Online Business Tips

Getting your website out there and noticed is a crucial component to running a successful online business. One great way to gain exposure for your site is by using social bookmarking sites. These sites let you upload links to your website and share them with users of the site. Networking within the social bookmarking site with other, like-minded people can give you the chance to create back-links, as well.

How Do Social Bookmarking Sites Work?

Essentially, a social bookmarking site is a website where people go to search and share other websites. You can upload a link to your site and share it with other users. With most of these sites, you are able to store, manage, and search websites, as well as create a social network of other users. The more users who rate or “like” your site, the more prevalence you have on the site.

What are the advantages of using Social Bookmarking Sites?

The obvious benefit is simply having a place to upload your link to. Any exposure is good. Users gain access to your business with very little effort on your part.

Another great benefit is building a network of people within the site you are using. We all know how important networking is to the success of any business. Take the time to dig into the social bookmarking site you are using and do all you can with it. Take the time to build those networks for yourself and your business. Create back-links for your website within your network of users’ sites.

There are literally hundreds of social bookmarking sites. The more of these sites you use, the more networks you can create. Using these sites well also improves your search engine ranking – the more sites you are on, and the more “likes” or ratings you get, the more prevalent you are on the internet, which equals a higher ranking on search engines. This, of course, is a result we all want.

How do you get started on Social Bookmarking Sites?

This process is VERY simple. Most social bookmarking sites require a membership – just sign up and go. Get your website link uploaded, search and store other sites, reach out & build a network of users, get them (and others) to rate your site, and gain exposure. Explore the site, and do all you can with it. Invest a little of your time to reap the benefits of being seen as much as you can be.

Backlinking

Even if you are brand new to the world of internet marketing, you are undoubtedly familiar with the term “backlink.”  So what are backlinks and why are they important to your website’s success?

What Are Backlinks?

Backlinks are, quite simply, links that point from one web page to another.  When you have a link embedded on one of your own web pages pointing to another page on the same website, you have established and internal backlink.  When a link is embedded into the text of another website which points to your web page, you have established an external backlink.  External backlinks are more important in the quest to achieve higher page rank and keyword authority, so that’s what we’ll focus on here.

Why are Backlinks Important?

Backlinks are crucial in establishing two key elements for your web page:

Page Rank
Keyword Authority

What is Page Rank?

Page Rank is where your site appears on the search engine listing for a specific keyword.  Page Rank is determined by a variety of factors, the most important of which is the number of links that are pointing to it—backlinks.

What is Keyword Authority

Keyword Authority is even more important than Page Rank when it comes to building credibility with the search engines.  Keyword Authority is established by two main components:

Keyword Optimization
Backlink Relevance

What is Keyword Optimization?

Keyword Optimization is the basis of SEO marketing.  It is the strategic placement, at the proper ratio, of keywords throughout the text of your content.  Keyword Optimization can be applied to content placed directly on your web page, or within the external articles you publish on topics related to your web page’s general theme (an important component of external backlinks.)

What is Backlink Relevance?

Establishing external backlinks pointing to your web page is not enough to build Keyword Authority.  These backlinks will ideally be placed on relevant websites or directed from relevant articles.  In other words, you can’t create a backlink from a site or article focused on “Household Tips for Busy Moms” pointed to your web page about “Dog Obedience Strategies.”  They have nothing, really, to do with one another—therefore, this backlink is not relevant.  Now, if this “Household Tips for Busy Moms” website has a section about training the family dog, then this backlink has suddenly become relevant, and therefore an asset to your Keyword Authority, which in turn boosts your Page Rank.

How to Establish Relevant Backlinks to Your Web Page

There are a variety of strategies used by successful internet marketers to establish relevant backlinks to their web pages.  One very effective way to establish relevant backlinks is article marketing.

What is Article Marketing?

There are several components involved in creating an article with Keyword Optimization and that will establish Keyword Authority for your backlink.  Article marketing is its own topic to be explored independently, but it basically involves creating relevant, keyword rich articles (without “saturating”), submitting them to article directories, etc. and using them to backlink to your own website.

So, what are backlinks?  They are the determining factor in establishing credibility, Keyword Authority and Page Rank for your website.  Why are backlinks important?  They are the determining factor in your website’s success!

Backlinking