SEO is a long term marketing strategy with high ROI opportunities. Because of its long term commitment necessary, is a well formed strategy key to success, a strategy that is followed and verified and scrutinized along the way. The foundation of a successful SEO program consists of the following building blocks:

* Keyword-rich text. The majority of a site’s pages should contain the words and phrases the target audience types into search queries. Pages should appear somewhat focused on these important keyword phrases, and the phrases should be featured prominently on the page. Otherwise, the page won’t convert well or receive consistent search engine traffic over time. Keyword research and copywriting for individual HTML tags are a part of this building block.

* Information/site architecture and page layout. Search engines and end users must be given easy access to keyword-rich content. How text, graphic images, and multimedia files are arranged on a page tells search engines and site visitors which content the site owner believes is most important. URL structure and technical architecture figure into that as well.

* Link development. Commonly referred to as link popularity, this is the number and quality of objective, third-party links pointing to a URL or Web site. Of course, not all links pointing to a site are objective, third-party links, but those types of links aren’t always the most credible. For all the new technology that’s emerged in the past 10 years, these building blocks still form a solid foundation, even with video, audio, and other multimedia search optimization. What’s fascinating, however, is the different SEO opinions on which is the most important block.

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Link development should be a key strategy within your search engine optimization (SEO) efforts and practices. Link development is actually a fundamental aspect of any search engine marketing scheme and should not be overlooked as it is a sure way for any website to obtain long-term search engine traffic. Link development is one of the most overlooked components of a successful SEO campaign. Web site owners can put all the keywords they wish on a page and develop a search-engine friendly navigation scheme. But without a well-planned link-development campaign, search engine visibility is short term.

When embarking on a link development plan, a website may achieve a better ranking through acquiring high-quality links rather than a large quantity of low-quality links.  When link building, it is important to remember that less is more when it comes to the types of links sought out.

Webmasters are always on the lookout for ways in which links may be achieved for their websites.  There are many ways in which to obtain inbound links to any given site.  A few ways in which to achieve this goal are to include the website’s URL within the signature of forum postings, including the site’s URL in blog comments, writing and submitting articles that include a link to the website, submitting the website to directories, submitting articles about the website to Press Release companies, engaging in link exchanges with relevant sites.  Another effective way to promote a website and strengthen any link building efforts is to work with other webmasters of relevant sites to promote each other.

Today, some tips and guidelines on creating and maintaining a successful link-development campaign.

Link Development Tips

Link development is essential to a successful SEO campaign. The main disadvantage is it takes time, whereas paid search advertising (in Google, Overture, FindWhat, etc.) results are nearly instantaneous.

Link development’s main advantage is dynamic, cumulative, and difficult to imitate. Many sites maintain search engine visibility and the resulting qualified traffic because of successful link development, not just based on the number of keywords on a page.

Some link development tactics we commonly use:

• Choose quality over quantity. Link quality carries more weight than quantity. Spend time getting the highest quality links pointing to your site. One of search engine spammers’ biggest sales pitches is, “Get millions of links to your site.” Don’t fall for that arcane, useless pitch.
• Begin with Web directories. Yahoo Directory and Business.com are two reliable places for high-quality links. Both require annual submission fees. If their links don’t positively affect your site’s link development, don’t renew.
• Harness online publicity. How-to tips, helpful articles, even useful press releases often garner links from other Web sites. Publicity is usually part of a company’s overall marketing plan, so harnessing these resources for link development can be a simple task.
• Use blogs and forums wisely. Blogs and forums can call attention to useful information on your own site.
• Use search engines to research link development. Look at competitors’ sites to determine their link development strategy. It can help you with your own. What newspapers and media outlets do they use for online publicity? What Web directories link to their sites? No link popularity checker (“link:domain.com” in Google, “linkdomain:domain.com” in Yahoo) can substitute for doing the research yourself.

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