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How Do I get Links To My Website?

Well, the good news is that there are many ways to get links to your site, the bad news is that there are many ways to get links to your site. There are so many ways to get links to your site that a person can seriously get overwhelmed. A few years ago I wrote a post called “101 FREE Ways To Increase Your Blog Traffic” most of those methods involved getting links to your website. The truth of the matter is that there are more than 101 ways to build links to your site! So where do you start?

Well, first of all I recommend that people find 2-3 methods of building links to their site and focus on those. It’s easy to get caught up in always trying out the latest and greatest methods of link building, BUT then you never get really good at any of the methods. So, here is a list of some of the methods we use in our business to get links to websites. They work and they are fairly easy to implement. Unless you are in an unbelievably competitive market using just 2-3 of these methods will really help increase your traffic and your website’s search engine rankings.

1. Directory Submissions
There are many people in the SEO/Internet marketing world who for the last 7 years have been claiming that directory submissions don’t help you get traffic and don’t help your rankings. However, for that entire time I have been using directory submissions to get websites ranked and it’s still working for me. Directory submissions are an easy way to get related links to your website that will help your site rank higher in the Search Engines.

2. Article Marketing
Article marketing is my personal favorite way of getting links to a website. Article marketing is essentially the process of writing articles related to your website and allowing other people to reprint them on their website provided that your by-line remains intact and that they link to your website from the article.

The by-line of your article should have the name of the article, your name, a short description of the article, reprint information, and a link to your website. After you write the article you submit it to what are known as article directories. These article directories will display your article and allow other people to reprint them on their websites. This can lead to a lot of links to your website.

3. Video Marketing

With video marketing you come up with a video message or slideshow, then create the video and then post it to video sharing sites like Youtube, Metacafe, Google Videos, etc. It’s a pretty simple process and can result in a lot of traffic and links to your site. Not to mention Google tends to rank videos high in the Search engine rankings for some terms, so not only can you get links but your videos may rank for some of the search terms you want people to use to find your site.

4. Social Bookmarking
One way your company can get more links is through social bookmarking sites. Social bookmarking sites are sites where people post articles that are voted on by other users of the site. Two of the most well known players in the social bookmarking arena are Digg.com and Delicious.com. The social bookmarking site that brings the most traffic to my sites is Stumbleupon. Stumbleupon is easy to use and once you start getting stumbleupon friends to vote for your articles you will start seeing a steady stream of new traffic from the site, not mention links.

5. Link Exchanges
Much like directories some people claim that link exchanges don’t help you get higher Search Engine rankings. Nothing could be further from the truth. Link exchanges with other websites still works to increase a website’s rankings. In fact, if you have a blog and you can find 10 other quality blogs in a related industry to trade blog roll (links on every page of the blog) with you, in most cases you will be on the road to top 10 rankings in no time. Now on the downside you have to spend a lot of time keeping track of whether or not people still link to your site and managing the requests you will get from people wanting to trade links with you. So it is time consuming on an ongoing basis, BUT it does work.

The bottom line

There are many ways to build links to a website. Become a master of a few of those methods and you will be on your way to dominating the Search Engines. If you need help then contact us at (832) 497-1610 or by email at info @ mantywebdeisgns.com and we can help you create a marketing plan, teach you how to do it yourself or we can do it for you.

When you’re choosing a domain, there are several directions that you can go. You can choose a domain to brand your business, to appeal to the search engines or sometimes you can combine the two. Picking a domain to brand your business involves choosing a domain that matches the name of your company, your motto or some other group of words that are directly related to your business.

Choosing a search engine friendly domain name is a bit more complicated. The following are tips on how to find that search engine friendly domain name for your business with great marketing potential.

Choose a top level domain versus a .info domain name, if it is available. Most people search for domain names typing in a .com extension. However, you can also be quite successful with a .net or a .org extension. It’s not uncommon for website owners to buy several versions of their domain name with different extensions. If multiple extensions are available, consider buying them to keep competitors from buying them later and benefiting from your success.

When choosing a domain name for search engine optimization purposes, you’ll want to determine the best keywords to include in your domain. You can do this type of research on your own, to a certain extent, using tools that are freely available on the web. However, the number of times a keyword phrase is searched is only part of the equation. You also want to make sure that the competition for the term is reasonable. If you need help with choosing a domain, check out our a la carte services for our keyword research pricing.

No matter what domain you choose, always have it hosted by your own hosting server. There are many free website builders that offer free hosting but you will not have your own domain name. For example, if you were with Freewebs.com, it would be freewebs.com/andyourname here. This domain name does not look professional and it is too hard for your potential customers to remember. Today, there are many web hosting packages that offer a free domain name registration. Take advantage of it so that you stand out from the rest.

Make sure that the domain is registered in YOUR name, not in your website designer’s name, not in your hosting company’s name. Even if your hosting company offers to register your domain for you, make sure that you will be listed as the technical contact. You may want to register it yourself if you have any doubts about how the registration will be handled, even if it means passing up on a “free” offer. If you ever want to change hosts or designers, you’ll be glad you spent the ten minutes and $20, vs. the hassle and potential expense of trying to reclaim a domain if it wasn’t registered in your name.

Speaking of hosting, there are many options out there. Hosting companies have different strengths and weaknesses. For example, we recommend a different host to clients planning an informational website than we do for clients who need a full ecommerce site. If you are planning to have a blog or any special extensions, you’ll want to make sure that the host you choose can support those. If you have any doubts, contact a website designer, describe what you want and ask for hosting recommendations.

Finally, if you’re not comfortable designing the site yourself, you’re going to need to find a website designer. Of course, we’d love to help you out, but no matter who you choose, make sure that you ask to see some examples of the designer’s work. You may want to even find some websites you like and see who the designer of that site is. Talk to the company before hiring someone. In fact, talk to them a couple of times. Make sure they explain things in a way you understand, that you feel comfortable talking to them and that they return messages in a timely manner.

While you may be tempted to immediately go with the cheapest designer, you’ll want to make sure to choose someone who can complete the project in a timely manner and who will not disappear before the project is complete. Having to start over with a new designer will NOT result in money or time savings.

So, those are the basics. Choose a good domain, pick hosting that fits your website’s needs and find a website designer you enjoy working with. If we can help you with any of these areas, please call us at 832-497-1610 or fill out our contact form on this site.

I talk to such owners frequently and when I ask about social media, the typical answer is typically something along the lines of “you mean Facebook?”. It’s impossible to leverage a tool when you don’t really understand it.

So, let’s answer the question. What is social media? There are a million definitions out there, but all the definitions have a few things in common. When you’re talking about social media, you’re talking about an internet or mobile application that involves user-generated content or feedback intended for public consumption. So, if there is a way for you, as the website visitor, to interact directly with the content of the page and others can see that interaction, it’s probably social media.

What about email? Is email a form of social media? It depends. If you are using email in a group setting, such as Yahoo groups or Big Tent, then that’s a basic form of social media. The content for that group is user-generated and intended for public consumption.

Private email is not social media, as it is intended only for the person to whom it is addressed. If email is like a letter in your mailbox, social media is like putting up a message on a billboard and allowing others to spray paint messages on your billboard in response.

Some other examples of social media include:

Blogs — Notice that there’s a comment at the bottom of this post. That means you can give feedback on this post, and we can have a conversation. That makes this a social media site.

Website polls — If you put a poll on your website, and people can vote and see the results, that is a basic form of social media.

Facebook — This is a pretty easy one to grasp. Everything on your Facebook page, whether it’s a personal page or a fan page, is created by you, your friends, your “fans” or someone who is reading the page.

Twitter — Again, it’s pretty easy to grasp why Twitter is a “conversation” tool. You don’t go to Twitter to read what the creators of Twitter have to say. You go to say something or ready something that some regular person (or not so regular person) had to say.

YouTube and other video sharing sites — Although it’s obvious when you think about it based on the above definition, many people don’t immediately think of YouTube as social media. But it is. Where does the content come from? Users. People can comment on that content and provide feedback. That’s social media.

Social bookmarking sites, such as Digg, Reddit, Stumbleupon — For the sake of brevity, I’m lumping all of these together. Social bookmarking sites are websites made up entirely of links to articles that users have said are worthwhile reads. Users give content a thumbs up or thumbs down, and people can see the most popular articles on a given topic.

Websites that utilize Facebook’s new social media tools — This is a new option for changing any website into a social media site. Facebook now provides a suite of tools that allows you to incorporate some of Facebook’s features directly on your website. People can “like” your page and perform and see other Facebook actions without ever leaving your site. This is a great opportunity to include a social media aspect on a site without spending a fortune designing a brand new site.

This is by no means an exhaustive list of all of the social media sites and applications that exist. But I hope it gives you a better idea of what people mean when they mention social media.

If you have any questions about how you can use social media on your website or to promote your business, please give us a call or contact us. We’re always happy to help.

Here are the top 7 reasons that every business should have a blog:

1. Traffic
Blogs give the Search Engines fresh new content on a regular basis, and that’s exactly what they love to see. Search engines reward most blogs by sending them more traffic. Now you do have to know a little about SEO, but even people who don’t have clue about SEO sometimes get great traffic from the Search Engines when they blog.

2. You Become Known As The Expert
When you write about your profession on a regular basis people start noticing you. Also, new people that come to your site will read your blog and instantly be able to tell that you know what you are talking about. Regular blogging about your profession makes you stand out as an expert in people’s minds.

For instance by having a blog and having it ranked high in the Search Engines, my wife Jill was able to get an interview with Cristy Yamaguchi. Why would they chose Jill? Because her blogging has helped her to become known as an expert on the Winter Olympics. In some ways, she is an expert on the Winter Olympics, but it’s not something she would have ever been if it weren’t for her blogging.

Becoming known as an expert increases the likelihood that people will buy your products and/or services. In fact, being known as an expert goes hand in hand with…

3. Trust
When people read your blog posts and interact with your by commenting your posts you build a level of trust with them that’s just not possible without a blog. Having a blog helps build trust, which is one of the biggest hurdles you have to get past to get people to buy from you.

4. Networking
Blogging is a great way to network both with your potential clients and with other people in your industry. I have made many great business contacts because of my blogs. Blogging and interacting with other people’s blogs is a great way to form relationships with potential clients and potential partners.

5. Branding
Blogging gives your brand a personal face. By writing about your business and providing helpful tips to both your customers and potential customers you are branding yourself not just as an expert, but as someone who cares about the people you are helping. For this to really work, you do have to care. It will show in the way you interact with your readers and it will build your personal brand. You have something unique to bring to the table that no other person in your profession has…

YOU!

By writing on a blog or putting out videos on a blog you are showing a side of yourself that makes it easier for your customers to relate to you. Which builds your unique personal brand along with the brand of your business.

6. Makes it easy to update content
Blogs make it very easy for you to add unique content to your site. This is very important to the Search engines and is one of several reasons that they rank so well in Search engines.

7. Makes Your Site Sticky
When you blog you are putting out new content on your site on a regular basis. People who like what they read on your blog will want to come back and read your frequently which makes your site “sticky” ie. a site that people want to come back to time and time again and a site that once they are there people want to stay and read more.

When all is said and done…

In summary, blogs are something every business needs if they want to maximize their profits through the web. So if you own a business and aren’t blogging… what are you waiting for? Get started now! You will be glad you did.

P.S. If you need help getting your blog set up, make sure to give us a call.

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