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.

3. Request Reciprocal Links: Find websites in your niche and request reciprocal links. It’s best to approach sites that generate about the same amount of traffic your site generates. The high traffic sites won’t even bother to answer you. They have nothing to gain.

Link exchange is hard and tedious work, but it doesn’t cost any money, and the potential for PageRank improvement is real.

4. Write Articles and Submit Them to Article Directories: Writing and submitting articles to article directories is one of the oldest and most effective methods of link building. When webmasters or ezine publishers reproduce your article, they’re required to publish your resource box (which contains a link to your website). Two of the best article directories are Ezine Articles and Affsphere .

5. Issue News Releases: Use an online news release service such as PRWeb . This is NOT a free service. There are several “subscriptions” available. The least expensive is $80. Still, in the realistic financial world of online advertising, $80 is a bargain, and news releases can increase your link popularity – at least temporarily.