If you have ever worked on the SEO aspect of a site, or even got someone rank a site for you, chances are that you are now curious to know more about what link building actually is. Link building, also written as linkbuilding and link-building, in simple terms, is a process of ranking your site by building external links from other websites to yours. Now though some of you may not even be having an idea of how it actually works, one thing that you need to understand first is why it is so very important.
Why link building is so very important?
Well, the explanation is simpler than you could imagine. When one makes a website, he obviously does it with the intention of getting traffic to it, and converting them into loyal customers. Now usually, there seem to be only two options of getting this much needed influx of traffic, namely SEO (linkbuilding) and PPC (Pay Per Click advertising). Now though some may argue that there are also some more like free traffic exchanges and buying traffic from freelancing sites, it needs to be noted that such traffic is usually useless, and doesn’t helps make a penny. In fact, most of the times, such traffic is fake, or in other words, bot traffic. Promoting on social media, too, is a way to get traffic, though it is now included in the link building process of a site. After all, without building social bookmarks and promoting the site on social media sites, the link building process of a site can never be marked completed.
Now coming to PPC, though it surely is an option to get a considerable amount of targeted traffic, it is way riskier than you think it is. There aren’t a less number of cases were people tried their luck with PPC and ended up losing thousands of bucks, and gaining nothing significant when compared to the loss but plain experience, which they would hardly have the guts to use again. Yes, the fact that some people bank hard using PPC cannot be denied, though you only find a handful of such people, and when compared to the lot who loses a fortune, the ratio is pretty pathetic and quite discouraging to go for PPC. Hence, unless you are someone who is ready to throw a few thousand, or at least a few hundred bucks at learning PPC, with still the risk of making nothing significant out of it, PPC is not for you.
A great looking website will do no good if it is not getting a considerable amount of traffic. Click To Tweet
Another drawback of going with PPC for getting traffic to your site is that you always end up paying for the traffic, regardless of whether you manage to convert it or not. This means that even if you are running a successful campaign, you can’t keep all the profits arising out of it, and a considerable part of it will go for paying for the PPC traffic. This results in a very low ROI (Return On Investment) when compared to successful link building campaigns.
Okay, so seems like we are done discovering the importance link building as a way of getting traffic holds over all other methods. So, let’s move on to learn how it actually helps get traffic to a site and make a bank. Some of the important things are:
It helps rank your site
Link building, when done correctly and in a natural manner, helps you rank your site on search engines like Google, helping you gain tons of targeted organic traffic, all without paying a penny. However, it is true that getting your site ranked on a search engine like Google, where most of the traffic is, may take quite a lot of time. After all, it’s based on your keywords competition and many other factors, so the lesser the competition the quicker you can rank the site. However, even if you are targeting some high competition keywords and need to put in a lot of time and efforts into trying to rank your site, it may still be worth it, as after all, the results you would fetch once your site is ranked will be long term and delighting.
It helps get natural traffic
Ranking a site is not the only way link building can get traffic to your site, as there are a lot of different ways as well that help one gain a considerable amount of traffic through link building even when the site is still not ranked. For example, when you comment on a high PR website for building a link to your site, you also get traffic from the visitors who visit that page and skims through the comments it got. Now if you have posted on a blog or article related to your niche, you are sure to get a lot of highly targeted, curious and organic traffic. This also ensures a considerably high conversion rate, which you will only be too delighted to see.
Viral traffic
Sometimes, if you manage to hit that gold mine by making your post go viral on one of the major social media sites, you are sure to get flooded with traffic you will find way too challenging to even manage. Social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus, Instagram , Youtube, etc… are a great way of getting free and a considerable amount of traffic. All you need to do is post content related to your niche that’s interesting and catchy. Also, it doesn’t need a post to go viral in order to get traffic from social media sites. A few regular posts on your accounts and profiles can do wonders, and help you gain quite a lot of traffic consistently. Furthermore, posting on social media sites also helps your website get indexed quicker, if it already isn’t, as well as help in the SEO and link building process.
A final word
Link building is not just an option, but a necessity for a site looking to get some serious, targeted traffic. One usually only needs to invest once on building the links, or on a monthly or yearly basis if opted for a recurring plan, to enjoy the returns for months and years to come. This probably makes it the best way to get traffic, as it is not only free, but floods your site with visitors who are actually interested in what you have to offer, and have landed on your site by searching for exactly the same keywords that you are looking to promote. Hence, we can easily come to the conclusion that link building is probably the most important thing you need to take care of in order to make the most out of your online business, as after all, a great looking website will do no good if it is not getting a considerable amount of traffic.
