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Most ecommerce sites are aware of the importance of link generating in relationship to search engine traffic and Page Rank. The idea of building 10 000 inbound links may appear daunting, but it doesn't need to be. Just follow a few tips from the SEO Marketers.

In-Site Link Generating

This is the most overlooked aspect of link generation. Whether the ecommerce business is building a link generating system to earn revenue, or to promote their own business, they need to take a good look at how their linking system is built.

There are a few common mistakes that most sites make. Most sites create landing pages to attract new visitors. They will pay for links to this page, and will generate their own links to this page. But they forget to create a featured article link in their menu. An ecommerce site can easily have 1000 pages, with 1000 potential links to the landing page.

Blogs

One of the biggest benefits of a blog is that it is submitted to the search engines every time a new post is published. Each and every post should have an embedded link to a landing page or an article. A blog with 200 posts will generate 200 ' 400 links.

Blogs are infinite. Thousands of successful ecommerce internet marketing campaigns have been built around a series of 5 ' 25 blogs that are constructed for no other purpose than link generating. The thought of managing numerous blogs causes many new ecommerce business owners to panic. Most of us have read about black hat SEO and being banned. This is true, but if there are no Google ads on the blogs, then there are no rules broken.

Managing 25 blogs is easy. Think of them as a newspaper or newsletter. Each one is built to promote a service, product, or feature of your site. Each one has a link to the ecommerce site in the sidebar and in the posts. The trick is to use 'free content.' Do not try to use original content. It is not necessary.

The objective of each blog is to generate links and to pre-sell the product so people click through to the website. Posting two articles a week, on each blog, and on the host website, will add 102 pages of content. If each of those articles has 2 links in it, then each month the blog network is generating 816 new inbound links. In one year, the blogs will generate enough links to statistically increase a web page's Page Rank to PR5.

Directories

Google has started to give serious consideration to websites that are listed in directories. There are directories for everything from websites and blogs, to forums and newsletters, to podcasts and live chats.

In fact, it is easy to build your own directory. The web is full of cheap and free directory scripts. Most directories increase in PR fairly quickly. Each time someone lists on the directory they must put a link back. The directory owner can also list their directory with paid services. It is not unheard of for a directory to receive a few PR8 pages within one year. Links on a PR8 page can be sold for as much as $1000 a month or they can be used to increase the traffic and Page Rank of the ecommerce website.

Blog directories such as blog catalogue can be a major source of traffic, that has nothing to do with SEO, search engines, or page rank.

Forums

Next to directories, the new SEO pundits are claiming that Google gives forums the highest ranking. This means that a link from a forum will increase the PR of a website faster than a link from a blog. However, stay away from the search engine forums like Yahoo and MSN groups. These are 'closed' to Google sites.

Forum posting can be tedious and time consuming. Building forums for other people to post in can take time, and should never be considered a 'first line' in the marketing, but after a year or two, a couple of forums can have a dramatic impact on the SEO and PR quality of a website.

One common practice is for a forum owner to make 10 ' 30 accounts and have them talk to each other. This way they can offer information in relevant 'bite size' information. It also gives the business owner an opportunity to generate more links, and let other people generate links.

Social Networking

Using sites like facebook, myspace, bebo, squido, gather and others as social networking 'lenses' is fast replacing the 'business card' as a quick way to introduce yourself to people. A lens can build links, as well as increase PR by increasing traffic.

Social networks put the traffic generating aspect of an Internet business back in the hands of the public, giving them more control over their traffic.

Networking

Setting up a network like this is one way to generate the links needed to increase traffic and profits. However, getting a few dozen likeminded people 'on board' and working together can life a few small businesses above the masses and add 'real' power to their internet marketing campaign.