Building one way inbound links is probably one of the most difficult tasks for online marketers that are just starting to use SEO tactics with their business website.

But the truth is that not every link you request has to turn into a reciprocal link as the only mean of getting it in the first place, without paying for it.

Although this is an area where results vary greatly as supposed to other straight forward  SEO receipts, I’ll try giving some guidelines on how to get one way backlinks to your website with no or as low as possible costs.

Building back links is 90% all about initiating and sustaining relationships in your  niche; it’s all human interaction. And the only way your requests will be taken into account by potential linking partners is by you to sound, look and feel like a human.

Of course, there are many who rely solely on automation when searching for (preferably) one way backlinks. And maybe they get some short term results, but that’s as far as they’ll go – short term. Automation is extremely toxic for human interaction in general, and especially for sensitive proposals like requesting your counterpart to do you some sort of disinterested service.

Those link building software not only damage your personality with impersonal emails to other webmasters but also many of them (if not all) base their functionality on automated queries to search engines highly disturbing from a SE perspective.

I don’t say you shouldn’t use them, just don’t use them for replacing personal interaction. I personally use SEO Elite and Market Samurai to spot linking opportunities but I never cross beyond the research faze with any link building software.

Instead of sending automated link request, try to clothe your intentions in a more personal approach by:

• asking for a feedback on your work,

• showing yourself available to write an article for their site, or (for more advanced scenarios),

• asking for an interview – mixing with the right people in your market is a sure way of becoming a reference in the field.

A productive arena for interacting and establishing cooperative relations is, as you know, the realm of forums, conferences and blog commenting. Article directories remain an untapped area for networking with like minded webmasters as they discover and digest your content. Considering their potential expand the reach of your article distribution by using an article submission software. I don’t imply wasting your time scavenging through mediocre directories; instead filter your options based on a tight set of standards like homepage PR value and Alexa ranking.

Disguising your link building intentions should be a permanent concern, but talking about your counterpart’s interests is the proven way of getting results.

Always, and I mean always, talk about how inserting a link that points to your site benefits his business. Don’t expect them to be altruistic. If there is something to keep in mind out of this entire post, let it be just this sole concept.

In order to have a high response rate for your email, make suggestions with regard to their site’s layout or content; become interested in them and their business.

This is a success-guaranteed method because every marketer and webmaster alike seeks to enhance user experience for their business to grow.

Feedback is crucial for any successful business, especially online. Use your personal email account when reaching out to possible partners and avoid using emails with the same domain name with the site for which you’re building links.

Good websites are bombarded daily with link requests. Differentiate yourself by being as professional as you can. You do this by absorbing the information in your targeted website, searching and mentioning common points between you and your potential link partner, joint venture ideas, etc.

If emails don’t get you results, pick up the phone and talk to the person.

Consider pointing out broken links on their site and suggest replacing it with your own valuable content. Another approach is suggesting other valuable content sources besides yours that will enrich their visitor’s experience.

Once the dialog is opened, make sure it stays that way. Don’t drop the discussion just because they refused embedding a backlink to your site or a review or guest post from your part. Ask questions and stay interested.

Obtaining links for the most relevant content webpages on your site:

• increases the number of further backlinks you gain;

• increases click-thru rates;

• increases conversions;

• increases rankings for relevant queries.

Finding potential link sources

> The general, proven approach for finding backlinks is to spy on your competition; see where they are linked to and try to replace or get your own link from that source. For a details see how to hijack your competitor’s linking sources.

> Seasonal, easy to get one way link sources are found around hot subjects, whether they refer to people or events.

> Find marketers that generate buzz throughout the community and get an exclusive with them (a more difficult task), spot topics that are on the point of becoming or are already high rated and heavily discussed.

> If you have a advertising budget and currently buy AdSense ads, find out where Google is syndicating your ads to and contact the webmasters of these websites and request a permanent, bought link. Make sure though they correspond to your quality standards.

A short remark on link costs…

Prices reaching even couple of hundred bucks, extended periods of time waiting, repetitive turn downs, are signs that that link sources is worth insisting upon.

Of course the easy alternative is to use an automated link building software which instantly delivers a pile of obscure links and link requests. But note that as long as lightweight marketers indulge themselves in no-quality pools of backlinks, high quality links will only count more in the SE algorithms.