If content is king, link building is queen. Links back to your site can be considered “votes” for the relevant of your site on certain topics, especially if the links back to your site use keyphrases and not just your brand name or your website address. And the more “votes” you have, the more relevant you are in the eyes of the search engines.

But how can you build links?

Press Release Syndication

Sounds obvious, but you would be amazed how far you can go with regular, bi-weekly press releases. Write about new clients, new products, new solutions, your attendance at a trade show, new assets on our website, ANYTHING. Just be sure that these press release are optimized with good, targeted keyword anchor text pointing back to relevant pages on your site.

Blog Commenting

While we know that commenting on blog posts is not the end goal of most blogs, let me tell you, people appreciate your comments. Make sure your comments are thoughtful, non-salesy, and offer value, Most blogs allow you to add a signature, in which you can include a link back to your site, If not, you might be able to include links within your comment itself, but be careful. You don’t want to appear out to comment just for the sake of building links. And while we are on the subject of commenting

Forum Interaction

You would be surprise at how many forums there are out there, on almost every subject imaginable. Getting involved in discussions by providing quality content, while providing links back to your site to back up your point are a great way to increase links. But make sure you aren’t being spammy. Have your participation add value to the conversation.

Sticky Content

People love to link to things that make them look better. So create a great video, infographic, diagram, whitepaper that compels people to want to share it. Not only are you boosting their confidence, but you are also getting a link. And if you consistently have sticky content, people are more likely to keep coming back to your site for more. And you need not build a “Field of Dreams”. Post your sticky content of social media sites, blog about it, share it on networking sites, etc.

Link Directories

So many directories have gone the way of the wind. But there are still a few good directories (like DMOZ.org, Business.com and Yahoo.com) that can bring your a lot of referral traffic. Be warned – most of the good directories are paid, and can be costly ($299) so choose wisely.

Social Media

While it may seems obvious, so many business fail to use basic social media platforms to send out the word about their good content. And these are your own properties, so why wouldn’t you create links back to your own content? Plus, the virility of shares and retweets makes social media linking the gift that keeps on giving.