The next biggest mistake is for people to rush to look for “high paying” keywords. What does that mean really? It means that some advertiser is willing to spend a lot of money to gain a lead. Does this really help you if you just focus on high paying keywords? NO! Why? Because if you are going to compete with that person/company you are going to spend a ton of money buy your traffic. And if you are an affiliate marketer you may be surprised to learn that just because a keyword costs a lot doesn’t mean it pays a lot! And again you are dealing with a ton of competition.

So lets talk about the Adwords Keyword Tool now!

Why should you use the Adwords Keyword Tool and not some other Keyword Research Tool?

Answer: Because Google has the most Search Engine Traffic they have the largest pool of keyword research data. So as you “dig deep” into your industry niche you’ll find that Google’s numbers provide you with the most accurate data and the data is World Wide!

No matter how elaborate or sophisticated the tool, the bottom line is it is only as good as the data set it accesses. People use Google to find what they are looking for and this provides you as a marketer with a wealth of information.
How to use the Adwords Keyword Tool

Almost every Online Marketer knows about this free tool, but few really know how to dig in and use it. For my example I am going to use Keyword Research Pro which is a nice piece of software that makes accessing the Adwords Keyword Tool very simple.

Now here is what you want to do… in my example I chose the word “Keyword”… remember this is just an example. What you want to do is type in a keyword you believe is used to find your product or service.

Start with just one keyword. Remember what you think people use to find your product is NOT what is important, what they actually type into the search engines is… but you have to start somewhere.

Keyword Research takes time! You may spend all afternoon, or even a day or two to get to the real gems that if used properly will really make you money. Don’t be in a hurry, this is the most important thing you can do in the Online Marketing equation.

So you type in your keyword. it’s time to analyze the keyword…

Here is what you want to know:

1. Number of keyword variations – including related keywords (Synonyms)
2. The amount of Searches for each Variation
3. The Number of Competitors *

* Just typing in a keyword phase in a broad search in Google will tell you the number of “Instances” a keyword appears in the Google Database in any order. This is not your competition. Putting the phrase in quotes will tell you the number of instances a keyword appears in exactly the order you typed it within the quotes. But this is also not your competition. Your competition is the number of people who are actively trying to rank for a particular phrase. This is where you use “allintitle” and “allinanchor”. If a keyword phrase appears in a Title Tag then that person is likely trying to compete for that phrase. This may not be true in Broad Niche Phrases… which is why you want to dig deep for what is called the “longtail” keyword pharse. If a keyword phrase of 4 words or more appears in exact order in the Title Tag you can bet that didn’t happen by accident. The “allinanchor” is also a good indicator, but probably not as reliable.

So should you search for “broad” or “exact”. That is the million dollar question. And in my view it’s best to use the “broad” search when doing keyword research because this is a better indicator of people looking for products. If you use the “exact” phrase you may go too narrow and miss part of your market. Use both and see what kind of results you get. Just putting an exact keyword phrase on your webpage doesn’t mean that Google is going to give you magic ranking points.

Calculating KEI From Adwords Keyword Results

One indicator used to determine if a Keyword will be easy or difficult to rank for is called KEI or Keyword Effectiveness Indicator. And here is basically what KEI does and how it is calculated. KEI compares the number of searches for a keyword with the number of search results and returns a ratio.

KEI is calculated like this:

Seaches x Searches divided by # of results

Example using numbers from the Keyword Graphic Above:

If Google Adwords Tool says there are 1,600 searches per month for your keyword and 3,370 results (Pages with the Phrase) you would calculate the KEI like this:

1,600 x 1,600 = 2,560,000

now divide this by the number of results

2,560,000/3,370 = 759.64

So your KEI in this example is 759.64

If you look in the Graphic Picture I uploaded above you can actually see this is a real world example for the Keyword phrase “Most Searched Keywords”.

So a high KEI is an indicator of a keyword that has higher searches and less competition. Remember this is just an indicator but helpful in picking a phrase with the potential to rank better than another.

You still have to beat out the guys on page one for that phrase, but KEI will help you determine if this is really possible. If the top 10 results for that phrase are large companies with 1,000′s of backlinks, reputation, high PR, etc. Then you may still want to skip that phrase. KEI is a quantity indicator not a quality indicator.

You can do all these calculations using the Adwords Tool and a Spreadsheet that reads the CSV files, but it’s very time consuming which is why I use Keyword Research Pro.

What to do with Your Basic Keyword List

Once you have selected your basic keyword list it’s time to dig deeper to see if there are related keywords or keyword phrases between 3 to 9 words. These will often bring you in even more targeted and valuable traffic. So essentially you repeat the process until you have a list that meets your own marketing goals.

I’d suggest that most people in most niches focus on phrases that are 3 words or longer and have less than 10,000 competing sites. This is not a rule, it’s a suggestion.

Once you have that list of keywords go get the Firefox Plug in SEO Quake or the Free SEO Tools plug in from SEO Book.

You want to now take your keywords and type them directly into Google and analyze your competition. I actually use a product called SEO Elite to do this faster, but both of the free plugins should work just fine for you.

What you want to know now is the Page Rank and number of Back Links pointing to your competitions site. SEO Elite allows me to quickly and easily dig into the same data the plugins dig up but in an easy to read report format.

Look at your competitors, and determine if you can beat them. If you can then you have done your research correctly, if not… start the cycle over for new keywords and niches.

Good luck and keep at it!

Website: Best Free SEO Tools

Be sure to grab  “SEO for Firefox” then read through the tutorials at the bottom of the page. As you get time you’ll want to investigate the additional premium SEO resources more fully.  Aaron Walls is well known and well respected in the SEO Industry.  You simply won’t find a better resource for FREE SEO.

Aaron Walls  FREE versions of his SEO Tools are better than most paid SEO Tools.

You might want to take the time to bookmark this page now.

* Spyfu - very cool tool that helps you determine cost per click for paid results
* WordTracker Free Keyword Suggestion Tool
* Google Adwords Keyword Tool
* Keyword Discovery Free Search Term Suggestion Tool

What do I use for Keyword Research?

I use a combination of tools relying primarily on my own knowledge combined with Google Adwords Keyword Tool, Google Adwords Traffic Estimator, Google Search Based Keyword Tool, and Google Trends.  Most new online marketers are only familiar with Google Adwords Keyword Tool and never really take the time to learn how it works so they can take full advantage of the resource.  You should take the time to read how each tool works so you can actually leverage the opportunity.

I should note that I like WordTracker but the bottom line is WordTracker simply does not have the data on the backend to provide accurate results from a volume perspective to see what terms people are really searching with.  People search Google so I use Google Tools.  It’s really that simple.

Writing Naturally with Your Keywords

Imagine if you will for a moment sitting in English Class in 8th grade. Yes you are back in boredom USA. And the teacher comes to the chalkboard and stats to write something about Prepositions and (No I didn’t pay that much attention either – until College) you snooze off into la la land. All you can think about is AFTER class. Who needs to know how to write? Turns out YOU DO. That is if you want to make it in the Online Marketing Business.

Fortunately you have software tools you didn’t have back then. You have spelling and grammar and thesaurus checking built into most word processors.

I usually write in MS Word to take advantage of the grammar features. Then I can just cut and paste the document into my HTML Editor. Word also has some neat counting tools and you can use the search and replace feature to quickly see how many times your keyword appears in your document.

What About Keyword Density?

Keyword Density is merely the number of times your chosen Keywords appear within the text of your article. And while it used to be a very important SEO factor with the advent of LSI (or at least the concept of LSI) it is becoming less important. I don’t worry too much about it as long as my keywords and Semantic Variations of the keywords hit in the neighborhood fo 3-5%. And your writing should never appear forced. Don’t stuff a keyword into a sentence just to alter keyword density. A sentence should always be readable to humans.

Use your keywords in a normal fashion and make sure they are readable to actual human beings. If you find yourself using your keywords too much use MS Words Thesaurus to find synonyms and use those instead.

If you visit sites like Overture (Yahoo Internet Marketing) to get your keyword ideas you could end up believing that “company internet marketing” is typed as a search query 150 times a day. While it is much more likely and natural that the actual search query is for “internet marketing company”.

Imagine how awkward your page will read if you spent your efforts writing the former and not the latter. And guess what? Search engines are picking up on this kind of “tactic” pretty easily due to the incorporation of LSI type tools.

Basic Keyword Guidelines for SE

• Put your primary keyword in your Title Tags. Keywords are essential to scoring in organic search. Make sure your Title makes sense to humans not just Search Engines.
• Use your keywords in Heading Tags. Don’t worry too much about H1, H2, H3, just use the tags that most appropriately fit the size and style of your page. If you are using CSS then KUDOS to you because you can use H1 tags and still control the size and look.
• Keyword Proximity is similar to keyword density. Proximity can be very important. You should strive to use your keywords more in the upper 1/3rd of the page and towards the start of your Headings and Title Tags.
• It’s a good idea to use Keywords in your “alt” tags (Images) if and ONLY if appropriate. Make sure the use is concise and readable. Don’t stuff alt tags with keywords that are not natural or descriptive of the image.
• Use keywords in your site description meta tags. Again make sure the keywords make sense and by make sense it means to a real human. Your description tag is your chance to sell the searcher on your site. This tag generally appears in Search Results. A poorly written description tag may prevent a person using a Search Engine from clicking on the link. Take the time to write the best descriptions you possibly can.

There are volumes of online materials about the use of “Keywords”… they go beyond the scope of what we at Internet Marketing IQ are striving to accomplish. It’s our belief that so much emphasis is now placed on link ranking that the average marketer would be much better served focusing on writing quality content and establishing quality incoming links than stressing over every little keyword.

So few take the time to read this from the source instead searching forms for SEO Tips, Tricks, and Secrets. Who knows Search Engine Optimization better than the guys who make the rules? SEO begins with the programmers and filters out to the public via a stream of mistruths and guesswork.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

SEO is an acronym for “search engine optimization” or “search engine optimizer.” Deciding to hire an SEO is a big decision that can potentially improve your site and save time, but you can also risk damage to your site and reputation. Make sure to research the potential advantages as well as the damage that an irresponsible SEO can do to your site. Many SEOs and other agencies and consultants provide useful services for website owners, including:

• Review of your site content or structure
• Technical advice on website development: for example, hosting, redirects, error pages, use of JavaScript
• Content development
• Management online business development campaigns
• Keyword research
• SEO training
• Expertise in specific markets and geographies.

Keep in mind that the Google search results page often includes paid advertising and free organic search results. Keep in mind that the Google search results page includes organic search results and often paid advertisement (denoted by the heading “Sponsored Links”) as well. Advertising with Google won’t have any effect on your site’s presence in our search results. Google never accepts money to include or rank sites in our search results, and it costs nothing to appear in our organic search results. Free resources such as Webmaster Tools, the official Webmaster Central blog, and our discussion group can provide you with a great deal of information about how to optimize your site for organic search. Many of these free sources, as well as information on paid search, can be found on Google Webmaster Central.

Before beginning your search for an SEO, it’s a great idea to become an educated consumer and get familiar with how search engines work. We recommend starting here:

• Google Webmaster Guidelines
• Google 101: How Google crawls, indexes and serves the web.

If you’re thinking about hiring an SEO, the earlier the better. A great time to hire is when you’re considering a site redesign, or planning to launch a new site. That way, you and your SEO can ensure that your site is designed to be search engine-friendly from the bottom up. However, a good SEO can also help improve an existing site.

Some useful questions to ask an SEO include:

• Can you show me examples of your previous work and share some success stories?
• Do you follow the Google Webmaster Guidelines?
• Do you offer any online marketing services or advice to complement your organic search business?
• What kind of results do you expect to see, and in what timeframe? How do you measure your success?
• What’s your experience in my industry?
• What’s your experience in my country/city?
• What’s your experience developing international sites?
• What are your most important SEO techniques?
• How long have you been in business?
• How can I expect to communicate with you? Will you share with me all the changes you make to my site, and provide detailed information about your recommendations and the reasoning behind them?

While SEOs can provide clients with valuable services, some unethical SEOs have given the industry a black eye through their overly aggressive marketing efforts and their attempts to manipulate search engine results in unfair ways. Practices that violate our guidelines may result in a negative adjustment of your site’s presence in Google, or even the removal of your site from our index. Here are some things to consider:

• Be wary of SEO firms and web consultants or agencies that send you email out of the blue. Amazingly, we get these spam emails too:
  

  “Dear google.com,
  I visited your website and noticed that you are not listed in most of the major search engines and directories…”

  Reserve the same skepticism for unsolicited email about search engines as you do for “burn fat at night” diet pills or requests to help transfer funds from deposed dictators.

• No one can guarantee a #1 ranking on Google. Beware of SEOs that claim to guarantee rankings, allege a “special relationship” with Google, or advertise a “priority submit” to Google. There is no priority submit for Google. In fact, the only way to submit a site to Google directly is through our Add URL page or by submitting a Sitemap and you can do this yourself at no cost whatsoever.
• Be careful if a company is secretive or won’t clearly explain what they intend to do. Ask for explanations if something is unclear. If an SEO creates deceptive or misleading content on your behalf, such as doorway pages or “throwaway” domains, your site could be removed entirely from Google’s index. Ultimately, you are responsible for the actions of any companies you hire, so it’s best to be sure you know exactly how they intend to “help” you.
• You should never have to link to an SEO. Avoid SEOs that talk about the power of “free-for-all” links, link popularity schemes, or submitting your site to thousands of search engines. These are typically useless exercises that don’t affect your ranking in the results of the major search engines — at least, not in a way you would likely consider to be positive.
• Choose wisely. While you consider whether to go with an SEO, you may want to do some research on the industry. Google is one way to do that, of course. You might also seek out a few of the cautionary tales that have appeared in the press, including this article on one particularly aggressive SEO: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2002002970_nwbizbriefs12.html. While Google doesn’t comment on specific companies, we’ve encountered firms calling themselves SEOs who follow practices that are clearly beyond the pale of accepted business behavior. Be careful.
• Be sure to understand where the money goes. While Google never sells better ranking in our search results, several other search engines combine pay-per-click or pay-for-inclusion results with their regular web search results. Some SEOs will promise to rank you highly in search engines, but place you in the advertising section rather than in the search results. A few SEOs will even change their bid prices in real time to create the illusion that they “control” other search engines and can place themselves in the slot of their choice. This scam doesn’t work with Google because our advertising is clearly labeled and separated from our search results, but be sure to ask any SEO you’re considering which fees go toward permanent inclusion and which apply toward temporary advertising.
• What are the most common abuses a website owner is likely to encounter?

One common scam is the creation of “shadow” domains that funnel users to a site by using deceptive redirects. These shadow domains often will be owned by the SEO who claims to be working on a client’s behalf. However, if the relationship sours, the SEO may point the domain to a different site, or even to a competitor’s domain. If that happens, the client has paid to develop a competing site owned entirely by the SEO.

Another illicit practice is to place “doorway” pages loaded with keywords on the client’s site somewhere. The SEO promises this will make the page more relevant for more queries. This is inherently false since individual pages are rarely relevant for a wide range of keywords. More insidious, however, is that these doorway pages often contain hidden links to the SEO’s other clients as well. Such doorway pages drain away the link popularity of a site and route it to the SEO and its other clients, which may include sites with unsavory or illegal content.

• What are some other things to look out for?
  • owns shadow domains
  • puts links to their other clients on doorway pages
  • offers to sell keywords in the address bar
  • doesn’t distinguish between actual search results and ads that appear on search results pages
  • guarantees ranking, but only on obscure, long keyword phrases you would get anyway
  • operates with multiple aliases or falsified WHOIS info
  • gets traffic from “fake” search engines, spyware, or scumware
  • has had domains removed from Google’s index or is not itself listed in Google
  • requests your FTP account information or root access to your server

  There are a few warning signs that you may be dealing with a rogue SEO. It’s far from a comprehensive list, so if you have any doubts, you should trust your instincts. By all means, feel free to walk away if the SEO:

  If you feel that you were deceived by an SEO in some way, you may want to report it.

  In the United States, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) handles complaints about deceptive or unfair business practices. To file a complaint, visit: http://www.ftc.gov/ and click on “File a Complaint Online,” call 1-877-FTC-HELP, or write to:

  Federal Trade Commission
  CRC-240
  Washington, D.C. 20580

  If your complaint is against a company in a country other than the United States, please file it at http://www.econsumer.gov/.

Everyone knows you need visitors to your website but all website traffic is not the same.  You don’t need Web Traffic you need “Targeted” Website Traffic. The kind of traffic that converts into people taking advantage of your offer.  But don’t go out and recruit traffic to your site until you have everything in place to convert your traffic into customers.

New Online Marketers make a very simple and costly mistake… they go after Web Traffic before they are ready to do something with it.  They build a site quickly then rush to get traffic before they have their conversion process in place and tested.  Your offer must be ready for prime time or all the Web Traffic in the world won’t make you any money.  And you want to make money right?

This article is NOT a step-by-step guide, it’s an idea list to help you open your mind to ways to generate more traffic to your sites. I am not going to tell you everything I do to get people to my sites. It doesn’t matter what I do, it matters what you do, because I don’t pay your bills!

• Article Marketing – Write and distribute your own articles via Article Submission sites
• Social Bookmarking – Digg, Furl, Stumbleupon, etc. Do it!
• Social Networks – Myspace, Facebook, etc. Do it and be professional; not a stupid spammer
• Directory Listings – Yes it’s beaten to Death, but it works. Submit to the most relevant Directories.
• Link Building via Exchanges/Trades – Use a Software Tool to Manage your Campaign or you’re wasting time
• Read the 77 Ways to Get FREE Traffic Report at AssociatePrograms.com
• Piggy Back Baby – Ride the traffic of other sites. Make deals to get your site listed on High Ranking Sites.
• Professional Blogging – Comment Blogs with intelligent value adding insight
• Forums – Same as Blogging; if you can add value make sure to post comments
• Offsite – Have Business Card Printed with your information and distribute
• Offsite – Take Advantage of Local Media if your Product or Service Warrants it
• SEO – Don’t overlook the value of proper Meta Tags, Image Tags, and Headlines
• KILLER DESIGN – Make your Site so Good Looking People WANT to Link to IT
• Link Bait – Controversial, but it works – too detailed a topic to explain in this list
• Video – There are a dozen or more popular places you can upload your videos
• Picture Sites – Same as Video  – put your URL on the photos
• Review Sites – Be careful, but you can make this work for you
• Pony up and Buy a “Type In” domain
• Interlink your Own Sites but don’t over do it… it needs to make sense

This list should get you going in the right direction, but it’s useless until you take action and make it work for you. Keep in mind there are no “Secrets” that are going to be revealed to the public at large that are worth anything. Why? Because as soon as a “Secret” becomes public it’s no longer a secret and it no longer works. So don’t be the Noob spending 5 hours a day in the Forums looking for that one killer secret. Roll up your sleeves and get to work!

And of course you can Buy Traffic – you can make a lot of money Buying Traffic. If you choose to buy traffic don’t overlook the value of PPC companies outside of Google. Many so called “Super Affiliates” buy all their traffic. If you are going to buy your traffic I recommend you invest in a PPC Managment Tool. Be sure you know what you are doing BEFORE spending your money. You must have all your ducks in a row; or you are going to lose big time with PPC. If you don’t like math then PPC (Pay Per Click) is not for you.

I have been cheated; you’ll be cheated. When you get taken too many times and it sours your attitude about Online Marketing.  So what can you do to avoid the rip offs and scams? There are steps you can take to avoid wasting your time chasing link exchanges from unscrupulous webmasters.

The Internet is full of BAD KARMA and people who think they can get ahead by cheating you. Foster and Build relationships. I can not tell you how many times over my Online Marketing Career I have fulfilled my end of the link trading bargain only to check back as little as a few days later to see my link had been removed. This is why I focus on content and creating my own links with relevant complementary comments and social networking.

Companies wanting to get traffic will hire people to contact you to build links. Often they tell you how great your site is or some other cheesy flattering remark. Or they have some “trick” they are proposing like you link to Site A and then we link back to you from site B. Be wary – tricks have a way of backfiring and are not worth your time.

Here is How One Primary Linking SCAM Works

The professional link company gets you to link to the site they want to promote. They continue to build the list of links for the client. Then a few months (or even weeks later) they remove the links page from the main site. You’re link is still on the original trading page, but nothing is linking to the link page where your link resides so it’s effectively  dead. Of you have linked not to their crappy links page, but to their HOMEPAGE. So they incur no penalty for running their link farm, but they gain all the benefits. Don’t fall for it! If you can not reach the links page by manually navigating from the Home Page of the Site asking for your link then don’t bother.

Here is Another Very Common & Deceptive Practice

A site asks to trade links with you sends you an email stating they have “Already Linked to Your Site”. This is intended to make you feel obligated; but is presented as a gesture of good will. So you go to the site and there is your link. So you link back to them and forget about it. How long will they keep that link up? Who knows. Do you have time to go back and check it later. I hope you are too busy for that. Make sure if you participate in this kind of linking you verify a couple of things first.

1. The site is actually related thematically to yours – if not then pass.
2. They are not hiding your link from the Search Engines will Nofollow Tags (Check the Page Headers not just the link) or programming scripting.

Don’t Bother with Link Lists Unless they are Crawled

Being on a link list will gain you no traffic (Honestly have you ever used a links list that had more than a few listings?). People simply don’t use them. Link lists are viewed the same as “Banner Blindness”. They just don’t get much use. You can verify if a link list is crawled by checking to see if it has any Pagerank or doing a search for the page of links in the Search Engine. If it doesn’t appear, it hasn’t been crawled and there is no point in trading.

Audit the Important Links and Forget the Rest

If you are using a link management tool that can verify links by crawling other sites then I suppose the occasional check may be worth your efforts. But you’ll just get caught up in a lot of Non-Marketing activity adding and removing links – and it won’t make much difference – effectively wasting your time.

You should “audit” link trades with significant partners. Those partners that actually send you traffic or have very high Authority. You do this to keep in good with these links. You want your RELATIONSHIPS with these sites to remain on good terms. Sometimes other sites will use link checking software and for some reason they don’t see your link on your site so they remove the link from yours. If the link is important it may warrant your sending a quick polite note. Again if you worry too much you’ll waste time spinning your wheels and not accomplish anything.

Ask People to Link To You – Social Bookmarking

It’s a good idea to have some way for people to Bookmark your site easily and add it to a social bookmarking service. Make this visible and simple for your visitors. You should also consider a page on your site with graphics and simple code so people can link back to you. There are actually people who may really like your site and link to you from the graphics you provide without even asking for a return link. WordPress makes this easy by installing simple plugins.  Make great content and people will automatically bookmark your site! Big Win!

You have a site, you want traffic so you can make money. It’s not a secret; in order to get traffic you need incoming links. It doesn’t matter how good your site is, without links you will not generate traffic. Developing and managing “Linking Campaigns” for your portfolio of Affiliate Marketing Sites is essential. A person who relies on “luck” is going to be sorely disappointed. Link management is work!

Two Primary Benefits of Building Your Own Incoming Links

1. Generate Traffic from Links exclusive of SEO
2. Build popularity and ranking, so you’ll get free traffic from the search engines.

Of course you have additional traffic driving alternatives; you can purchase traffic or promote your site with off-line advertising. But the real POWER of Internet Marketing lies in your ability to secure solid incoming links without monetary expenditure.  “Free” targeted traffic is a goldmine ready to be harvested!

Focus on generating traffic from links; not just building Search Engine Ranking. You’ll make a lot more money in the long run with this kind of “optimizing” strategy. The good news is you can do both at the same time!

Getting Ready to Build Your Incoming Links

Link Building is the process of asking other webmasters for links, creating content so valuable people will link to it on their own, and planting or “seeding” your links on Blogs, Forums, Social Networking Sites, Social Bookmarks, Directories, etc. Your ability to build the highest quality links with the least amount of effort will separate you from the “also rans”.

You have to decide which of two possible methods you’ll model your incoming link campaigns after.

1. Seeking very high quality traffic from respected established sites – good idea if you can do it.

2. Seeking links from anyone who will link to you. This can work if you are able to avoid the sites penalized by the Search Engines for links that come from sources they don’t like. Links that are not seen by people or Search Engines are useless.

Your time is best spent focusing on quality links from respected sites. This is also the most difficult because you have to have something of value to offer the site. What’s in it for them? Value is the “Key”. Can you send the site traffic? Is your site complementary to theirs? What can you offer them in exchange for a link to your site? Fortunately with Web 2.0 a whole slew of opportunity is available by joining communities and placing quality relevant comments on Blogs, Forums, and Social Networking sites.  Join the discussion and win!

If you have little or nothing to offer then you’ll need to spend some energy creating value in order to establish what I call “Link Trading Clout”.

Automated Linking Services Hosted on Other Peoples Sites are a BAD Idea

There are many services you can join where links are “hosted” on another persons/companies servers. In my opinion this is a very BAD idea because you don’t control your own destiny. Stop paying and your links go away along with your work. Use a free service and there is always a catch. Plus over the years all the services I tested resulted in very little traffic. This includes the very old concept of “Banner Exchanges”. You’re just spinning your wheels and wasting your time.

Automate the Linking Process with Software

Link building is simply too time consuming and often time wasting to manage without the appropriate softare tools. Rather than retype what I’ve already written about I’d suggest you see my article on SEO Elite (Just Click on the “Software” tab). There may be other good tools, but this is the one I suggest you investigate because it’s PROVEN. With SEO Elite you control your own destiny. Invest in yourself by investing in the best software tools to make your marketing dreams happen! Building a marketing empire requires these state of the art marketing tools. There simply is not enough time in a day to do everything manually.

Natural Links and Manual Link Building

Natural Linking – The only way to get natural incoming links is to make a site that is so good people will WANT to link to it. That is the definition of a Natural Link… a link that is placed to your site from another site just because they like your content. I’ll skip the scraped links in this category, as they are by definition “natural”, but are not very useful as they come from really low quality sites. If you want more natural links make a great site then keep improving it.

Manual Linking – Grinding it out; asking for links one at a time manually is an approached doomed for failure as you try to scale your linking campaign. Building links manually without the proper link management tools is simply too time consuming.

Managing a dozen of so manual links is very doable. Managing 100′s or 1,000′s of links is not. If you are requesting a link from a top Authority Site you should take the time to customize your link trading request to that specific webmaster/site.

Can you imagine coding your own webpages in a program like wordpad? How many of you are proficient enough in HTML to even complete the most basic of pages? Automation is the key! Everyone wants to be rich, but getting rich online is the same as offline, it required innovation, creativity, and the correct tools. Carpenters no longer build homes with hammers, they use compressors and air tools. What tool will you use?