Think of Internet communities as neighborhoods. You earn referrals through goodwill, a positive reputation, and industry expertise. But first, you have to introduce yourself to your Web neighbors. Website link exchanges, where you post someone’s link on your site and vice versa, increase your traffic and don’t cost anything.

• Start with the people you know. Invite members in your chamber of commerce and trade associations to trade links with you. Make sure you update your profiles and classified listings on those sites to include your website.
• Build positive reputations for your colleagues, and it will come back to you. Set up a profile and start rating content (i.e., posts) related to your industry on sites like Digg, Technorati, and YouTube. Write short blurbs that compliment, elaborate on, or help those content owners. End your post with your signature -- and an invitation to link to your website.
• Cultivate alliances. Locate complimentary service providers and ask if they will add your site to their blogroll (i.e., recommended sites on a blog) and other website resource pages. Make sure to offer to add a link to their site somewhere on your website, such as an “Affiliates” page.
• Be the go-to expert online. Offer your seasoned advice on blogs and listservs such as Yahoo! Groups. When people appreciate your comments, invite them to a link exchange.
  

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