Getting backlinks is another vitally important part of “how to make a blog”.

At the time of writing according to Market Samurai this blog has 199,767 backlinks.

My blog is approx. 1000 days old, meaning on average it gets 200 new backlinks per day.

What is a backlink?

In simple terms, a backlink is a link on a website or blog that leads back to your website / blog.

And the more backlinks your blog has the better.

Why are backlinks important?

Google puts a lot of emphasis on backlinks. If Google sees many websites / blog are linking to your site then it believes your site is important.

It also helps determine your Google Page Rank, the whereabouts your site appears in the search rankings for your targeted keywords, and they help you gain more natural traffic.

How to find the number of backlinks?

The quickest and easiest way to determine the number of backlinks you have is to use MajesticSEO.

Simply add your domain name and ‘explore’.

Tool to use for finding number of backlinks: MajesticSEO

How To Build Good Quality Backlinks…Easily

Notice we said “good quality”. Google knows where your backlinks originate and doesn’t look too kindly if you buy them from “link farms”, so your only alternative is to find a plentiful supply on your own.

This isn’t difficult it’s just time consuming at first, but once you’ve established an attractive and authoritative blog you’ll soon find it’s getting backlinks without any effort on your part.

Blog Commenting

One of the easiest ways to get backlinks is to find “DoFollow” blogs where you’re allowed to leave a link to your own site after posting a comment. Include your name and anchor text and be sure to link to a relevant article, not just to your home page.

The majority of blog masters moderate comments; they will keep informative and intelligent responses because those comments add to their content. Make sure you do that so they don’t trash your comment – writing “Dis is a frikkin bad sight man, you sound like u need sum Viagra,” doesn’t help anybody!

Your comments should be written in a way that adds to the sites readers experience and if you leave interesting comments, people will click through to your blog post.

Participate regularly and the blogmaster may even ask you to post a guest article which is a sure fire way of getting loads of traffic to your blog. It’s all about reciprocity.

If you need a quick way of finding DoFollow blogs, this is a  very useful site: http://followlist.com

CommentLuv Blogs

One of the best ways to get backlinks via commenting is to add your comments to blogs that have the CommenLuv plugin installed.

My good friend Ana (owner of Traffic Generation Café) has listed numerous active blogs that have CommentLuv installed. You can view the list here: CommentLuv Enabled Blog List

RSS Directories

RSS directories are often overlooked by bloggers. They contain infinite amounts of links to other sites and are visited regularly by millions.

Add your blog to RSS feeds manually or automatically – you only have to do it once and the effect is ongoing, bringing you automatic backlinks with no further effort.

Here are some of the best ones:

http://blogdigger.com/add.jsp

http://www.millionrss.com/add-my-feed.php

http://www.plazoo.com/en/addrss.asp

http://www.feedage.com/

http://www.urlfanx.com/

Tool to use to increase the backlinks from your RSS feed: RSS Link Bomber

Web Directories

Web directories are not as important as they used to be. Google doesn’t have a directory per se; it says that doing a normal search will bring relevant results.

The Yahoo directory costs $299 to join, with an annual recurring fee. Forget it unless you have money to burn, there are better ways to spend those bucks.

Bing recently launched Editors’ Picks which is a collection of Web pages grouped under different topics (isn’t that a directory?) it’s only available in the US at present – we recommend joining up as  it doesn’t cost anything and your blog may be one of the first listed in a particular category.

Despite saying that directories are not as important as they used to be (except to Bing maybe!) the effort it takes to submit your blog to free directories is minimal, do it and forget about it. You still have the opportunity to get high-ranking backlinks from good, well-trafficked directories.

It may take some time before your blog appears as some directories examine each site to ensure its suitability.

Tool to use: Save time by using Directory Maximizer

Social Bookmarking

It’s estimated that 10% of traffic to blogs now comes from social networking sites. Digg, StumbleUpon and Reddit do not allow a backlink when you social bookmark your blog post with them, so go with the ones that do such as

http://www.mister-wong.com/

http://www.diigo.com/

Tool to use: Use Bookmarking Demon to submit blog posts to social bookmarking sites automatically.

Now I could go on and talk about  Web 2.0 Sites (i.e. Squidoo)  and Guest Posting but these methods take a lot more effort.

You should include them in your overall back-linking strategy.

You can read more about those techniques here:

Create A Hub-Page Mini-Network

You Have Never Guest Posted? Really?

How to Make a Blog: Automate as Much as You Can

Summary of Tools We Use

For finding number of backlinks: MajesticSEO

To increase the backlinks from your RSS feed: RSS Link Bomber

For getting backlinks from Directories: Directory Maximizer

Use Bookmarking Demon to submit blog posts to social bookmarking sites automatically.

You’ve probably noticed we suggest you use automated programs to do a lot of your backlinking, otherwise it becomes a tedious job.

Google looks for diversity of backlinks so the more places you can leave a backlink the better.

Invest in the best tools that can automate all the tedious tasks and that will free your time to do other more important things. You don’t have to buy them all at once, when you first start blogging you won’t be making a significant income. Make a list of which automated tools will be the most useful to you and purchase one a month.

The tools on our list have been verified as reliable. If you discover other tools be sure to fully research them before you buy, don’t be tempted to swoop down on every shiny new object that comes your way – you can waste a lot of money.

The whole idea behind creating your own blog should be about enjoying yourself and using the money you earn to create a better life for you and your family. Blog creation is a business that you run – it shouldn’t run you!

What’s the best advice you have for generating backlinks? Please share your views in the comments below.

In the next post on the series, “How to make a Blog” we shall cover the topic of “Marketing and Traffic”

The previous blog posts in the ‘how to make a blog’ series:

Part One: How To Make A Blog: Getting Your Niche Right Is Crucial

 

Part Two: How To Make A Blog: Finding The Best Keywords For Your Chosen Niche

 

Part Three: How To Make A Blog: Monetizing with Affiliate Products

 

Part Four: How To Make A Blog: Monetizing with Digital Products

 

Part Five: How To Make A Blog: Choosing a Domain Name and Hosting

 

Part Six: How To Make A Blog: The Tools I Use To Make A Full-Time Income

 

Part Seven: How To Make A Blog: Are you Content with Your Written Content?

 

Part Eight: How To Make A Blog: Perfect Your SEO Habits

 

Part Eightb: 12 Steps To Boost The SEO Of Your Blog Posts