Years ago, people thought that adding their websites to link farms—which were useless web pages filled with thousands of categorized links—would trick the search engines into believing their websites were more important than their competition.
It rarely worked and did very little for driving traffic back to one’s website, but they were correct about one thing. . . links ARE important.
It’s just that link building must be done right for it to work.
The key to a good link building campaign is to avoid spamming other websites and blogs with link requests, or posting irrelevant comments in forums or blogs in hopes of getting noticed. . . instead, focus upon quality content that offers something of real value; content others will WANT to link to.
If you really want more traffic to your art blog, consider these time-tested link building tips for increasing your blog’s visibility with the search engines:
1. Get listed in directories
Human-based directories, like DMOZ are very valuable when it comes to link building so don’t rush when it comes to picking a category or writing your blog description.
Take the time to carefully think about how you want your art blog to be represented—now and in the future—then carefully craft your description because once it’s accepted it’s very hard to get your description changed.
2. Get listed in the search engines
If you haven’t done so already, take the time to suggest your site to the main search engines: Yahoo, Google and Bing.
3. Get listed in press release sites
Don’t just send press releases to the local media, or targeted publications, share your press releases with websites like PRWeb.
4. Get listed locally
Request that your website be added to the local businesses section of your Chamber of Commerce website, and offer valuable business-related content for your city’s website in exchange for a short byline and link back to your art blog.
While you’re at it, don’t forget to network with the owners of other local establishments, and get listed in their business directories too.
5. Write an article for article directories
Take the time to write a weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly article for content distribution sites like EzineArticles.com.
The key is to make sure that you write articles that will interest your target audience so that websites or blogs with similar interests will pick up your article.
Always include a thorough byline and link with each article so that readers, and the search engines, will know where to find your website.
6. Write a guest post
If you want to build links by guest posting, make sure to choose websites or blogs that share similar interests. It’s all about establishing a temporary partnership with someone in a complimentary industry.
I’ve discussed guest posting at great length before, so I’ll just refer you to that article for now.
7. Share information before offering up a link
Before commenting in forums or on other blogs, make sure what you share is relevant to the topic at hand. And don’t be afraid to share a link or two.
If you’ve written on your blog, for example, how to set up an award winning booth, and you stumble upon an artist asking questions on that very topic, simply write a sentence or two offering a tip from your post then refer the reader to the exact page on your blog to read the full article.
8. Take advantage of social bookmarking
Sign up for Technorati, Digg, StumbleUpon and other social bookmarking sites and fill out your profile page on each one.
Then, perhaps once a week, bookmark a specific page from your art blog to share it with those sites. Just make sure that you also take the time to bookmark sites that aren’t yours so that visitors get a well-rounded view of your topic.
9. Fill out your Google profile
Building a Google profile page is a great way to get a quality link, too. In fact, it might be the best place to start!
Link building isn’t easy, it isn’t quick, and it isn’t always fun. . . but if you want the search engines to notice your art blog, it should definitely be an important aspect of your marketing campaign.
This post may contain affiliate links.