photo credit: milos milosevic

First the definition of a Backlink: they are links pointing to your website that come from other websites. Site A has a link directing visitors to Site B. Therefore Site B has a backlink from Site A. hey are also know as inbound links or incoming links.

Why are they important? In the early days of the internet, before the emergence of search engines, backlinks were the main way people navigated the web. Obviously search engines have taken over that role today but backlinks remain more important than ever.

Google and the other search engines use the number of backlinks that a site has as one of the most important factors in determining it’s search engine ranking and importance.

In the above example, Site A has given Site B a vote,in other words Site A thinks that Site B has something important to say. Google sees that and counts it as a backlink.

Not All Backlinks are of Equal Value

• The quality of a backlink is as important if not more important than the quantity of backlinks.
  
• Links from a high PR site will carry more weight than links from a lower PR site.
• Websites that have the same content relevance as the site they link to are better than those from a non-relevant site.
• A link that contains a keyword phrase (anchor text) is better than a link with a generic anchor text.
• Links from .gov and .edu are some of the best to get.  Google gives these sites a great deal of authority and importance.  See How to Get .Edu and .Gov Links

So keep these guideline in mind when you are creating backlinks to your site. Any you might want to give this post a read as well. More Ways to Link Build

If you have any thoughts or comments please let The Blog Builder Guy know!

What are Backlinks and Why Do I Need Them? is a great post from: The Blog Builder Guy-I Build It So You Don't Have To!

photo credit: danorth1

I know that is a silly question because there isn't much point in having a blog if no one is reading it.  Unless it is for your own personal use and you don't want anyone else to read it.

But if you want to share what you have to say  then you are going to need readers!  Her is a quick and easy way to get your blog noticed.

It's called Pinging.  If you have a WordPress blog,  each time you create or update a post WordPress will send a notification or Ping to the popular Update Services.  When the Update Services receives the Ping it sends a notice to all the sites that are on their list.  So now people reading sites like Technorati  can find your posts.

So how do you set up this magical Ping process?  It's very easy.

Go to your Dashboard and under Settings select Writing. Scroll down and under Update Services cut and paste the sites below into the box.  One site per line.  Once you've done that, click Save Changes and you're done!

Now every time you add a new post all the services below will be notified and you're on your way to getting more traffic!

If The Blog Builder Guy build your site then you don't have to do anything because that is part of the blog setup service.

http://rpc.pingomatic.com/

http://feedshark.brainbliss.com/

http://api.feedster.com/ping

http://ping.amagle.com/

http://ping.bitacoras.com

http://ping.blo.gs/

http://ping.rootblog.com/rpc.php

http://ping.weblogalot.com/rpc.php

http://rcs.datashed.net/RPC2/

http://rpc.blogbuzzmachine.com/RPC2

http://rpc.blogrolling.com/pinger/

http://rpc.icerocket.com:10080/

http://rpc.weblogs.com/RPC2

http://topicexchange.com/RPC2

http://www.blogoole.com/ping/

http://www.blogoon.net/ping/

http://www.blogsnow.com/ping

http://www.blogstreet.com/xrbin/xmlrpc.cgi

http://www.lasermemory.com/lsrpc/

http://www.newsisfree.com/RPCCloud

http://www.popdex.com/addsite.php

http://www.snipsnap.org/RPC2

http://www.wasalive.com/ping/

http://www.blogsdominicanos.com/ping/

http://www.xianguo.com/xmlrpc/ping.php

http://www.feedsky.com/api/RPC2

http://rpc.technorati.com/rpc/ping

http://api.moreover.com/RPC2

http://bblog.com/ping.php

http://blogsearch.google.com/ping/RPC2

http://ping.feedburner.com

http://ping.syndic8.com/xmlrpc.php

http://ping.bloggers.jp/rpc/

http://rpc.pingomatic.com/

http://rpc.technorati.com/rpc/ping

http://www.blogpeople.net/servlet/weblogUpdates


Do You Want More Traffic for Your Blog? is a great post from: The Blog Builder Guy-I Build It So You Don't Have To!

photo credit: Ben Fredericson (xjrlokix)

The internet is filled with many different social media or Web 2.0 sites as some people call them. And the number is growing almost daily.   These sites are excellent for getting traffic and helping to build links that point back to your main site.  Below are the ones I use to build links.  There are, of course many more. 

Squidoo

Hubpages

Weebly

Vox

Webnode

Webs

With Weebly (I love that name) for example, you can create a page with information about your market niche. Pages on sites like this are well respected  by the search engines. You can monitize these pages or use them to link directly to your main site.

Setting up a page on these sites is pretty easy.  You have to join the site and then simply follow the directions for setting up your page.  Wow…following directions…what a concept….well maybe not for a guy ok, for me!  But they are easy to set up!

The most important rule to follow is to use unique content on each site.  You can't just write one article and post it everywhere.  Google and the other search engines frown on that big time!  They call it duplicate content. 

You should also use your main keywords once or twice through out the article.  Sometimes it useful to Bold or underline a keyword. It catches the attention of the search engines.  Such as two of my main keywords:  blog builder or blog setup.  See how easy it is to put in a couple of keywords!  But don't over do it.  The search engines call that keyword stuffing and they frown on that as well.

Once the article is written be sure to include a link back to your main site.  It can be something as easy as saying, "If you would like more information please visit Mysite.com ".  It is also a good idea to use a keyword as anchor text.  For more information on anchor text visit  the blog builder.  That is anchor text that will take you to a page explaining anchor text. 

As I said before there are many such sites and if you would like a more complete list let me know and I'll get them to you!

Related Blog Posts

• How To Avoid Anchor Text Overuse Penalties, But Still Get Targeted Links
• Back Links Pro
• How to Succeed in Niche Marketing | Niche Marketing Sites
• Calling All Designers: Weebly Gives Users More Variety With New Theme Community
• Site creation startup Weebly opens up to user-designed themes | VentureBeat

Using Social Media for Link Building is a great post from: The Blog Builder Guy-I Build It So You Don't Have To!

photo credit: English106

The other day I mentioned the importance that Google and the other search engines place on .edu and .gov links.  They are considered very valuable.  So people have been asking, “How do I find them?”

Here are a couple of easy ways to find them.

Type the following into Google search:

site:.edu inurl: “your keyword”    Put your keyword in-between the quote marks and see what comes up.  Find a site where you can put a value added comment with your keyword as anchor text and you’ve got a link!  For .gov sites just replace the .edu with .gov and follow the same process.

Here is the coolest way to really drill down and get exactly what you are looking for:

site:.edu inurl: "post a comment" -"comments closed" -"you must be logged in"

What this will give you is a .edu site that allows you to post a comment but it eliminates sites that have closed the comments on that post and eliminates sites that require you to log in.  Once you get the search results find an appropriate site and add a helpful comment.  Substitute .gov for the .edu and follow the same process.  It’s that easy!

Finding Blogs and Forums in Your Market Niche

An easy way to find forums and blogs in your niche is to type your  “Keyword” + forum or “Keyword” + blog  into Google search.  For example if your keyword was “carpet cleaning”  you would enter    carpet cleaning + forums    into Google search or   carpet cleaning + blogs. 

If you have any questions for The Blog Builder Guy leave a comment or email me.  Enjoy!

How to Get .Edu and .Gov Links is a great post from: The Blog Builder Guy-I Build It So You Don't Have To!