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Wednesday, July 20, 2011

SEO For a New Site: Start Building Links Slowly

Having a website is important for many businesses and individuals. People can find you, read what you have to say or buy the products and services you are offering. Launching your website is only the first step. There’s more work to be done after your website debuts on the web.

Most of the time website owners are disappointed because no one seems to be going to their site; there is very little traffic or hits. Visitors to the site are usually relatives, friends and people who were told that the website exists. Using search engine optimization (SEO) methods like building links will help drive traffic to any website.

If you have a new website, you can increase traffic to your site through link building. You want other sites to link to your website (inbound links). The sites that link to you should be sites with the same or similar subject matter as yours. For example, if your site sells baby clothes, you want links from websites that deal with parenting or baby products. You don’t want links from sites that sell nutritional supplements or auction items. The sites that link to your website must always be relevant to your site.

New sites should build links at a slow, steady pace. It is unnatural to get more than 10,000 hits just after the launch of a new website. When setting up links, you can start with family, friends and colleagues. Ask who among them have websites. If their sites are relevant to yours, request that they link to your site via their posts. You can also utilize social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter and MySpace to establish links to your website.

Another way to build a link to your website is through blogging. When you add a blog to your site, place a link that goes back to your website’s home page. Include images, videos and even polls so the blog does not look forced. If you wish, you can post articles for sites that accept blogs and other types of articles. You may be able to insert a link to your own website in the article or include a link in your bio.

Some use link farms to get tons of links in one go. But this is hardly the way to do it. Google prefers natural links; those that develop over time. Link spamming your website may hurt your website in the end.

Once you have an established, indexed website, you can get a little more aggressive in link building. Take your time especially if you are new to the game. SEO work is not an overnight process. Patience, not over enthusiasm, is the key.
Darren writes on many topics including technology, free people search, social media and social networks.