Every novice Internet Marketer out there knows the significance of backlinks. “Backlinks” is also the first term any beginner will hear or read about. We cannot stress enough the importance of backlinks to organic search results and improved visibility. So, what’s the best way of getting backlinks and monitoring them?

Getting new backlinks is no easy task. A few methods are widely used while others take considerable more time and effort:

1. Directory Submissions: This might be a one-time deal. However, keep in mind that this will not define your backlinking strategy; it will only be a one-time boost. There are many web-based solutions and software programs or you can do submissions manually. Just type “directory submissions” on Google and you will see many solutions. Do your research and do not pay more than $60. We recommend “Directory Submitter”.
2. Article Syndication: This method is widely used and is very beneficial to the extent that you write a great deal of unique, non-duplicate content.  Syndicating the articles, and Press Releases as well, while indexing the content on your website, sow the seeds for excellent backlinking.  Optimum7 has developed an automated Php solution that creates the capacity to syndicate a great deal of disparate content for a wide variety of clients’ websites … all for the purpose of generating highly relevant, naturally occurring backlinks.
3. Social Bookmarking and Social Media: While many social bookmarking sites now have “no-follow” tags, (which means there’s no juice in the backlink) there are some that still will send you a link for free. Create accounts on sites such as Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Digg, Delicious, StumbleUpon, Technorati, Merchant Circle, Squidoo and many more. Then, simply link back to your site. This likely is a manual process it should be pursued because it is successful.
4. RSS: Be sure to create an RSS feed and submit it to many social media and RSS sites. You will be amazed at the backlinks and traffic they bring. Again, you have to update your content often for this method to work.  Updating content means adding content weekly or even more often through articles, blogposts, podcasts and other means.  RSS gives you the ability to widely syndicate your content and earn great numbers of backlinks.
5. Blog Commenting: This is a manual process. However, if it’s done with a set schedule and you stick to it, it will generate results beyond your imagination. You can easily identify niche blogs, site forums, and discussion boards and get backlinks by simply sharing your expertise. Try it; if you get one legit backlink each day, that’s 365 backlinks in one year. Be sure not to spam, nobody likes that.

The trick here is to always provide a value to the reader. Ultimately, you want your site to be so cool and so resourceful that people will naturally want to link to you.

Backlink Monitoring Tool

Be sure to keep an eye on the competition and what the industry is doing overall. You always want to identify those niche terms first. Web-based services such as Compete.com and Spyfu.com definitely help. If you are looking for a free solution to track your backlinks and your competition, try our new LinkVelocity Tool. Most important of all, stay in the game and do not stop backlink creation and monitoring.

So how do you go about adding backlinks for your site? It’s pretty basic and complex at the same time. In the online marketing industry, it’s a norm that if you create unique and interesting content in your own industry or segment which really provides information and offers value to the reader, you will get backlinks from users who like your content. However, sometimes it does not work exactly as planned and you might need to do some extra work. Here are some methods:

1. Article Submissions: While this method does not define the backlinking process, it definitely helps. There are hundreds of online articles sites that will gladly accept your content and publish it. The benefit for you here is that you get a backlink from each submission. You can use software like “Article Submitter” or a web-based version.
2. Directory Submissions: This is a great method to boost your backlinks. There are programs such as IBP, which do these submissions manually and automatically. You can also use the “Directory Submitter”. While these backlinks might not be really relevant backlinks, they definitely help.
3. Online Classifieds: These sites are free to list and you can get an easy backlink. Just make sure that you do not spam these sites; a one-time post will be sufficient. Sites such as Craigslist and BackPage are examples of classified sites. You can also post on sites like Squidoo, Technorati, Merchant Circle and many more to get one-way links. Another potential positive of these sites is that they actually show up pretty fast on Search Engine Results Pages.
4. Blog Commenting: While this is a more time consuming process, it provides more value. You must identify the blog sites and forums that are related to your industry or business and engage in conversations on these sites. Do not forget the first rule of quality content; give value to the users so they cannot get enough of you. Use your expertise and answer questions on answers.yahoo.com. It definitely helps.

Things You Should Not Do

• Do not send a million emails trying to exchange links. This complicated process takes a lot of time and is not productive.

• Do not spam classified sites or do not use automated blog commenting software; that is considered as spam and you will not benefit from it.

• Try not do buy links and make it too obvious all your backlinks is from one source. Google sees it all. Try to diversify the number of links you get spread over different sites and IPs.

Remember, content is king. While there are hundreds of ways to get backlinks, the above should be a quick start. Of course, for more advanced techniques, we are here to help.