Nowadays if we want a website to succeed, we have to work with search engine optimization, niche markets, first class content and tremendous competition. And this list is just the starting point. We will probably also have to learn about copywriting and marketing as well as how to turn our visitors into buyers. However, for just about all webmasters, the greatest problem is getting traffic.

And that brings us to the subject of this particular article. How can I attract Internet surfers to my site? Well, one answer to this question is backlinks! So, just what do we mean by backlinks and exactly what do backlinks have to do with attracting visitors to my site?

The first thing we have to understand is that there are two basic forms of traffic, paid traffic and organic traffic. Examples of paid traffic are such things as advertising through pay per click networks, placing banners on other peoples' sites and various other ways in which you are able to pay to attract a surfer's attention and convince him to visit your site. If you're only focused on paid traffic then you do not have to worry too much about backlinks.

Organic traffic comes from a person searching on a search engine for a subject that they are interested in. Then when all the free listings are displayed the surfer clicks on one of the site listings to visit the appropriate webpage. When it comes to organic traffic the webmaster does not have to pay directly for the link that the surfer clicks on.

In general, organic traffic is simply called free traffic. Although it can be, it generally comes at a price. The webmaster has got to do quite a bit of work in order to be listed on the first couple of pages of search engine results. And this brings us once more to backlinks.

Generally, the number and quality of backlinks pointing to a site are what determines sites that are listed after we perform a search. A backlink is nothing more than a hyperlink from one site to another site. So it helps greatly if you have numerous websites hyperlinked to your site if you want to be ranked highly in the free search engine results.

But remember that quality is also important. A backlink can be considered to offer high quality if:

* The words which make up the hyperlink (known as the 'anchor' text) are highly relevant to the content of the page that the link is leading to. (You ought not to use something like "click here"!)

* The page rank of the site linking to yours is fairly high (preferably a PR3 or more) and the higher the better.

* The content on the site where the backlink originates is related to the content on your site.

* The site linking to you has a lot of good quality backlinks linking to it.

There are of course several other criteria, but those listed here are the foundations of good linking.

So, precisely how does a webmaster create the necessary quantity of high quality backlinks pointing to his site? There are many different ways and an even greater number of software programs that are designed to provide the answer. Naturally, buying the software adds some cost to your backlinks.

The truly free method is to wait for another webmaster to discover your site and think enugh of it to link to you. That is super, but will take a long time. You can contact other webmasters and ask whether they will trade links with you. You provide them with a link from your site and they provide you with one from their site in return. These are called reciprocal links and are generally thought to be of uncertain value these days.

Another method is to use Article Marketing which initially involves writing articles about subjects which fit with your site. You then submit your articles to several article directory sites and include links of your choice in the resources box following your article. Submitting your website to a selection of site directories is yet another option which fits into the free category.

You may also decide to pay to get backlinks. One of the simplest ways is to purchase links directly. The Internet marketing discussion boards are a super place to find linking opportunities on offer. You might have to pay as much as $50 a month or more to put your link on a site with a PR of 5. You will get a lot of juice out of it, but you will have to pay. It goes without saying that the lower the page rank is then the lower the cost will be.

No matter what method you choose, getting backlinks is vital to your success in ranking in the search engines. You'll want to get hundreds or if possible thousands of them. What's important is to get going and build up your links over time so that you can begin to enjoy a continuous and growing flow of traffic to your site.

About the Author

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