Generating Quality Traffic: Linking and Backlinking

The biggest issue on the mind of all web page owners is traffic. Drawing traffic to your site is the means by which you can make conversions and generate revenue. The more people visiting your site, the more conversions you stand to make and the more revenue you are likely to see.

People go to many different lengths to generate and attract traffic to their site. This is the cornerstone of most internet marketing techniques, such as search engine optimization. But when it comes down to it, even SEO is built around the central idea that the way to generate traffic is to create as many links to your site as possible.

However, there are good links and there are bad links. Good links are well places links on sites or services that offer content similar to your own. The idea behind placing these kinds of links is that if someone is viewing a web page on a subject similar to the focus of your site or service, a well placed link to your site will arouse their interest and encourage them to click. However, if there is a link to your site on a web page concerning a subject that has little or no relevance to the content of your site, the viewer will be much less likely to click through to your site.

The idea is to use links to create quality, targeted traffic for your own site. There are all kinds of programs, widgets and scripts out there that will claim to draw a certain large amount of traffic to your site on a daily basis for a fee. But the quality of this traffic is often very low, since they are mostly being directed to you from sites that have little or nothing to do with yours. Low quality traffic of this sort often results in a lower conversion rate.

However, there are many ways in which you can create quality traffic that is relevant to your content. One of the most common is by submitting your site to web directories, which can then funnel you traffic. Another great way is to submit articles or press releases on your topic to article directories. When you build backlinks into these articles, viewers who happen on the article will click on your links to learn more, and find your website. Sometimes, your article will be picked up by interested parties and reproduced in other places, creating more opportunities for generating quality traffic. Press releases work in much the same way. By submitting press releases on news concerning your site, its subject or product to press release directories, you can build effective traffic as well. And best of all, this becomes another form of search engine marketing, as often times your articles will appear in search engine results.

Posting in forums relevant to the focus of your site can also be an effective way of building quality traffic. Using your signature on your posts, you can include a link back to your website, as well as a prompt to click it to learn more. If people see that you are engaged in forum discussions relevant to your topic, they will be inclined to click through.

Another good idea is to get in contact with the owners of websites similar to yours and simply ask them to link to you. In return, you can link back to them, and in this way pool traffic between you.

Affiliate sponsors also offer a great way to increase your relevant traffic. Affiliate services will promote your site and products for you on other websites and blogs, and will drive traffic to your site to encourage conversions.

Remember, linking and SEO is all about drawing the highest quality traffic to your site. If you can reach your target audience, people who will be interested in what your site has to offer, the opportunity to monetize that traffic through advertisements or sales conversions will greatly increase. Above all, backlinking will draw interested viewers to your site, and these are the exact types of viewers you want to target.