How to Drive Traffic to Your Website Part 03

Backlinks, defined as links that point to your site on other sites, are one
of the most important aspects to consider when optimizing your site for
traffic. The more backlinks your site has, the higher it will rank with
search engines. And, the more backlinks you have out there, the more people
are bound to see your site.
Thankfully, there are lots of great ways to obtain backlinks.

One way is to utilize forums and message boards, especially those that
relate to your site in some way. You'll find that on these forums and
message boards, you can use a signature. Make sure to read the policies of
the site, and if they allow advertisements in the sig line, then by all
means take advantage of this. By including your link in your sig line, then
making a good number of regular, quality posts (no spam!) you will get more
backlinks pointing to your site.

Another way to get backlinks is through link trading. Link trading is where
you exchange links with another webmaster.
This is especially effective if the sites you are trading with have a high
Page Rank. One way to find websites to trade with is to visit webmaster
forums. Many of these types of forums have a special section devoted to
link trading. You can also search for sites that you feel are of good
quality, then email the webmaster and request a link trade. Some webmasters
will be happy to trade with
you, some won't. In some cases, you can even purchase
links on quality sites.

Then there's the directory route, another great way to get links. There are
hundreds of different web directories out there where you can submit your
site. Some of them cost money to list your site, while some of them are
free. DMOZ is probably the best example of a free quality directory.
Getting your site listed on directories can take time, especially if the
directory is large, so be prepared to wait a few weeks.

Listing on directories serves several purposes. First, it allows people
searching the directory a way to find your site. Second, it builds the
quantity of quality backlinks you have.

Now, let's talk more about those free article directories
-- one of the best ways to get backlinks to your website.
There are probably hundreds of these sites out there, and you can submit to
them all. The key is to write articles that relate to the topic of your
site in some way. Then at the bottom of each article, you're given a space
to include a short bio and the link to your site.

When webmasters come to these free article directories seeking free content,
it's possible they'll use your article. So not only are you getting the
backlink from the free article site, you're getting backlinks from all the
sites that are using your free articles. These backlinks will improve your
Page Rank, and people who read the articles may click your link and end up
at your site.

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Steve Renner
Author, Marketing Expert
Marketing Director
The Affiliate Community
http://www.affiliatecommunity.com