In building a backlink strategy for your site, remember that there are different ways to get links. One of the easiest ways is to do a link exchange

Link exchanges are done with similar sites with both sites placing a link to the other. Link exchanges have been penalized by search engines because of heavy spam but there still benefits to doing a link exchange, so don’t be afraid to try.

Inbound one way links are, by far, the best links to get. These links are sometimes difficult to get because there is no exchange. It requires the other web site to link to you without you linking to them. Gaining one way links should rank near the top of your off-page optimization strategy.

In order to get one way links you have to get noticed. Getting noticed online is not a whole lot different than getting noticed off-line.

To gain links, you need to provide content that is unique and original to entice other sites to link to you. Adding a blog, or forum is an excellent way to continually add new content to your static site. If you have a static web site it will be much more difficult to gain links.

Applying SEO techniques such as the above can bring great benefits. As an example if you are trying to optimize a site that sells vitamins. The first step would be researching highly ranked competitors. After analyzing their sites you can use their blog or forum to determine what topics are hot. Typically in these community sites hot topics will draw quite a bit of traffic and comments from readers.

One method of gaining their attention is to look at the topics on their site that are creating the most commotion. When you find the hot topics, do a review of the site on your blog. In your review concentrate on the hot topic, but don’t just talk about their services. Point out what they have missed, or don’t have, keep in mind you want to draw their attention. The key is you’re not trying to advertise for them rather you want to establish yourself as an expert.

Often, the other site will notice your review. It’s not automatic, so you may have to bring it to their attention. Think of it as being in a crowd where everyone is talking. If you enter the conversation you must make sure to say something relevant. If you speak up and say something unrelated or meaningless people in the crowd will quickly dismiss you.

Here’s the trick to this technique, when you comment about a site or bring up a controversial point they have to link to you to reply to your review. Remember to position yourself as an expert when you do this. Don’t be rude or obnoxious, but make meaningful comments and reviews and you’re bound to get noticed.

Most Blogs track links to the site, so rest assured that if the blogger read something that needs to be addressed by them they will comment.

After you complete your review, leave a comment on the other site, don’t just leave it to fate for them to find it. You could excerpt a small portion of the review, just enough to draw attention and raise interest. This serves two purposes, primarily it will establish you as an expert, second their readers will follow the link from the comment to your site. The key is to do this on popular active sites. You wont benefit if the site is not active with members reading and commenting.

Over time this strategy will help increase traffic your site and build one way links to your site. If you do it right you’ll see the numbers jump in your traffic from other readers visiting your site to get the rest of the story.