Nobody will deny that 'links reflect value on the web' and that 'link building' is one of the most important, yet confusing tasks when it comes to search engine optimization (SEO).

Link building is an essential part of search engine optimization and to understand how website ranking works you will have to familiarize yourself with search engine visibility, link popularity, PageRank, and other basic linking tools and tactics.

Beginners, who have little or no SEO link building experience can start by exploring various search tools and techniques to help locate and identify backlinks their competitors are using. Knowing the host sites which allow links pointing back to your competitor's site can help you determine where you too could subscribe to post links to promote your site.

Quality links are the ultimate spider bait and those tiny 'bots' love it as much as bees care for honey. In other words, even beginners can drastically increase their website's visibility by launching lots of premium links, which will then be spotted by search engine crawlers, robots and spiders, who will report the gathered information back to their respective search engines.

Properly designed link building strategies usually incorporate basic techniques, and can include essentials such as, link popularity, internal link structure and off-site submissions.

Increased link popularity

The major search engines all have their own set of ranking algorithms. Some, like Google, will pay more attention to the quality of links, while others, such as Yahoo, prefer quantity. Whatever rules are in place, they all have one thing in common; all ranking results revolve around links and link building strategies.

Search engines believe that, if other websites and companies place your links on their site, you must be good. The more host sites accept your links, the more popular you are and the higher your search engine ranking score will be. Indeed, popularity paves the road to fame and fortune.

Internal link structure

It has been said that a website performs best if it not only enjoys lots of external links, but also has a tightly-knit internal structured. Links throughout a website have to be in obvious places and quite visible. Hyperlinks have to stand out and should be bolded, colored or in Italics. If you prefer to ignore this general rule, your visitors may miss your links, get frustrated and navigate away from your site. Check your links frequently and correct, or remove, broken ones. Good traffic flow is important and so is PR.

PR or PageRank

Named after Larry Page, PageRank is a link analysis algorithm used by the Google Internet search engine to determine a page's relevance or importance. The system is designed to count link votes to determine which pages have the most votes, show relevance, and are the most popular.

Off-Site Submissions

All links have value! Outside of using internal links and inbound backlinks, there are various other ways to attract the attention of website fans and key search engines. The following SEO components should be part of any premium link building strategy:

• Article and Press Release Publications
• Blogging on your personal or host sites
• Directory Submissions
• Social Media Posts
• Forum, Group Postings and Classified Ads
• Review releases
• Including links on personal and business emails

Summary

Building and maintaining links is critical to any great marketing strategy. Although it can be a bit tricky at first, once you understand SEO fundamentals and have applied these basics to attract search engines, the rewards will be overwhelming. Search engines will recognize your importance, your rankings will go through the roof, and before you know it your site will be the most popular one in its field, on the entire World Wide Web!

Visit Shout SEO to find out more.

Shout SEO is a premium SEO Services business based in Melbourne. Shout SEO will help increase your traffic and sales through achieving top rankings on the major search engines. Visit Shout SEO to find out more.

Brian G. Johnson has created a new product called Commission Ritual. Bursting into operation in late July 2008, it rapidly became one of the top sellers listed on Click Bank. Commission Ritual can it live up to all the hype and can Brian G. Johnson really deliver with this product or is this just another course containing rehashed information on internet marketing? This review will cover all this questions and more on Commission Ritual.

Building around niche websites, promoting the business to increase its Google rankings, and then convincing visitors to become buyers is what Commission Ritual is based upon. Ninety high quality videos all accompanied and backed up with pdf notes make up the content of this course. Brian G. Johnson consistently demonstrates his "ritual", throughout the course, which he follows to create each of the sites he has developed.

The Commission Ritual course begins with Brian, himself, giving more introductory detail about his personal background and the methods which have helped make him money online. There is a strong chance that you may have never heard the name of Brian G. Johnson since he has been officially working away from the spotlight on his internet marketing empire for the last several years. In learning from him while watching his videos however, you will discover that he is a guy who knows what he is doing.

In Commission Ritual, Brian will explain in great detail the techniques he has used to find profitable niches and how he has extracted the most high value keywords within that niche. Some of the techniques which Brian Johnson has used for beginning his keyword research are quite novel indeed and seeing him working is quite an eye opener.

The second most important chapter in the course outlines exactly the way Brian G Johnson has chosen to set up his websites in order to do well in Google's rankings. WordPress is an extremely useful tool as Brian shows us in which he creates "Google friendly" websites. Some exclusive WordPress templates are included in the Commission Ritual course that makes obtaining high rankings even easier to achieve.

The methods explained in Commission Ritual can be used on a wide range of functions – in fact almost any product or idea could be sold on the internet using Brian Johnson's methods. He discusses information on seasonal niches such as Halloween in detail, and includes such things as selling physical products and "electronic" (Click Bank style) type products.

The actual strength of Commission Ritual is that Brian Johnson is a search engine optimization or SEO genius. Brian is acquainted with how to rise to the top of Google quickly, and in how to consistently remain there. A real selling point for Commission Ritual will be in the fact that one can be able to learn Brian's SEO methods as Brian really is the best in the business.

Commission Ritual also includes the offer of personalized support through what is called Brian's Inner Circle. This Inner Circle includes a high quality forum, sponsored webinars twice per month, and even special reports that will update members on current top niches and present market trends.

After the end of our study, we found Commission Ritual to be an extremely high quality product and one to be recommended. Each of Brian's most protected SEO secrets are exposed and explained as are each of his ways of approaching making money and his strategies to do so. We have found that they really do work – and not to be considered a get rich quick strategy. Try out his ideas in Commission Ritual and you will find that if you apply the techniques for a few weeks, you will definitely be making money online.

Raymond Clarksen has been involved with internet marketing for over 10 years. Read Raymond's Commission Ritual Review and find out more about IM legend Brian G Johnson today.

Ask a "main street" American how the economy is doing and they'll say we're in a recession, if not a depression.' Ask the same question to a reputable SEO professional and you'll likely hear their business is in a boom.

Why is this happening? For those that have harnessed the power of online marketing, including SEO (search engine optimization) and SEM (search engine marketing), they have discovered something that experts have known for the better part of a decade, SEO is one of the best uses of capital resources a company can invest.

This has resulted in a transition from traditional offline media spending to one that diverts budgeting to focus online potential. This rapid growth is a double edged sword. Just like any booming industry, in SEO there is a definite supply-demand issue when it comes to working with qualified SEO experts.

For some companies they have elected to expand their in house operations via acquiring online marketing experts from other firms, or training employees into a desired role. This can be very expensive and can take a lot of time. An alternative consideration is to growth by outsourcing aspects of a search engine optimization project to skilled contractors.

When outsourcing to a SEO contractor the agency does not necessarily need that contractor to be an expert on search engine optimization. In fact, if broken up correctly, the agency should be able to harness the contractor's current skill set to meet the requirements of an SEO project. By developing a small team of contracting specialists the agency is able to maintain their proprietary optimization technique while meeting the needs of an expanding market place. Behind this operation is an account manger that will perform an enhanced role as a project manager, overseeing the progress of the project through its various stages.

Examples of Projects that can be Outsourced:

- Basic keyword research – the account manager will need to review, expand and develop the keyword strategy.
- Onsite Content – an experienced writer can help incorporate keywords into improving existing content, or author new pages.
- Offsite Content – link building is a core principle of improving a website's ranking. Online press releases, articles and blogs can be potentially outsourced. The key is to provide the contractor with distinct requirements about what keywords need to be referenced in the content.

Don't give away the Agency's Secrets:
Having a contractor provide assistance on your agency's SEO projects is a great way to provide additional value to your clients, or to cope with internal resource shortfalls at busier times. If you decide to outsource it is advised to have your contractor work as a specialist, performing similar tasks across various accounts, instead of performing multiple tasks across the same account. This will help guard any techniques or core competencies that your agency may have.

Ten Essential Tips for Hiring a SEO Contractor:
If you're considering hiring a contractor to assist with your agencies search engine optimization clients, then you need to consider the following:

1. Budgeting: What allocation of the client's fees can I dedicate to in house resources, versus external contractors? What projects can be performed economically without compromising quality or time?

2. Schedule Time Appropriately: Your contractor may not have the same ability to turn around an individual project in the time it would take to perform internally. Give your contractor plenty of time to complete the project.
- When is the Project really' due: Don't put your client's fate in the hands of a third party. Consider allowing for additional padding in the contractor for its due date.

3. Integrity: Look for the same traits in a contractor that you would in a full time employee. The contractor you hire should be honest about their abilities and should be reliable with the quality of work submitted in the time quoted to complete the project.

4. Start Small: Resumes, references and samples don't mean anything if the contractor cannot adapt to the requirements of your projects. Consider starting with a small task-oriented assignment and build up to more complex or recurring projects.

5. Be Present: Like with any employee, you get what you put in. Set expectations early and allocate enough of your time to explaining the requirements of the contract.

6. Provide Feedback on the Assignment: The collaboration between the agency and the contractor will result in a higher quality of work that is completed in less time when project feedback is provided. Key on recurring projects, communicate what the contractor did that was completed well and what areas need improvement.

7. Hourly versus. Flat Rate Payment Structure: How will you pay your contractor? The preference would be to have a flat rate, assuming the submitted work meets an agreed standard of quality. With a contractor the agency has an established relationship with this will result in a mutual beneficial arrangement where the agency gets more work, faster, and the contractor is able to earn at a higher "project by hour" rate because of efficiencies gained in the learning curve.
- Cautions about Hourly: Potential for inflated hours, or delays in starting a project
- Cautions about Flat Rate: Potential for lower quality work because the contractor did not have enough time dedicated to the assignment

8: Pay Invoices Quickly: When your contractor submits an invoice for payment, make sure payment occurs quickly and does not get lost in a paper shuffle in accounts payable.
- Set Payment Expectations: Make sure your contractor understands your agency's policies around invoicing. Set an interval at which invoices should be submitted and agree upon a time at which invoices will be paid.

9. Plan for the Worst: Don't place the client accounts in jeopardy because of a dependency on a contractor. If done correctly the contractor should be supplementing activities. Things can (and will) periodically change in the contractor's life that can change the contractor's availability. Listen to the contractor's goals and expectations to better understand if there are professional or personal risks.
- Professional Reasons a Contractor may Terminate: change of employment status
- Personal Reasons a Contractor may Terminate: addition to the family, change in residence

10. Review your Contractor Needs: It is important to periodically review your contractor strategy. Considerations you should review:

- What areas in the next month, next several months will I need contractor assistance?
- Are my contractors submitting high quality work at competitive pricing?
- What is the capacity of my contractors to submit work?
- Am I overextending work onto a particular contractor, or does a particular contractor have a risk of terminating in the near future for professional or personal reasons?

A boutique SEO agency that understands how to leverage contractors will find itself in a position to deliver an excellent bundle of services at competitive prices. When managed correctly, the client receives better than expected results, while still allowing the search engine optimization marketing agency to deliver these results at profitable prices that are superior to what the agency, or the client, could have down internally. In addition, you will better position the agency to extend its relationship with the client for additional, long term project work and maintenance agreements. By freeing up account managers to focus more on strategy and less on tactical projects, a boutique SEO agency will allow itself to take on additional client's and better control the speed at which the agency needs to hire additional full time employees.

About the Author: Keith Hanks is an established Atlanta online marketing professional and Sr. Account Manager at Atlanta SEO agency TwentySix2 Marketing.