| u're serious about Search Engine Optimization, then | | | | Website Design" into a search engine. Look at the |
| one of the most important aspects is going to be | | | | top 20 pages (the top 50, if you have the time). Do |
| building backlinks. More than any other aspect of your | | | | any of them look like sites that might be willing to |
| website except perhaps for keyword-rich content, | | | | backlink to your site? |
| who links to you and how popular they are affects | | | | Go to each site in turn and find the webmaster's |
| your own page rank. | | | | email address. Send them a quick email, briefly |
| Any website can stuff a page full of keywords. But | | | | describing your website (one or two short |
| only legitimate sites—or so the reasoning | | | | paragraphs, please!) and asking if he would be willing |
| goes—will actually have lots of other sites | | | | to backlink to it. If he doesn't have that authority, he |
| linking to them. Backlinks, then, become essential in | | | | should know who does, and he should be willing to |
| Search Engine Optimization and website development. | | | | put you in touch with them. Be willing to exchange |
| But how do you go about getting them? Who are | | | | links if the website requests it, unless they're a site |
| the best sites to get them from? | | | | you wouldn't want to link to. If the site looks |
| One of the best ways to get backlinks is just to ask | | | | suspicious, don't try to get a link from them to begin |
| for them. You might offer to exchange links, placing | | | | with. |
| a link to their site on your website in exchange for a | | | | Requesting backlinks this way ensures that the sites |
| link to your site on theirs. Having strong content is | | | | that link to you will have high page rank for that |
| another good way of increasing backlinks. People will | | | | keyword. And it gives you almost unlimited resources. |
| naturally link to you if you have content that they | | | | The top 50 search results in 10 search engines will |
| want to recommend. Strong content is the only way | | | | give you 500 pages to query, and that's just for that |
| to get links in SMO (Social Media Optimization, using | | | | one keyword! Inputting a different keyword will no |
| sites such as YouTube, MySpace, and other popular | | | | doubt change the order of sites a bit. Lower sites |
| 'social sites' to increase your traffic). | | | | may rank higher, and higher sites may rank lower. |
| The best sites to get backlinks from are, of course, | | | | Plus, it may bring up completely new sites. Some |
| those who have high page ranks themselves. Some | | | | sites that rank high for "Orange County Website |
| webmasters use the Google toolbar to see just how | | | | Design" will also rank high for "Orange County Web |
| high any given site ranks, but most Search Engine | | | | Design ". But some sites that rank high for "Orange |
| Optimization experts advise against this. The toolbar | | | | County Web Design" may not have shown up at all in |
| is not necessarily up-to-date or even accurate. | | | | your quest for "Orange County Website Design". Yet |
| The best way of finding sites that you want | | | | both sites would provide valuable backlinks to your |
| backlinks from is simply to go to a search engine | | | | site, which promotes all aspects of web design |
| (and different search engines will have different | | | | services in Orange County. |
| results, so do this with as many as you can) and | | | | Getting backlinks is a huge and time-consuming |
| input the search term you want. For example, if you | | | | process. It is, however, one of the most valuable |
| want people searching for "Orange County Website | | | | things you will ever do for your website's Search |
| Design" to find your website, input "Orange County | | | | Engine Optimization. |