Organic SEO or search engine optimization is a slow and steady process.  Achieving top rankings takes time and link building is a big part of that effort.  If you are to have a successful web site and obtain high search engine rankings you will need quality relevant web sites linking to your web site.  The amount and quality of links you need will depend on the competitiveness of the keyword phrases for which you are optimizing.  More web masters are focusing on quantity and getting several links fast.   This is bad because it can be seen as manipulating the search engines.  Check the guidelines for the search engine you are trying to optimize for, this will give you a good idea of what and what not to do. 


When obtaining links from other sites focus on the quality of the link.  Is the page on topic and relevant to your site?  What is the position of the link?  Is it off to the side with a bunch of other sites?  Does it look natural and like it belongs there?  What is the anchor text of the link?  These are the questions you need to ask yourself when optimizing off site links.  Reciprocal links have some value, but with software that automates the process it seems to have gotten out of hand.  Plus do you really want a link on these low quality directory pages?  How much value do they add by linking to you?

There are some easy ways to get permanent one way links.  Directories are the best first step and may be all you need if your key word term is not competitive.  They can also be a good source of relevant traffic.  Directories are a human edited trusted link source, look for directories that have a good reputation and are well established.  If you can, get listed in a niche directory to increase your relevance. 

Companies whose products you use or sell are a good source of links if you can get them.  The company whose shopping cart I use has a link to me and all I had to do was ask.  Maybe offer a testimonial in exchange for a link back to your web site.

Writing articles is another good way to get incoming links, plus you will gain traffic.  There are several free web sites that you can submit articles to.  The links are valuable on article pages because there are usually very few links on the page, plus the article will be relevant to your product or service offering. 

Write a press release to announce your business, new service offerings, or any news that is important.  You may end up getting several links, plus press releases are usually available for a long time on the internet. 

Do you want to know the best way to obtain inbound links to your web site?  Build a web page this is so great, people will just want to link to it.  Sounds easy, we all wish it were that simple.  Frequently asked questions or tips pages are good candidates for natural links, if they are useful.  Giving useful information is probably the best way to obtain organic links.  Don't be afraid to give away some information.  We created a common SEO mistakes page to provide useful tips, information and help potential
clients.  When your potential client has enough information to make an informed decision they will be ready buy your product or service.  Other web sites want to link to good information; that is why it is call the World Wide Web.  Don't be a dead end, if you know of a great site let others know about it.

Keep your link building slow, steady and from a variety of sources and keep repeating those steps.