Five Tips for Improving Link Popularity
Directory Listings: Ensure your site is listed in ODP (free) and also include Yahoo! Business Express ($299 yearly) and LookSmart Express Submit ($299) or Basic Submit ($149). Directory listings boost link popularity because they rely on human editors, known to result in relevant content. There are many lesser-known directories that might be advantageous to be listed in. You can find many industry-specific and smaller directories in Search Engine Guide's Search Engines Directory.
Request Links: When looking for possible link candidates, start by visiting a search engine and typing in your most important strategic keywords. You'll see a lot of competitors, but look for non-competing, complimentary sites. Screen those sites, selecting only the ones that might be receptive to your link request. Give them a compelling reason to link to your site and be sure to suggest where a link might be appropriate. A good strategy is to link to them first and point this out, which might help get a link back.Another way to do this is to identify a well-established site with good content that targets the same audience you want to reach (non-competitive, of course). Then perform a link analysis from that site, noting the incoming links and soliciting those sites.
Promote Linkability Within Your Site: There are many ways to do this. Basically, you want to provide quality resources and outgoing links as appropriate. This can include links to search engines, news hubs, weather reports, industry resources, industry professional groups and so forth. Outgoing links can be important in two ways: they provide incentive for other quality sites to link to you when you're already linked to them, and if internal linkage is done properly, it can improve your PR score. For technical information on PR see the white paper by Chris Ridings "PageRank Explained."
Publish Articles: Get the experts in your company to write informative articles your audience is interested in, then submit these articles to appropriate online publications in your industry. Provide a brief bio containing your Web site URL and make it a condition for publication that the article must appear with a bio containing your company URL. This can generate a lot of links, but it takes time and editorial skills.
Testimonials: It can be worthwhile to start a testimonial page of products and services you find useful. Say you admire certain marketing sites or publishing sites. Contact the company, telling them why you value their services or find their products effective. Be earnest and concise. The company may respond asking for permission to display your comments on their Web site. Grant them permission provided they agree to link to your site. Sometimes it helps if you post the testimonial on your site first and refer them to that page.
