Comprehensive Guide to Backlink Building

Building backlinks to your website is one of the most important things you can do in terms of off-page search engine optimization (SEO).
There are many ways in which this can be accomplished; these include:

• Using the Signature box on forums
• Posting to relevant directory sites
• Link Exchange Programs
• Paid Backlink Robot Systems

Using the signature box on free forums can be a highly effective way to gain free traffic for your website, because every time you make a new post, the signature is included at the bottom, and each new post counts as a new backlink.
This means that in order to get say 2000 backlinks to your site, simply make 2000 posts to a forum. Although this seems like a large number, if you make 10 or so a day, it soon adds up!
Posting to relevant directory sites is also a good way to get both backlinks and traffic to your site, however most directories require you to wait a while for approval, meaning that this can take a bit longer than using forums.
Another way to gain backlinks is to use link exchange programs, however my advice is to use these sparingly if possible, because these sites often require reciprocal links, which can result in a messy webpage.
This is inadvisable because it is thought that Google penalises sites that have more than around 100 external links on them.

In fact, there has been recent news that Google is actually targeting link/content farms and making it a lot harder in general for sites to be listed in their index.
Also, it is not just the number of backlinks that counts, but also the quality of them, meaning that backlinks from PR9 sites would be more valuable than say backlinks from PR2 or 3 sites.
Google, in particular, seems to take notice of the ratio of outgoing links to incoming links on specific pages of a website when indexing them. This is mainly done to prevent irrelevant search results from appearing on search engine results pages (SERPS).
For example, if a page contains 20 outgoing links and 2 incoming links, Google would mostly likely consider this to be a junk or spam website and not index it.
A good example of this is a blog or forum that does not have the proper security in place, i.e. posts are not manually approved where necessary, resulting in junk posts and links.
It is worth noting here that WordPress automatically puts a nofollow attribute on posted links. Having a nofollow attribute on a link means that search engines will ignore it when weighing up the links ratio on a page.

Using a Widget to Get Links and Increase Your Website's Exposure

Nearly every website owner I know wants his website to reach a broader market, to have more exposure to relevant users, and, quite simply, to generate more profits. Traditional online marketing experts will suggest using a combination of pay-per-click marketing and social media campaigns to increase your website's exposure across a plethora of mediums. If you have a large enough budget, embarking on a link-building campaign can also ensure that your website climbs the ranks of organic search and, if you're lucky, that your website or product is publicized to a new base of potential users.

But what if, instead of paying Google, Yahoo! or Bing to advertise your website, you could do it yourself? What if you could attract a relevant visitor base and an infinite number of links naturally, without paying someone to link to you? I'd like to suggest that you can, and that creating a widget is the way to reach these goals.

Widget marketing is considered by some to be the 'next big thing', though many traditional website owners still don't understand the benefits of this form of campaign. In short, a widget is an application that a webmaster creates that can be shared on other websites, computer desktops or mobile phones. Widgets can be games, videos, quizzes, or even just a content feed that can appeal to different websites. If, for example, your website sells clothing, you can create a widget to help users match different styles, or a content feed that shares your articles about the latest in celebrity fashion.

When using your widget, consumers will be automatically introduced to your website and services, and will become familiar with your brand so that even if they're not interested in your services right now, they may refer to you at some point in the future. And, if users like your widget, they will want to share it with friends, which will offer additional brand exposure. It can be argued, therefore, that by using widget marketing, your company will avoid having to 'pull' users in, but will empower consumers and other website owners to 'push' their friends to your website, a form of peer-based marketing which is often more successful than traditional marketing efforts.

There's no question that creating a widget requires a modicum of technical knowledge and that spreading your widget virally will require some legwork, and, perhaps, the services of a professional with widget marketing experience. However, it stands to reason that widget marketing can afford an excellent ROI and that unlike a PPC campaign or an uncontrollable SEO campaign, a great widget will offer long-term exposure that will continue to benefit your website for years to come.