Others utilize the pay-per-click (PPC) system which is cheaper because one only pays for the user traffic generated. Another method that has proven to be truly effective in delivering increase in user traffic is link building. An off-page optimization strategy within the SEO framework, link building is the process through which one website is advertised in another website similar in content and/or field of interest. It is one of the best optimization tools available used to increase a site’s popularity, ergo, a business’ online image.

This is precisely why link building is considered one of the most vital factors in the SEO campaign. The idea is for your site to achieve higher page rankings with the search engines, more specifically, by building link popularity. Link popularity is the quality and number of incoming links that point to your site. When other sites link to yours, this implies that your site is regarded as important; in turn, the search engine considers your site important as well. Therefore, link building as a sales strategy can make or break the business. It is also tedious and time-consuming, and requires a degree of experience and expertise. Nonetheless, the potential benefits of link building have made it a prerequisite among modern businesses who want to maximize their sales and profits. While some businesses may choose to handle their own link building campaigns, others can choose to contract a link building service to assist them.

Link building contributes to the business in five ways:

1. Acquiring quality traffic from relevant web sites;
2. Obtaining a favorable image as a valuable resource through high quality links;
3. Generates visibility, awareness, and credibility of your site;
4. Allows the site to gain a wider search engine exposure; and
5. Helps the site get indexed by search engines.

Link building could be inbound, outbound, or reciprocal. Each method has its own pros and cons. Inbound linking. These are the links that point to your website. Inbound linking has a vast potential of generating user traffic. Whenever a site has a link to yours, some of its traffic will visit your site and increase your link popularity. Indeed, the user traffic that a single link generates is small, but as you build more links, you can see an increase in the number of visitors. Moreover inbound links increase search engine awareness for your site. The more links major search engines (Google, Yahoo, MSN) detect that point to your site, the more relevant it considers your website as. Here are some of the most recommended methods of acquiring links to improve your site’s traffic.

• Website directories. Registering a site on web directories may be a boring and painstaking process, but pays off in terms of user traffic. There are free web directories and some that require a fee. Other directories offer enhancements that will add exposure and additional ad space for your site.

• Article directories. One viable way of getting more exposure is to submit content to online article directories. While a monotonous undertaking, it is worth the effort altogether. Submit content or articles that are relevant and newsworthy. Make sure that the website publisher sees valuable content or you will end up wasting time and effort. When you write an article for the article directories, you want to make sure that it is informative and newsworthy. Sales pitches are usually rejected.

• RSS Feeds and Blogs. Aside from article directories, creating an RSS feed will help improve your site’s visibility. An RSS feed delivers your content to RSS subscribers. In essence, you are bringing your product to users, giving them a reason to visit your site, thereby increasing traffic. Moreover, once the feed is listed in distribution sites, the latter rescans your feed and updates their database information, saving you the effort of resubmitting each time you add new content.

• Press Releases. This is among the most recommended methods of generating traffic. Press releases may be free to create and release and has the potentiality of generating tons of traffic the instant a media outlet picks up your releases.

Outbound linking. Outbound linking is the placement of links on your site which directs the browser away from your site to another website. Placing a link on your site suggests to your users that there is value to it. Conversely, linking to a site that has similar content with yours generates value to that site from the viewpoint of the search engine. Essentially, you are helping another site gain traffic while increasing the relevance of your own site, provided that the site you are linking truly complements your site.

Reciprocal linking. Reciprocal linking or link exchanges refers to the process where two webmasters agree to show the other’s link on their respective sites. A reciprocal link is generally a banner link and/or text to a site that has also created a text and/or banner link to your site. The message of reciprocal links to search engines is that you consider the site valuable to your visitors and are willing to let them leave your site to access the other site. To ensure that you use reciprocal linking effectively, you need to ensure the other site’s credibility and the initial placement of your site. Check on whether you link has been moved or deleted and the functionality of the link and avoid splashing your site with mismatched reciprocal links. Link building is an arduous process but remains one of the most effective and most recommended optimization tools to ensure online marketing and advertising gains. To maximize the tool’s benefits, link building campaigns must ensure relevant, congruent, and complementary links within your field or industry.