It seems that the newest way to reach the top of the search engines is by having many links to your site, which isn't always easy.

For some reason, the search engines feel that the most popular sites are the most worthy of more advertising by being placed above all others. You may sell better widgets, but if you don't have links to your widget page, the other widget guy will be placed higher on the search engines.

Don't be discouraged. Fight fire with fire. It isn't always easy to get people to link to your site. One way is to put a "Link to Us" page where it is easy for people to pick up HTML links of buttons or banners, so that they may share your site with their own site visitors.

Here is an example of one site: http://www.XpectMore.com/linktous.htm

As you can see, there are banners, buttons and even simple line text that will link the item to any page you point it to.

Now this isn't always easy to do. People are not just going to link to your site for no reason.

One great way to share links is to contact similar businesses. If you run a pet grooming site, how about linking with a kennel or dog food distributor or cat magazine, etc. These sites all have something in common and basically they "feed off" each other and the shared links can only help each site.

Another super way to be linked is to actually link yourself. Yes, you can link your own site to other sites Free! through FFA sites or free classifieds. If you place your ad on free for all link sites or place free classifieds at sites, you will be linked in the eyes of the search engines. The more classifieds or FFA links you submit, the more links to your page. E.G.: more status on the Search Engines.

Try it. Not only will you be placing more emphasis on your search engine rankings, you will actually be advertising at the same time. You just may be the next Amazon or Ebay!

About the author:
Tom Falco is a graphic artist who runs two websites: http://www.XpectMore.com (a freebie site) and http://www.TheDiscountPrinter.com