Every website that links to yours, brings you traffic at the same time. However all links are not equal. Links from popular sites makes your site rank higher then those from low traffic sites. Link popularity is an important aspect and more links will help you rank higher in the search engines!
Submitting to directories
Link from a directory will definitely help you getting traffic. A directory lists sites according to categories and subcategories. The most important one is the free Open Directory Project – dmoz. Make sure you submit your site there.
Another important directory is Yahoo Directory. This directory submission are checked by real people, so you have to be careful what you are actually submitting and make sure you follow the instructions.
There is plenty directories out there and every submission counts. The higher number of sites that you submit your URL to, the better the result. This is a very time consuming process and you might want to consider submitting your site every day to different directories (let´s say 10 directories every day). This can bring you an amazing success and high traffic, but not neceserely means that it will. Important bit here is to submit your site to most important and biggest directories.
You should consider here submission to specialized directories that focus on specific industry relevant to your business. Additionally don´t forget to submit your RSS feed to feeds directories. This is very important as well.
I do not advise you to use automatatic multi submission tools. This can make you more trouble then benefits.
Reciprocal links
Search for the website that offers similar services and request a reciprocal link to your site. For this purpose you would need to develop a Link Exchange System, dedicated pages on your website where you can store all your links. Best practice is to exchange links with websites that have similar traffic to yours.
Linking to irrelevant content to your business does not make you any good, so bare in mind to request a link exchange from relevant sites. Let´s say if you run a Computer Shop, you don´t want to exchange link with someone who runs an Indian Restaurant Business. It´s not just links, but quality links you seek. Reciprocal linking are hard, but it does not cost you any money!
I have been using a LinkMarket Service with a success and maybe there is a good place to start rather then contact every Webmaster individually to request a reciprocal link.
Write for Others
You can dramatically increase your traffic by writing articles for others. It can be a free content for e–mail newsletters or even a content on their website. Just ask them to include a link to your website. This way you gain additional traffic by sites linking to your site.
At this stage you might want to visit a very popular article marketing site called EzineArticles.
Bookmarking your site
This is an old school style, but in my opinion ´every little helps´ ;) You might want to consider to ask visitors to bookmark your website. Sometimes people forget your site and search for it again, but can not find it. Knowing they bookmarked it, it´s easy for them to go back to your site and you gain additional traffic.
Offer Free Services
This requires additional post, but at this stage I just want to mention it here, as it is relevant. People likes getting things for free. They feel good about it, share with others and you gain links to your site and traffic. That´s it for now!
Check out my other articles on ´Ways to promote your website´ if you haven´t already! Search Engine Optimisation Strategy. Stay tuned for the next Article! Don´t forget to subscribe to my newsletter or RSS feed. Thanks!
