Read the following excerpt from my book ‘The NZ Small Business Superhero’s Internet Marketing Handbook’ and discover how article marketing can help increase incoming links to your website…
Online directories: There are many directories on the web where you can list your site for free. The most important directory to get a listing in is the Open Directory Project (ODP) which can be found at www.dmoz.com. The ODP is the world’s largest human-edited directory, and because it is edited by humans it has a lot of credibility with Google, so the link you get is well worth the effort.
Because the directory is staffed by volunteers you may also need some patience to wait for your listing to appear. Other New Zealand directories that are worth registering with for their free listing include: www.finda.co.nz; www.nzsearch.co.nz, www.nzs.com, www.nzpages.co.nz, www.hotfrog.co.nz, www.gopher.co.nz, www.locanto.co.nz; and www.yalwa.co.nz.
Most of these directories also have paid options, but tend to be expensive in relation to the amount of traffic and direct enquiries that they will generate. If you have a fat marketing budget you could trial one or two, but if things are tight there are probably better options. There may also be some specialist directories in your industry that you can list with for another valuable back link. Try doing a search of Google for: “online directory + [your industry name]”.
Blog comments and forum participation: Many small business people are experts in their field, so there is often an opportunity to join the online conversation in your area of expertise. There may be blogs and forums in your industry that you can participate in.
Bear in mind that some of the links you create back to your site from posting blog comments or forum posts may use the “no follow” attribute (see page 33 for an explanation) and so are little direct value from a search engine optimisation point of view.
However, if you can create awareness and a profile for yourself as an expert in your field, you may attract business directly or links indirectly as others in your industry find and link to your website as a valuable source of information. You can search for blogs in your niche at www.technorati.com, blogsearch.google.com and www.blog-search.com. To find forums in your area of expertise search on Google for: “forum + [your industry name]”.
To read more, you can purchase my book ‘The NZ Small Business Superhero’s Internet Marketing Handbook’ by clicking here.
