It’s a well-known and undisputed fact that Google (as well as other search engines) considers the number, variety, and quality of incoming links to your site an important factor in the algorithm used to determine the value or “popularity” of your site – and, thus, your site’s position in search results.

Here are five basic and doable strategies you can use to help build an impressive array of incoming links to your website:

1. Submit Your Site to Key Directories: There is one FREE directory that you don’t want to miss: The Open Directory Project . There are other free directories. Use Google to find those you are interested in.

At least consider submitting your site to other directories that are NOT free.

Yahoo! Directory Submit
About.com
Business.com

2. Submit Your Site to Trade Organizations and Specialized Directories: There are directories that focus on particular industries such as finance or education. You might even belong to a trade organization that features “member directories.” Don’t be shy; ask for a link. Even if you have to pay something for the link, it may well be worth it to you in the form of a better PageRank.

Some affiliate marketers are, of course, also employers. They have a staff. They make payroll at regular intervals. But most affiliate marketers’ businesses employ no one other than themselves. These affiliate marketers are “self-employed.”

Are You Self-Employed?

• If you are required to file a Schedule C with your 1040 each year, then your answer is “yes.” Schedule C is the form used to calculate the profit you made as a self-employed person. This is the amount that is used to calculate income tax you owe.

• If you pay self-employment tax (FICA tax for the self employed), you are self-employed. You’re required to pay FICA at a rate of 15.3 percent.

If you are self-employed, you probably already know that your health insurance premiums (BEFORE health care reform) were 100% deductable. That hasn’t changed.

The Health Care Premium Deduction

The 100% health care premium deduction applies only to income tax. It does NOT apply to the self-employment tax.

All other businesses get a full deduction for health care costs. Health insurance premiums are considered an ordinary and necessary business expense for all employees, including owners.

Here’s an explanation from the National Association of the Self-Employed:

In any gathering (online or off) of affiliate marketers, the conversation always seems to come back to one topic: SEO (search engine optimization). SEO has always been cussed and discussed by affiliate marketers but it seems to be growing more and more important as the affiliate marketing industry grows.

Use these three tips to evaluate the current state of your sites’ SEO

1. Source Code: You can view the source code of your web page by simply right-clicking on the page and choosing “View Source” or “View Page Source.” This is the unique coding for a web page. You’ll see the meta title, meta description, and meta keyword tags. These are (ideally) targeted for each individual page on your site.

If you’re using more than 5 or 6 keywords, and if the keywords are “generic” rather than specific to the page, you need to make a change. The same thing is true of your meta title. Generic is bad; specific is good. The meta description should describe the exact content of the page.

We can’t really swear that Google Follow Finder will in fact expand your Twitter network. Actually, the jury is still out on this one, but the possibility is there.

Follow Finder is still in the experimental stage, but it is functional. Aaron Wise, who is Google’s Associate Product Manager, said, “If you see someone you want to follow, just click ‘Follow on Twitter,’ log in, and they’ll be added to your following list in Twitter. This integration is based on Twitter’s new @anywhere frameworks, which make it easy for any site to add Twitter functionality. We’re using the frameworks to provide dynamic information about Twitter accounts and one-click following.”

We had to wonder is this is new enabling technology for the creeps and stalkers that live on the Internet, but we were assured that isn’t the case.

The lists in Google Follow Finder are produced using public following and follower lists on Twitter: i.e., if a user follows CNN and Time, Follow Finder determines that most of those who follow CNN and Time also follow Newsweek, so Follow Finder will suggest Newsweek as a “Tweep you might like.”

The list of “Tweeps with similar followers” is a list of Twitter users with follower lists that is similar to yours.

Go try it for yourself. Go to Follow Finder and type in your Twitter user name to find a list of “Tweeps”.

We’ll be interested in knowing what you think of Follow Finder, so be sure to leave a comment.