Of all the parts of search engine optimization that give headaches to SEO professionals and clients alike, few are as frustrating as link-building. That's because, to get it right, you have to not only secure links from other sites and pages, but make sure that the ones that are coming in are high quality. And usually, that means doing it one e-mail or phone call at a time.
With that in mind, we'd like to offer a tip that can help you out, regardless of whether you're doing the work yourself or working with a search engine optimization partner: do the math and see the big picture.
Here's what we mean: when you first start looking for links, you'll probably feel an overwhelming temptation to contact anyone and everyone and ask them to partner with your site. You might even think about sending a mass e-mail, or looking for "link farms" that promise thousands of inbound links for just a few dollars. Sadly, those tactics don't work anymore, and could even irreparably harm your search engine position.
A better tactic is to look for good, high-quality links one at a time. This can come from having your search engine professional contact others, from writing articles and guest blog posts, or from reaching out to other webmasters yourself. Whichever way you're going, however, pace yourself a little bit. Think back to math class; if you can manage to contact just five people a day, that will work out to roughly 1,250 per year. Not all of them are going to link back to your site, but enough of them could agree to it to make a dramatic impact in your long-term search engine positioning.
It's easy, in search engine optimization and other forms of online marketing, to want to do everything right now. But exercise a little patience, remember the way the real world math works, and you'll be at the top of Google, Yahoo, and Bing in no time.
KINETIK NOTE: Don't just take the word of an SEO company. Get your info directly from the source: Matt Cutts, head of Google Spam Team and know what bad link building practices are. You might be surprised to find that many SEO companies use these practices and you can learn avoid them.