In this post, we’ll provide some understanding of backlinks and provide many great ways to set them up (many of which are FREE).

Understand backlinks

By definition, backlinks are simply links from other sites that direct people to your website. Sounds pretty advanced, right? Well, not all backlinks are the same. I’ll explain what I mean, but first let’s see how they came about so we REALLY understand their business purpose.

It all started with the inventors of Google and a concept called Page Rank; these were really smart guys, one of whom was Larry Page (very appropriate last name, don’t you think?). In March 1996, they came up with a way to get information on the web and then use statistical formulas or algorithms to measure the popularity of a website and assign a ranking score to it.

In this magic formula of winning the popularity contest, both quantity AND quality matter. In other words, the number of links pointing to your site matters. But, also, links coming from high-ranking sites to yours are like gold digging for gold to increase your traffic because of how search engines notice your site AND give it a thumbs up. Let me explain.

Pages are ranked from 0 to 10. Sites like Google and Yahoo have 10, of course. Sites like Ezines and HubPages rank around 5. Most blogging sites rank, on average, between 1 and 3. Sites that have a higher page rank are considered more important and credible to “crawlers.” Web”. So, you see, getting some “breadcrumbs” sprinkled on your site from one of the great enchiladas is a very good thing: palatable to the (very smart but very picky) search engines. At the end of the day, many high-quality backlinks to your site increase its availability or easy accessibility on the web, hence SEO (search engine optimization).

Some great ways to build backlinks

1. You can buy links from places like TextLinkAds.com

2. Put some freebies available and a call to action that drives them to your site.

3. Provide a short multiple choice quiz (keep it to 1-2 questions).

4. Get a Twitter account with your websites listed there; It is very important to design a background that is different from the standards provided by Twitter.

5. Use methods to automate your Twitter, like Twibs, TweetDeck, and HootSuite.

6. Start a debate with someone on Twitter who has thousands of followers; be very careful to be courteous and professional throughout the entire process.

7. Put your business on Google Places.

8. Reveal the top ten blogs of the week on your site.

9. Provide a huge list of resources.

10. Place classified ads: Two free sites are Craigslist and BackPage.com.

11. Submit your blogs and articles to directories.

12. Write reviews about services, products, great companies and people you know.

13. Retweet content that belongs to experts in your niche.

14. Send praise or testimonials to website owners (be genuine).

15. Review your niche on Amazon.

16. Link your sites together (also direct with or without www in your URL and vice versa).

17. Get your own YouTube channel and post your videos there with descriptions.

18. Post your videos on sites like MetaCafe, DailyMotion, Vimeo, and Viddler.

19. Add content to your blog regularly (at least twice a week).

20. Create a Facebook Fanpage separate from your personal profile (very important).

21. Post useful comments on other people’s Fanpages and blogs.

22. Write a newsletter that is sent regularly.

23. Write very cheap eBooks about your niche and promote them on Amazon.

24. There are freelance websites where you can hire people to LIKE, DIGG, BOOKMARK or COMMENT on your stuff.

25. Make audio versions of your blogs and articles. Then publish the podcasts to iTunes and also to podcast directories.

26. Put your profile with all your links on sites like VisibleMe.com and LookUpPage.com

27. Ask people to bookmark your blog on their social media platforms.

28. Use the various WordPress widgets and plugins on your blog site.

29. Go to Zimbio.com to register your blog and post your videos and articles.

30. Offer to be a guest blogger on other sites; it gives them good content and it gives you backlinks.

31. Use RSS feeds in all your content.

32. Start interacting with the best gurus in your niche; they can eventually make comments on your content which can be gold to increase your page ranking.

33. Become an active member of Yahoo Answers where you can provide solutions to questions within your niche.

34. Become a member of The Backlinks Forum and be sure to include a link to their websites within your signature.

35. Make sure all your websites are included in your profile for your social networking sites, blog sites and forums.

36. Use syndicated press releases, even if they are VERY expensive. That’s why I put this one at the bottom of the list.

I hope you have found this useful. Happy backlinking to you!