Build Traffic by Linking Back

How do I take my small blog to a bigger audience? One simple, guaranteed way to do this is to link OUT to other blogs and websites. Why? Beyond it being polite, it’s a great way to get larger blog authors to look at your site… and maybe they will mention your post or at least subscribe to your reader. You’d be surprised how often this can lead to developing a “blog relationship.” The reality is that every medium to large-sized blog author has many technorati and google-based vanity searches for themselves and their blogs. So any time you link to them they will get notified within an hour of the content mentioning you.

My rule of thumb: Link out to 2-3 sites per blog post. If you do that consistently you will see an increase in traffic, guaranteed.

Here’s more reasons:

Sharing Great Content

There just comes a time when a blogger needs to share something amazing he or she has discovered on the web. This happens a lot on the blogosphere as word travels quickly (especially with sites like Digg and Reddit around). Directing your readers to amazing content will give readers the opportunity to see the other author’s hard work, but will also add value to the referring blog. It could generate backlinks, and the readers will likely appreciate the discovery of quality content elsewhere.

Other creative reasons for linking out:

• Point readers to a site that explains content which a particular blogger might not fully understand
• Link to other content the author has written elsewhere
• Link to a company, service, or product that is being discussed
• Link to content that will compliment existing content (e.g. an image or video) link

HT to James