There is an argument of sorts going on between the "SEO Gods" about whether or not it is more important to have one-way or reciprocal links to increase your page rank and thus website traffic. I could really care less. What I do know for sure is that one-way inbound links and reciprocal links matter in the eyes of the Search Engines. Obtaining highly relevant and high-page ranking links can be a lot of hard work, but I have a few fresh ideas for you and an action plan to help you get your Link & Traffic Campaign off the ground today!

* Boost Traffic = Boost Links -- If you want a really powerful way to boost your Page Rank and traffic, trade links with traffic share sites. The idea here is to exchange your website advert, text link or website URL with as many sites, directories, free classified ads, any place on the web that will allow your website new exposure. Most Traffic Share services are free and others are nominally priced for the results. Another way to Turbo Boost your traffic is to list your site in Paypal shops -- its free. They have HUGE exposure on the net and you can benefit from it by simply adding your site there. Need a place to start?

* Write Articles – Writing articles is one of the best ways to obtain one-way inbound links to your website. With reciprocal linking becoming less effective, web administrators are seeking content for their websites and Online magazines (or e-zines). As a writer, you can share your expertise by writing 400-1200 word articles (make them short, but dense with your keywords). Then submit your articles to article directories, content websites, and E-zines. I have included a few below that I think are worthwhile. Usually there is what is called a "resource box" at the end of every article submission. This is where you can write about yourself as an author, your interests and of course, add a link to your website(s). I use this method quite often and have seen great success. Search Engines place a great deal of importance on article writing for two reasons. The first is that most people do not like to write, but secondly, unique writers equals fresh new content. And this is what the search engines are after! You'll see your inbound links EXPLODE when your article becomes syndicated.

*Directories -- Submit your link to directories all over the web. There are many directories that will allow you to add your site for free and others for a nominal fee. If you can stay within your topic or region in a directory, you will begin to see incoming links from these relatively quickly. Don't stay away from the big guys like DMOZ and Yahoo!, but also don't spend a lot of energy submitting your site to them. Its important to submit once or twice in twelve months, any more often than that and you are likely to do more harm than good. A good place to start is regional/local directories (this usually helps your website become indexed faster).

* Banner Swaps --There are a lot of free and co-op sites to place your banner or text ad. You will get a lot more traffic and links if you can write high quality copy in your ads. Remember that Search Engines are crawling for fresh, new content each day -- so make your ads count. Free Classified Advertising sites are also a good place to market your products and website. Make your ad or banner stand out and use teaser lines so that you don't give everything away in the ad. You want to make people click on your banner to visit your website and browse around for awhile. You don't need to be a" Programming God" to create banners either. There are many generous websites devoted just to creating text ads and banners for free. Usually they ask for a reciprocal link for using their service, but that is the least you can do considering whole businesses exist on creating professional banner ads.

* RSS - Take the idea of article syndication one step further. Offering home-grown articles on your website is great, but syndicating them through an RSS feed is even better. A relatively new way to obtain fresh content is through an RSS reader. Many people would never be able to read all of the breaking news and "tips of the day" on their favorites sites with out it. However, most individuals are more than happy to pick up their news from their RSS feeders every day and if there is nothing new to share, there is nothing in the feeder. HUGE TIME SAVER. This is where you come in. Once your articles get picked up in a Blog thread and can deliver links from sites on an ongoing basis, you will see a massive increase in web traffic and inbound links. Added bonus: if your RSS feed features enough juicy content, another site may choose to pick it up and run it. This will provide you with a new outlet to reach unique visitors and more inbound links to your site as well!

* Downloads -- Do you have anything you could offer your visitors for free? Anymore, search the web for free tools and downloads and you could spend all year just sifting through these sites. Try to find a unique download or free tool to offer, even if it means you need to take a few programming lessons. If you're not confident in your programming skills, hire a freelance programmer fairly cheaply to create a tool for you. Several sites are set up just to pair you and these "starving artists" together. Create something you think your visitors need and they can't find anywhere else. You don't need to reinvent the wheel, just improve on a tool that already exists. If you can do this, it won't take long for people to link to your site and refer their friends & colleagues. Copyrights are a big issue here, remember not to offer downloads unless you have express permission from the author to do so.

* Link Exchanges -- There are a lot of good Link Exchange programs and most are free. Some Link Exchange sites offer a paid program, but the key to this idea is that your reciprocal link exchange process is then automated. This cuts down on the enormous amount of time you will spend adding links one by one to your hosted link page on your website. I have used a few of these programs, most with very good success. Do yourself a favor early on and don't rely on just a Link Exchange program to build your links for you -- you need highly relevant links, and more importantly inbound, non-reciprocal links from high page-ranked websites to help you build your own "ranking campaign". You should be very selective about the links that you give out and add on to your list. Many SEO experts will tell you that it is more important to have a few high-PR links on your site than 1000's of reciprocal, meaningless and irrelevant sites. In fact, if you're not careful about your links, you might be penalized for too many outbound and irrelevant links.

* Testimonials – A current trend on the web is adding testimonials & reviews on websites. Webmasters usually receive feedback in the form of a testimonial or a review from their customers. Most customers are happy to provide a review; but more important, is to try and seek out relevant business partners to make comments on their products or services. In exchange for the testimonial, you can ask for a link back to your website. Make it a habit to send reviews for your online or even offline purchases. Come across a great looking website, or find that the webmaster has made their site very user-friendly? Send them an email with your feedback. Always include your "tag line" at the bottom of it with a link to your site, because chances are they will decide to publish your comments and this is how you will get a link back to your website. This may seem tedious, however there are no get-links quick schemes out there worth the investment, in my opinion. If you try to cheat the Search Engines, more than likely you will spend time in their penalty boxes and for some websites, this can be several months. The whole name of the game is to build your links over time. It should be a natural and cumulative progression of new links to your site.

* Photos -- Who was it that said "a photo is worth a thousand words"? Well on the internet, a photo with the right anchor text and image name can be worth many inbound links! Quality content in a website does not always have to mean written content. If you want to your website to be seen by new visitors all of the time, you have to start thinking "outside the box." Think about sharing your photos with other sites and just ask for credit and a link back in return. Or think about adding photos in a portion of your site that makes them relevant to the rest of the information you are providing. For example, if your site is regional, show photos of interesting or free things to do around town. Most sites use photos and images as a way to make the site look pretty; however, the Search Engines could care less about pretty sites. They are looking for relevant content and if you use your photos to your benefit, this is a powerful way to attract incoming links.

by Shin Xi On http://www.trafficforme.com

Shin Xi On is a stay at home mom of twins and consults webmasters new to Search Engine Optimization. She helps online business owners increase their targeted traffic, sales conversions, link popularity and build search engine optimization techniques in her spare time. http://www.trafficforme.com/