When we think of links and link building, we usually think of the search engines. However, there are other uses for a link besides ranking well on Google. In fact, although it's not readily obvious, the right link can do wonders for your online reputation. When used properly, it can help establish you or your companies credentials as an expert in your field - a goal which should rank up their with generating traffic to your site.

Why, you might ask, should you be worried about establishing your online credentials? Because one of the keys to building a successful online business is developing a loyal customer base. Notice the word loyal. You need people who see you and your site as the source for whatever it is that you are selling and/or offering. These are the types of customers who will frequent your site again and again. These are also the people who will market your site for you (recommending your site to friends, family and colleagues) without asking for anything in return except to keep meeting (or exceeding) their expectations.

What is often not so well understood, is that you can easily use links to help establish this loyalty in your customers. All you have to do is send people to where you want them to go! You see, a link is just a connection - a virtual bridge if you will - between one place online and the other. What that means is that you should accustom yourself to ask the following question - where exactly do you want to take someone (or something, if we are talking about the search engines) with any given link.

Furthermore, you also need to ask another, crucial question - what do you hope to accomplish with this link. Usually your goals with any given link will be to help generate traffic. As such, most of the time you want to link to your site.

However, if you momentarily switch your goal from increasing traffic to improving your online reputation, then your site is no longer the obvious destination of choice for your (potential) customers. Rather, you will want to send people to those online places which put you in as good a light as possible. All you have to do is find those places or create them!

For instance, see if you can get interviewed or write an article for an important site in your industry. Alternatively, see if someone can do a write up of you and your company. Whatever it is, create it (if it doesn't exist) and send people there! The result will be that people start to trust you and your company. And trust is an essential ingredient for establishing customer loyalty.

Of course, the main function of links is still direct traffic and search engine rankings. However, assuming that you already have a solid link building process in place, a few links here and there to other websites won't damage those efforts. And the benefit can be tremendous. Because after all, getting traffic is only half the equation, converting that traffic into paying customers is the other half - and one of the best ways to transform customers into clients is to help them to trust you. And sometimes that transformation is just one link away.
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