New Guy looking for help

I'm pretty sure I'm in over my head.

[Mautenbyke]

I just opened an e-commerce site a month ago. (I didn't know e-commerce was a term before last week). Needless to say I am at the very beginning of the learning curve. 22 Years in the Navy has not trained me for any of this stuff. From what I have seen since signing up here today links are a good way to drive traffic to my site. I have been reading through the forums and I probably understand about 1/3 of what I am reading. Can someone explain how I would be able to get links from quality/relevant sites to my site. Please use small words, your patience is greatly appreciated!

[cnvi]

Can someone explain how I would be able to get links from quality/relevant sites to my site.

There are so many methods and answers to your question. Best way to answer this question is to tell you to produce a robust content rich site that other wemasters will naturally want to link to. You proably have expertise in the areas of your busines.. so you know which topics would best produce significant original copy that does not exist elsewhere on the web.

[leadegroot]

Theres a 'Library' link at the top of this page - if you haven't found it before, go read :)

[cnvi]

Mautenbyke, welcome to the party. This forum is an excellent resource for folks who are new getting into the business of marketing and operating websites.

After you read the documents referenced above, if you still have specific unanswered questions, don't be shy about posting them here.

[jchampliaud]

The best way in the beginning to get links is to ask other webmasters for link exchanges. Find sites that are related to your site and ask away. That's what I did when I first started. Sure some aren't going to even take the time to reply but some will and over time you will start getting links.

[wheel]

Another beginner method is to check the sites that link to your competitors and see if perhaps they will link to you also.

Do a search on your favorite term. Then for each of the top 10/50/100 sites (however much work you feel like doing) do this search on Yahoo:

linkdomain:domain.com -site:domain.com

Which will show you everyone that links to domain.com.

[Mautenbyke]

Thanks for all the suggestions. I have been working on the link exchange thing. I notice a lot of webmasters will either not reply or decline because of my whopping page rank of zero, I'm ok with that at least they replied and told me why. Another question I have is I was told to submit my site to DMOZ but everytime I try it says service unavailable. Are they having some issues? I've been trying for 3 weeks now. Is there naother free directory I might try?

Thanks
Bill

[Mautenbyke]

End of last question should read:
Is there another free directory I could try?

[Linbui]

I think best ways now a days is to get links in social bookmark sites, article sites like Ezinearticles.com,base.google.com and contentdesk.com. I am a link bulder and have tried these ways and sure to get huge traffic and good rankings. Further I am always of the view that rather then going for bulk of links its better to get some highly relevant links regardless of Page Rank. The Links should be from main keyword/phrase matching your site. I hope you will be benefitted if you try all this.

[sem4u]

There are lots of good ways to get links to your site in this forum, but it does take time to build links up. Two other examples not listed by the posters above are submitting newsworthy press releases and actively taking part in forums (not just link dropping!).

Good luck and remember to ask about anything specific.

[cobby]

another good way is to have it in your signature in forums you participate in. it will give you probably the biggest traffic bang for your buck. it might result in you becoming a forum junkie like the rest of the webmasters out there but it really can pay off.

[martinibuster]

cobby,
You forgot to add that dropping into forums, posting a lame comment like, "Great forum" and leaving behind your signature is called spam and will result in your forum membership being deleted (along with your posts) and yourself being permanently banned by IP.

There are good ways and bad ways to spam a forum with signatures, but that's best for another thread.

[Jean]

I was told to submit my site to DMOZ but everytime I try it says service unavailable. Are they having some issues?

ODP was off line since end of October until yesterday, after a total crash. The technical issues have apparently been resolved and the site is back up and working.

[edited by: Jean at 8:37 pm (utc) on Dec. 27, 2006]

[martinibuster]

Obviously, we can't give you the complete link development business plan in one thread. That's why keep the Link Dev Library. The link is on this page. Give it a good look.

Good luck!