Link Swapping - (A Subset of Link Building)

Link swapping used to be a simple concept that just meant two webmasters could scratch each other’s back by placing a link on their websites, pointing to each other’s site, for mutual benefit in the

search engine’s eyes.

This definition became inadequate when Google decided that this kind of swapping, although not actually bad enough to deserve punishment, was only done in fact to influence their rankings, and so they made some algorithm changes that complicated things for us.

The premise is simple, mainly because Google and the other big Search Engines see all incoming links to a website as a “vote” for that site’s popularity. (The PageRank method.) Webmasters quickly adapted and put up a link directory on each of their websites to automate the link-swapping of that site with other webmasters. This method has largely lost its’ effectiveness, however.

Link Building

The most time consuming form of work to do in order to get your site ranked well by the Search Engines. Comes in many forms, but all takes time to do right.

See “Articles,” “Blogs,” “Blog Comments,” “Doorway sites,” “Classified Ads,” “Craigslist,” “Directory Submissions,” “Forums,” “Testimonials,” “Social Bookmarking,” “Press Releases,” and “Link Swapping.”

Keyword selection

The first step in search engine optimization. It's also where most people go wrong. If you pick a keyword that is not used by the people hunting for your product, you won't get traffic. You must pick popular keywords to be found.

Choosing the Right keywords to target your intended audience with is more than vital, it’s the whole ball game. The best way to do this is by using a large-scale keyword generation software & services such as Wordtracker or Keyword Elite.

Keyword placement

In order for a webpage to rank prominently in the search results of a search engine, it must be

optimized. Unlike humans, the search engine spiders are unable to discern what a webpage is about unless you give them some hints. One of the best ways to tell the search engines about the subject matter is to integrate keywords into your website. Brainstorm and develop a list of keywords that are relevant to your product offering. The keywords and phrases should be terms that would most logically be used to search for items on your website. Once you have developed a list of relevant keywords and keyword phrases, they should be incorporated into your website. Each webpage should be optimized for 2-3 keywords or phrases.

Each page on website should also contain a unique description. The "meta" data, which is located in the header of the webpage, is often used by search engines to assess the relevance and topic of a specific page.

Joint Ventures

Pulling off a successful Joint Venture can be the very next best thing to having your own highly-targeted eZine list. Of course for it to be free, you’ve got to offer your JV partner some sort of commission, like the full size of your cut or better, for them to send out an Ad to their coveted list.

This is sometimes called “OPL” (Other People’s Lists) or “OPT” (Other People’s Traffic.) In fact, this is the most common form of JV structure, a simple commission split in return for a list “Solo Ad” or a recommendation.

There really is no set definition for the term Joint Venture, it simply means that two or more marketers form a temporary collaboration to benefit them both. Creativity can mold modern JVs into almost any shape or appearance.