Web Cash

Since Digg broke the scene years ago, website operators have looked to social bookmarking sites for help. They can be a great source of traffic, and they can also be a good source of backlinks for search engine optimization.

For now, let’s stick with the traffic component. Can a social bookmarking site direct significant traffic to your site, and is it worth your trouble to use them?
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I’d seen this idea suggested on a forum, and it’s about time I got around to it. I created my first lens at Squidoo.

Why? I was able to work in a few nice backlinks to my site and my articles. I’ll earn some cash if it gets traffic of its own.
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Ahh, the never ending quest for backlinks.

There are plenty of places to look for free backlinks – some of better quality than others. One trick you can use to build up a decent collection of backlinks is to regularly post on forums in your niche.
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If you write tutorials on your website or blog, then niche tutorial directories are a great source of traffic. I list most of my php tutorials with good-tutorials and get a nice burst of traffic with each new listing.

Another site I’ve found useful is Gimp Tutorials. They’re a great place to list any graphics tutorials that you write for the GIMP graphic design program.
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An old web design adage is, “Content is king.” All the SEO and fancy design in the world won’t help you if you don’t have any content.

So how do you keep on writing? Where do all the new ideas come from?

Everybody’s got their own tricks, but here’s one that I love to use when I’m short on ideas. Go through your search engine logs and see what people are searching for – and not finding.
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You may have stumbled upon the section on writing for Associated Content – for money.

But even if you’re not interested in being published on someone else’s site, AC can be a great tool for you as a webmaster. You can use it to get optimized backlinks and targeted traffic.
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This site is fairly new. Ok, it’s really new. So, naturally, I’ve been looking for ways to increase backlinks, search engine visibility, and traffic.

I’ve tried out a few methods, with varying success. What has worked really well, so far, is submitting an article to a niche site: Good Tutorials.
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Trackbacks are a great way to publicize your blog or website. They allow you to ping a person’s blog, say “Hey, I’m talking about you!” and leave a message.

These trackback pings will show up in the target post’s comment section, and sometimes the author will separate trackbacks out to show at the beginning of the list. Although they won’t always get you search engine ju-ju, thanks to rel=nofollow, they are a great way to get people to come to your website.

Why Trackback If the Search Engine Doesn’t Care?

I know that every time I get a trackback to one of my websites, I immediately check out the source. To some extent I want to check for spam, but I’m also concerned with, “Who’s this new guy talking to me?”

When I’m viewing another person’s blog, I also usually follow the trackbacks if I was interested in the original post. I rarely click on the typical name-link included in a comment, though.

The trackback signals to both the target website’s author and to its readers that this comment has something worth while for them to read. So often they’ll click the link and see what you have to say.

Ok, How Do I Send a Trackback?

Well, if you’re using a standard blogging platform like Wordpress, it’s pretty easy. At the bottom of your post editing screen, you’ll probably see a space to enter a trackback URI. This is the link from the original website that you send the trackback ping to.

Just enter the URI in your editor, and you’re all set. The problem, though, is that not every blogging platform supports sending trackbacks. You might also want to send a trackback from a non-blog website, if you’ve added some content that speaks to the original post.

Enter the trackback-via-form tool. This form will do all the work for you. Enter the necessary information (Trackback URI, your page’s title, your page’s URL, an excerpt of your page, and your blog name), and hit submit.

You should see a response with either an “All clear! Trackback was sent successfully.” or some kind of error message.

Enjoy, and good luck trackbacking. Test it out by sending a trackback to this page or the form’s page.

If you’re done with the trackback form, why don’t you go back and browse through some other online tools?