EAB eMarketing, Website Design, Internet solutions for artists in St. Albans, Hertfordshire UK.

Note: EAB is not responsible for the content of external internet sites nor should their inclusion be understood to be an endorsement of that website or the site's owners (or their products/services).

Links to success

Creating inbound links is probably one of the ongoing activities which receives least attention from website owners, despite the evidence that it can help the rankings of your site so much. This article explores the subject, so you can plan your work, or, at your peril, ignore the whole thing.

The article covers the following subjects:

What is an inbound link?
Why is it necessary to have inbound links?
What makes a good inbound link?
How to create high quality links?

What is an inbound link?

An inbound link is an incoming link to your website from another website.

There are several ways to get incoming links for your site. You can:

Submit your site to directories and search engines
Exchange links with other sites, (they link to yours, you link to theirs)
Buy links - there are companies that offer to sell links on various sites
Create links from public relations activities, for example by including your website address in press releases (publicising your next exhibition?)

Why is it necessary to have inbound links?

Inbound links are useful for human eyes and search engines.

The more websites are linked to yours, the greater the number of visitors to your site. This is especially true if the links are on reputable sites highly relevant to you. For instance you will be missing greatly if your local online gallery does not link to your website!

Incoming links are an important search engine optimisation technique because they are seen as a measure of your site's popularity. The logic is that the more sites linked to your site, the more authoritative, relevant and important your site must be for the topic in question.

What is a good quality link versus a poor quality link?

In the context of link building, a good quality link is one that is highly relevant to the art world. In addition, the ‘reputation’ of the site linking to you can also influence how your site's quality is perceived.

So, for instance a link from the art section of your local authority website or local online business directory can increase significantly the number of visitors to your site. Do you have such links?

Poor quality links are those that have no relevance whatsoever to the topic of your website. This includes things like adding your link to a random online guestbook, general world wide directory or blog.

General online directories or “link farms” are best avoided as they provide low value links, so don't spend a lot of time identifying them and submitting your site.

How do you go about creating good quality links?

You have to find time to search the Web for appropriate sites, make contact with their owners requesting reciprocal links to your site. Offering a reciprocal link creates a situation where both sites benefit from a greater number of visitors.

So, go and find out if your local art society has a website and if so encourage them to create those reciprocal links.

Find all the local online business directories and make sure your entry includes a link back to your site.

Ask your web designer to provide a link to your site.

Whenever you issue a press release to a local newspaper make sure you give them the address of your website (offer to link back to their website!).

Finally.... Do you know how many websites link to yours? Find out! In google type: link:www.yourwebsite address (for instance link: www.eab.co.uk). What's the result? Few links? Well, you know what to do now!

Useful links:

If any of the above mean anything to you, please get in touch with EAB on +44 (0)1727 751445 or email us. It’ll probably a useful conversation which could easily change your attitude to the web and your fortunes.