chosen keywords. This process can be automated a little with free scripts found at

- http://www.cgi-resources.com

Good link-swapping strategies can be found in this article - http://www.howipromotemywebsite.com/bin/ap.pl?link-swaps

4) Start a pay-per-click search engine campaign (ADVANCED)