Yes. There is both art and science to link building. Master them both and you will excel online. Suppose you knew five simple steps to improve your link building with little or no cost. Would it be worth it for you to give it a try? From my own experience I know the very first improvement most people need is to focus and know what your goals are for the link campaign. If you do not know where you are going, you will not be able to evaluate the success of the campaign.

Perhaps you need to revisit your keyword list and look closely at your search engine results. If your site is optimized for search engines you ought to be at least near page one for your primary keywords. Are you? Do you even know the answer? Check it out. If you are miles away from page 1 for specific keywords you have a good idea what to target next.

One example of this kind of keyword and search engine research is described here so you get a better picture of what I mean. One site of mine is ranked very well for a long-tail keyword and holds page 1 for that term very steadily. However, one of the other keywords gets more traffic. That could be a hint for a strategy I might look at next. Identify ways to obtain links to enhance the ranking for that keyword. By watching the SERPs (Search Engine Rank per Page) I can see how well that campaign is going. Do you see what I mean? You have a goal. You do your research. You implement an action plan to reach your objectives one by one. .

If you never connected your keyword research to your link building activities it is time that you do that to improve your visibility and page ranking. Random links fall into the \”nice but not necessary\” category and you need to use your time more wisely. Once you are comfortable with the science part of link building, you can begin to address subtleties that some consider art. Use your time well and pay attention.

Your site benefits from multiple types of links. Most of the time you hear about reciprocal links, one way links and three way links. Links from articles and directories are additional kinds of one way links. Among these the three way links that you can automate are perhaps most desirable. It is a good idea to look seriously into link building services to reach your goals.

A careful review of what kinds of services are available and at what cost will be helpful here too. You want to know how long the links in that link building campaign will last. Are they free? Did you pay for a one time posting? Will they stay on the page for an extended period of time?

Don\’t forget to pay attention to what your competition is up to. Where are they getting their links? How well are they ranking for which keywords? When you invest your time in your own research you are better prepared for generating specific link building campaigns.

Without exception, every site needs links. A site without links is much like a boat without oars, it is not going anywhere fast. Your link building approach can be tweaked as you go along and remember to maximize links from high ranking pages where it is appropriate. Pay attention to no_follow and do_follow links when you visit sites. All of these steps together are truly more than 5 steps to better link building but they can each help you in one way or another.