The first tool that potential customers use to find the products and services they need is the search engines.They are the gateway to the Internet; this is why link popularity is so important.You have no possibilities of making any sales if customers do not find your website.
But what’s this “link popularity” that the SEO are talking about? Link popularity refers to the ranking assigned to your website by the search engines.It also determines the ranking your page gets when keywords are entered into a search engine. So you may be wondering, how do I make my link popular?
Ranks in search engines are discretionary.They gives status and ranking to sites linked to their pages from related, quality sites. This is a very simple formula, but a very important one! Google have created the system, and now all of the popular search engines use Google to rank your web pages in their indexes. Commonly used for search engine optimization is your keyword. If it is very hard to search for your keywords, it will be harder to achieve link popularity. But don’t be disappointed. There are tried and tested ways of achieving link popularity using the most competitive keywords.
Here are a few things you should be aware of:
1. Remember that just linking up with a large number of other websites will not achieve link popularity. In fact, it may have quite the opposite effect. This is particularly true when pertaining to websites that are nothing more than “link farms” – pages containing line after line of indiscriminate links. Search engines may aggressively discriminate against your website if you are associated with a link farm, so steer clear of them!
2. Bear in mind the quality of the site you are linking to. Never link to a page you have reservations about what your visitors will be seeing. The last thing you want your website to appear as is indiscriminate and cheap.Linking to sites of poor quality will not only lessen your link popularity, but it may completely destroy it.
So what do you need to do to achieve supreme link popularity and improve your rankings to stellar status on all the popular search engines. The first step, and the fastest way to get your foot in the door, is to get a listing in a popular directory, such as Open Directory Project and Yahoo. If your site is business-related, you will want to be listed on Yahoo. Despite the fact that it will cost you around $300 a year,the money will be well spent. If your site is non-commercial, the listing will be free, but it will take time actually get it listed. Open Directory gives you a free listing whether you are business-related or non-commercial, but be prepared to make a lot of follow-up inquiries before you see your site listed.
You are aiming to get listed in the highest level of appropriate category, and this just takes some common sense. For example, if your company ships Alpaca wool from an Alpaca farm located in the middle of Nowhere, Tiny State, do NOT submit your listing to “Retailers from Nowhere, Tiny State.” BIG MISTAKE! All you have to do is look a little deeper – and submit your listing to the “Fine Alpaca Wool” category. You will not only associate yourself with culture and quality, but you will be listed in a national category.
The next step after you have attained directory listings is to locate other quality sites that will increase your link popularity. Try to find sites that are in some way related to yours. Not only will your link popularity increase, but your customer base may also be expanded. You want to avoid your competitors and look for sites that are useful to your site’s visitors. Let’s look at the Alpaca Wool site example. Linking up to a site that sells knitting supplies would be helpful to your visitors, and the chances of the knitting supply site wanting to link up to your site are also greater. By linking to a related site that will be relevant to your website’s traffic, you are increasing both of your site’s business prospects – and both of your sites’ link popularity.
Not all sites want to link to other sites, so you will have to do some research. Google is an excellent starting place for your search. Enter keywords that you think quality customers will also enter to find your own site. Remember, your criteria are quality, highly ranked, non-competing websites that have a links or resources page. Go to these sites and objectively evaluate them. Look at the quality of the product, the graphics, and the ease of use. Then check out the other sites they are linked to, and determine if your own site would fit in with the crowd.
When you decide you have found a good prospect, you must set out to woo them. Add a link on your own link pages to their site. This is an important first step; it shows good faith, and raises your chances significantly of their reciprocity. After you have added their link, you must contact the webmaster of their site. This is almost always done by email, so make sure it is immediately clear that your message is not a junk mail. Tell them right away that you have added a link to their page on your site. A hook like this almost always insures that readers will read on.
Next, be sure to be flattering and let them know how much you appreciate their website. Make them feel that you have actually visited their site, and that their site is not just a random pick. Give them the address of your links page, and ask them to check out the link for themselves. It’s a good idea to mention that they will not only benefit from the increased traffic your website will direct their way, but you will also increase their link popularity. Briefly, explain why link popularity is so essential, but do this in a sentence or two so you don’t sound like a professor! Finally, tell them you would greatly appreciate if they would also add a link on their own links page to your website.
Go through this process with as many appropriate sites as you can find, bearing in mind the criteria of quality and non-competitiveness. Check these website frequently to see if they have added a link to your page. Give it about a month, and if no link appears, try another charming email. Then give it another month, and if your site is still absent from their links page, it’s time to remove their link from your own links page. The only time you want to pursue a link further than this is if you believe a site is crucial to your link popularity and your business needs. Just remember to keep all your communications complimentary and cordial.
Then set up a schedule to check your ranking in search engines frequently to see if your link popularity has improved. This is not achievable overnight. It will take some time and a good deal of work. There is no way around the labor-intensive quality of improving your link popularity, which is why search engines regard it with such importance.
Make sure you have a beautiful, streamlined site or you will never persuade anyone to link up to you.