Search Engine Tips & Tricks – How to Improve Your Link Popularity

Submit to Yahoo and Dmoz
One excellent way to begin building quality links is to list your site in Yahoo and in the Dmoz Open Directory. DMOZ and Yahoo are Very Important Listings! These human based directories have a lot of influence over ranking and are crucial to improving your link popularity. If your site is listed in the correct category and has a good description, these links will dramatically increase your website ranking.

Submit to specific niche directories
Second, it is important to have links from industry-specific, or niche directories that contain information directly related to what you are offering. An excellent place to find specific niche directories is in Google’s Special Interest Listings. Find your industry category and look for sites that do not directly compete with what you are offering. Next, see if those sites will link to your site. Google prefers these directory listings, so these links will go a long way towards building your link popularity!

Next, take advantage of free and low-cost search engine submissions to key directories, such as, GoGuides, JoeAnt, Gimpsy, and About.com. Also, submit your site to every directory in Google’s Full Listing of Directories.

Use the "Strongest Links Directory List." This is an excellent list of directories and will give you a detailed breakdown including page rank and fees charged. Using this tool, you can find directories with high page rank values and low fees! You may even find a directory with a high page rank that is free! Submit to as many of these as possible. And, remember, the higher the page rank, the more valuable the link is to you.

Use the Google Directory Listing Page to submit your site to more than 150 additional directories! Most of the directories listed have no submission charges; however, some have a small annual fee. I recommend paying the small charge for these directories. The increase you will see in Link Popularity will be well worth this small investment.

Useful Tips – Ask your visitors to link to you
Tip – Make linking to you as easy as possible. Create a page on your web site that includes the HTML code and your keywords in the text link, as explained above. Then, create a button to this page that says "Link to Us".
Tip – Make sure your titles and descriptions are full of strategic keyword phrases.
Tip – Give your visitors a good reason to link to your web site. If you provide a valuable service free of charge, your visitors will be eager to link to you. Visitors sent from them will then link to you, and so on. If you can create enough interest by offering a product or service for free, the interest will quickly spread, and in doing so, will increase your link popularity and search engine placement. This is called "Viral Marketing". If you offer a free service to attract attention, your visitors will likely buy other products or services that you are selling. Hotmail.com is a perfect example of viral marketing. Hotmail’s founder, Sabeer Bhatia, made $400 million dollars by giving away free e-mail addresses!
Tip – Ask your Friends, Business Partners, Clients, and Vendors. One of the most over-looked ways to build link popularity is to link with your business partners and vendors. Because you have already built a strong relationship with them, they will likely agree to link to your site.
Tip – For Great Website Ranking, Structure Your Links Properly! This is one of the most important SEO Tips, so READ CAREFULLY! Search engines place a lot of importance on the text contained in the links that point to your website. What a link "says" about your site is known as your "Link Reputation". This is a major factor that search engines will use to determine website ranking. Therefore, links containing your key phrases have a profound effect on search results. It is of great importance to show the webmaster that is linking to you EXACTLY how to construct your link. The keywords in the hyperlink portion are extremely important, so when you send another webmaster your link, make sure that you construct it wisely! For instance, always give them the HTML link code exactly like so: <a href="http://www.YourDomain.com">Your Keyword Phrase</a>
 Remember, if you have your keywords in the hyperlink, search engines will rank you higher for those words!
Tip – If you have an affiliate program make sure you get credit for your link popularity. If you are with an affiliate network such as CommissionJunction, LinkShare or others, you will not get credit for your link popularity. In fact, in my experience, there is only one affiliate tracking software that will give you credit for link popularity, and even then, only by request. 
 Warnings – Avoid FFA, or "Free-for-All" sites and Link Farms, as they may damage your ranking. Also, it is wise to install the Google Toolbar before you submit. Do not add your URL to any site that does not have a good page rank themselves!

Recommended Websites –

Strongest Links Directory List
     http://www.strongestlinks.com/directories.php
The Google Directory Listing Page
     http://directory.google.com/Top/Reference/Directories
Link Popularity
     http://ww.linkpopularity.com/
Affiliate Tracking Software
     http://www.AffiliateTraction.com