Brett T. Smith is the founder of World Wide Internet Publishing, a custom web development, hosting and marketing consulting firm located in Austin, TX.
You can ask any questions you have about:
• Search Engine Optimization & Link Building • Local Search Marketing/Google Maps • Opt-In List Building • Increasing Lead & Sales Conversion Rates • Tracking & Testing Various Ads & Offers • Copywriting • Sales Psychology • Market Research & Niche Selection • CPA Marketing • Outsourcing • Web Design/Usability • Product Creation • Free or Paid Traffic Generation • Email Marketing • Direct Mail • Building A Sales Funnel • Upsells/Downsells/Cross-Sells • Or anything else you need help with!
A couple of great tools that will take your data and allow you to create some stunning charts and graphs are http://www.icharts.net/ and http://visual.ly/. Both tools offer a variety of templates and are easy to use.
If you think in terms of quality and not in terms of quantity, it doesn't take thousands of links to rank.
The best strategy is to make a list of other websites in your industry/niche that are extremely relevant to your topic, then figure out how can you generate links on those websites.
Typically the best method is to share content or show the site owner that your page should be linked to due to the quality of your content.
The bottom line is you should try to get links you'd find valuable enough to click if you were a user.
Hey Brian - One great tip is to make a list of your top 5-10 competitor's sites and find out where they are getting traffic so you can do the same for your site.
Check out the example below:
Step 1: Go to Google and with your domain search for similar domains:
https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=related:drivingtests101.com/+drivingtests101.com
Step 2: The first competitor site I see is (driving-tests.org) so I would make note of that domain.
Step 3. Go to Alexa.com and check the first domain (driving-tests.org):
http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/driving-tests.org
Step 4. What you want to do is scroll down to the section that says "What sites link to (driving-tests.org)?"
Step 5. Make a list of the referring pages IE:
https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20110126160933AAOseUU http://www.pinterest.com/drivingtests/ http://usedcars.about.com/od/gettingstarted/fl/What-It-Costs-a-Teen-To-Own-a-Used-Car.htm
Step 6. Repeat for the other competitor's domains.
This will give you a good idea of where each of your competitors are getting incoming links and traffic from.
Once you make a list of the URLs - see how you could duplicate what your competitors did to get those links. Typically this will involve answering related questions asked by others or emailing a site's Webmaster or the author of an article, etc.
This requires a little work but in the end you'll not just get traffic but you'll get qualified targeted customers over to your site that will convert and help you grow your business.
Hope that helps!
Take Care, ~Brett T. Smith http://www.WWIP.com/
My Father always told me he was never impressed with a Frenchman that came to America and spoke French, but he was always impressed with a Frenchman that could speak English. Brett has that gift. He can take all his knowledge of all the newest technical issues today in the world of the web and explain it on a level that anyone can understand. If you need a professional that can translate the complicated new world of the web on layman's terms, then Brett is your man. He will get your job done with unmatched perfection. My Franchise Man, John D Fogleman