All the search engines have made it very clear that inbound links to your website are essential for good positions in the search results. The biggest problem that most site owners face, is that they see this as a massive task and simply concentrate all their efforts on Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) instead. In a way that is not totally wrong, as without proper page titles, good page copy and a decent technical structure, any links to your site may not get the best out of the search engines. However, there are things you can do (and may already be doing) to help generate inbound links.

1. Have an amazing website full of great content

This is so obvious,  it is almost always forgotten. All the big and popular websites do not need to actively seek new links because they have an army of visitors spreading the word for them. If you have a website that has unique and interesting content or functionality, then word will get out and people will come! So there is little point in putting lots of effort into building links if your website is old and stale.

Brochure websites might consider creating topical resources that help their visitors such as Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ’s), knowledge-bases or blogs. In addition to this eCommerce sites can have unique descriptions, their own product photographs and offer additional advice on product selection.

A good website will naturally prompt visitors to link without you needing to do anything extra. Blogs, Twitter, Facebook and forums are full of visitor generated links referring their readers to good websites.

2. Add your web address to online profiles

If you have a Twitter, Facebook, Linked-In or MySpace account, then usually you can add a link to your website. Not all of these links are important to search engines but they will be good for anyone looking for your website. If you have any forum accounts, then normally you can add a link to your profile and create a signature which links back showing a short description of what you offer. There are also numerous social networking sites (i.e. Posterous, YouTube, StumbleUpon, Flickr, Delicious) that offer a basic profile that you can also add a link to.

3. Blog and/or comment on other relevant blogs

You can set-up a free blog with WordPress or Blogger (although we always recommend having your own installed) and immediately link that back to your website. Any posts that you write can link to specific pages on your site to help readers find anything you may be discussing (e.g. a review on one of your products). Obviously setting up a blog is not a two minute job, and there are things to consider such as what you will blog about and how you will promote it.

Commenting on other peoples blogs is an easy and quick thing to do and can be very effective as long as you write relevant and useful comments. Ideally if you can post a link to something on your own website then that can be very beneficial, but beware of having your comments removed as potential spam. Most blogs will allow you to have a link which is available if someone clicks your name, this is normally enough to make interested readers click to find out more. Most blogs links are ignored by search engines but again it is important to get involved and offer a link for any comment readers.

4. Request links from suppliers, clients and specialist bodies and directories

Depending on your industry, you may be able to ask your suppliers and clients to put a link to you on their website. Some clients are keen to show their affiliation to prized suppliers, and may well be pleased to feature you on their links page. Suppliers often have a distributors or authorised resellers section which you can ask to be listed on.

If you are a member of a specialist body for your industry, then they may be able to list you on their website. These may include your Chambers of Commerce, Local Council and anyone who may have accredited or regulated you. There are usually specialist directories set-up by organisations or individuals, that will be only to happy to list you if you email them a request.

To help these type of listings, it is worth preparing a pack containing some different size and shape logos, your official company name, a short description (and maybe a long one) as well as your website address. This can greatly assist the website administrators and make sure that your links look as good as possible. Don’t be afraid to ask for your web address to be added to basic listings.

5. Analyse who links to your competitors

This is not something that everyone will want to do, but done properly it can be very fruitful. A special search in Google will reveal who links to your main competitors websites. For example searching Google for “bbc.co.uk -site:bbc.co.uk“, will show who is linking to the BBC website using the domain name as the link. Change the “bbc.co.uk” part for the domain of your competitors, and you will start to get some very interesting results. Competitor analysis is more complex than this, if you really want to get useful results you should consider asking someone to help who has experience. If you are keen to see how you compare or just want to find some quick opportunities, this is a useful method.

It is possible to obtain inbound links to your website for free, and there are many opportunities for good quality links. It is worth remembering that quality, is more important than quantity, and relevant links from established websites are worth more than anything else. Link building takes time, patience and determination, done correctly is worth more than any other form of online marketing.