I had a post a couple of weeks ago about how to improve your search engine ranking.  One way to do it was by optimizing your own website, which is referred to as on-site or on-page optimization.  Another way to improve your search engine ranking is through off-page optimization. 

This latter method involves getting links to your website from high-trafficked and high PageRank websites. 

When you’re starting off with a new website or blog, this can be pretty tough and tricky.  But it can be done. 

This blog is six months old, and I’ve been able to get quality links from a bunch of blogs and sites with high PageRanks.  I’ve done it by commenting, participating in contests, and writing guest posts, among other things.  It can involve some work, but it’s worth it in the end.    

Sometimes, however, you get lucky.  Here are two ways in which I’ve gotten links from high-PR websites–one that involved some work and one that was just pure luck. 

45n5’s Top 100 Make Money Online Blogs

One way in which I got quality links was by submitting my blog to various directories.  45n5.com is one such directory.  My blog is # 248 on 45n5’s list of the Top 100 Make Money Online Blogs. 

Improve search engine ranking graphic 1

I submitted my blog a few weeks ago.  The first week I was on the list, I debuted at the bottom.  Since then, however, I’ve jumped up quite a few spots. 

This is just one way to get a link from a high-PR website.  (45n5 has a PageRank of 5.)  It involved a little research to find this list, and I had to e-mail the administrator requesting that my blog be included in the list.  But the work generated a link from a PR 5 website. 

Without A Doubt The Best SEO Blog In The World’s Slow Load Time List

Of course, what’s blogging without a little luck?  It turns out that my submission to 45n5 helped me generate yet another link from a high-PR site.  It turns out that a guy named Stuart from a blog called Without A Doubt The Best SEO Blog In The World takes 45n5’s list periodically and shuffles it around to show which blogs on the list have the slowest load times.

In a post entitled Does your page load time STILL suck?, Stuart listed my blog as the fourth slowest-loading blog!! 

Improve search engine ranking graphic 2 

But you know what?  I don’t care.  I actually welcome the link because Stuart’s blog has a PageRank of 4.  (I also don’t feel so bad because John Chow is #9 on the list.) 

I also welcome the notoriety because it places me at near the top of the list!  Thus, anyone who comes across that post sees my blog right at the top and doesn’t have to scroll down much at all.

Excelling at off-page optimization isn’t that hard.  It will usually involve some level of work.  But, sometimes, you just get lucky.  Cast as wide a net as you can, and don’t let any opportunity for links pass you by.  Every single effort–small and large–will help you improve your search engine ranking.   

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