How do I get more people to read my blog? Step 2 – Get found from links on other websites

This is the second part of a series of articles to help you get more blog traffic.

If you have been following the series you would already have read how to boost the search engine traffic to your blog. Now it’s time to go to work on getting links from other websites.

Getting found from links on other websites

The search engine benefit that your site receives when other sites link to you should not be underestimated. This is especially true for sites that already have a good search engine reputation AND which are relevant to your content. This is how much of the search engine World finds out which sites are reputable – if the BBC website links to one of your posts, Google is likely to rank your website more highly as a result. If you really want to learn more, take a look at the Wiki definition of PageRank.

However, as well as the search engine benefits that inbound links offer, real visitors may click those links and visit your website too. So link building is really important for your website strategy. Here are a few ideas:

• Search for websites that have similar content to yours and ask for a link
• If you operate in a niche, try seeking out blogs and forums that talk about your content and then start posting your own comments. However, building up a reputation will take time, so…
  • Don’t make your comments too sales focused
  • Do impart advice and answers to questions
  • Do offer to help out (even if it means recommending somebody else or another website)
  • Do make sure you include a link to your website – usually, this is allowed as part of your signature
• Register on free, or low-cost, niche sites – the ones that allow you to create a profile, add a bio, and, most importantly, link through to your own website. Some of these sites are very good and get a lot of traffic, so do ‘work’ them hard, add content that will appeal to the typical users of the site, and make sure you don’t skimp on the details you upload either. The content you add to the site could help your own SEO activity as well as making it more likely that real visitors will want to find out more by visiting your website
• Be wary of link exchanges – they generally don’t bring you any benefit and could end up diminishing your link value and sending people away from your site.

Tip: Use anchor text wisely – Anchor text is the visible, clickable text in a hyperlink. When adding links to your site, try to put something meaningful in the anchor text. Search engines use the anchor text to get a better idea of what is at the other end of the link and to understand what keywords your site is relevant for. So if your anchor text says ‘click here’ that really doesn’t say very much, but if it says ‘Book your next French holiday’ it gives a really big clue as to what your site is about. Real visitors will find it more useful too!