How Do I Get Inbound Links?
Now we get to the $10,000 question. "Where do I go to get links?"
As a full-time SEO professional, I can tell you this where I spend most of my time over the long haul. When I first start working with a site, I spend a lot of time researching the audience, assessing the website, building a list of key phrases, adding or editing title tags, adding content as needed.
I usually finish this task list in a matter of days.
After my initial on-site efforts, I focus my attention on building a strong linking profile. This goes on for weeks, months or years in some cases. If you're serious about the long-term visibility of your website (and you should be), then you're never really done with link-building.
Link-Building, One Hour a Day
Like most professionals, you're probably busy with a hundred details on any given day, from paperwork to customer relations. But at the same time, you know the importance of having a website that people can find (otherwise you wouldn't have visited this website). Sure, you'd love to spend hours on your SEO program and rise to the top of the listings, but you just don't have the time.
I'm here to tell you that if you set aside an hour a day for SEO, you can do fairly well. In the beginning, you'll spend a lot of time to research your key phrases, improve your title tags, etc. (Probably best to outsource the bulk of this.) But once you get through all the preliminary work, SEO becomes an ongoing maintenance project.
Link building is one of those ongoing maintenance items. Ideally, your website will become popular in time and will attract links without any effort on your part. But to increase your visibility in the beginning, you'll have to be proactive with your link building.
Link-Building Strategies
Strategy #1 - Articles
Article marketing is a great link-building strategy because it's based on a fair exchange. You allow publishers to reprint your articles on their websites in exchange for keeping the hyperlinks to your site.
Strategy #2 - Press Releases
By submitting a press release online, you're able to distribute your message far and wide. This can instantly generate dozens or hundreds of inbound links that would otherwise take you hours to acquire.
Strategy #3 - Link Exchanges
Link exchanges range from genuinely helpful to "big waste of time." I'll tell you how to pursue the right kinds of link exchanges, as well as some things you should watch out for.
Strategy #4 - Forums
Online forums are a great place to share ideas and information with others in your profession. They're also a good source for links. But don't join a forum just for links. Join a forum to share information with like-minded individuals. Think of the link as a bonus.
Strategy #5 - Tools & Resources
Wouldn't it be great if people linked to your website without you having to ask them? Put the right content on your site, and it can happen. If you build the kind of website that makes other in your industry or niche say, "Wow, that's really something! I know some folks who would like that," then your link-building efforts will be a breeze.
Strategy #6 - Directories
With a search engine, robots find websites and add them to the search engine's database. With a directory, human editors find websites, screen them for quality and relevance, and add them to the directory's database. Directories can also help you rank well in the major search engines by giving you quality inbound links to your website.
Related question: What kind of links do I want?