No matter your niche, the lifeblood of any good SEO strategy is quality backlinks. If you want to get more traffic, you will have to improve your search engine ranking. If you want to improve your search engine ranking, you will have to build quality links.

Quality link baiting takes time and effort; it’s not something you can do in a few days – or even a few weeks. It’s an ongoing process. If you don’t constantly build links, your competitors will pass you by.

To the search engines, links are like votes; the more you have, the more popular you are considered. The most popular websites show up at the top of the search engines and get the most traffic.

However, the search engines have also gotten wise to tricks, like buying links or trading for links. Links that are either bought or traded for are valued considerably lower than links that are obtained through quality marketing techniques.

If you want to be one of the popular websites, take advantage of these 5 quality link-building strategies:

1. Ongoing great content
There’s a reason that content is considered the King of the internet. Your content says a lot about you. If it’s good, you look like a trusted expert; if it’s bad, you can lose all of your credibility.
The key to getting the best links is to publish content that other people WANT to link to. What makes people link to something? It has to be interesting, unique, and chock full of solid information. Remember, the vast majority of internet searchers are either looking for the answer to a question or the solution to a problem. If your content provides answers and solutions, people will want to link to you.

2. Forum posting
Every post you make (with your link in your signature, of course) counts as a separate backlink. So, what’s the best way to take advantage of those links? Become a valued member of the community. Offer great insight, advice, and opinions. Irrelevant posts that do nothing more than show off your signature will get you labeled as a spammer – and will annoy the rest of the forum.

3. Social bookmarking
Want to build links and drive traffic? Bookmark content that others will find relevant and interesting. Again, you’ll need to be a valued member of the community to get the quality backlinks you want.

4. Blog commenting
Putting your link in comments on popular blogs can get you some great backlinks. However, you’ll have to make thoughtful, intelligent comments. Spamming blogs with links is a surefire way to get you (and your links!) banned from sites.

5. Behold the power of email
If you have some great content, email it to your colleagues. If they love it as much as you do, they just might link to it on their own websites.

About the guest author:
Kirsty LaVier is editor for Shopping Cart Software Reviews, the leading shopping cart information website.

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