45. SEO Tip: Getting links from existing customers

Links--also known as backlinks--are an important part of SEO, or search engine optimization. Links let the search engines know that your website is important, not just valid. Here are some ways to get links from customers that you already have. Testimonials You may have some customers who sent you letters of praise and appreciation; you may have also used sections of them on your website as testimonials. If they are other businesses, they will probably appreciate the mention of their names on your website. It is like free advertising to them. Go back to those people and ask for a link. It is as simple as that. Chances are they would be happy to supply it. Tip: Make sure your call the webmaster of the company instead of sending him or her an email--webmasters get lots of requests for links and often they just throw them out. Article Writing Getting links may involve a little more work for some of your customers. If you supply scrubs to a medical clinic, for instance, it may be somewhat unprofessional to just slap a link on their website to yours. Instead, offer to write an article for them on how scrubs help a clinic stay sterile, and include a link to your website (with permission of course). A Word on Link Trading Beware of the practice of reciprocal links. Web spiders are smart and will pick up on this. Your search engine ranking may suffer if you do too much link trading.