Search engine optimisation companies have a definite advantage when it comes to SEO, and not just because of their experience. In devoting their time to the processes of SEO, optimisation companies have time to build up a significant number of resources. Not only this, but their experience with each client leads to their developing great networks for link building and other off-page optimisation requirements.

This is one of the reasons many companies access professional optimisation services when they look into SEO. There’s no doubt that a professional can do a little bit more for your site than you can do on your own, but this doesn’t mean that you can’t achieve at least some of your optimisation work by yourself.

Link building requires a lot of effort, and this effort doesn’t stop when your initial optimisation is over. It is important for every site owner to have an idea of how to build links, although of course your SEO company should be consulted to avoid covering the same areas. Talk to us at SEO Consult Australia about link-building plans.

Some of the best resources you have for link building are online communities. Here are the most important ones:

• Forums: Forums are closely-knit, internet-based communities, filled with people who all have an intense interest in the forum’s topic. If that topic coincides with yours, the forum represents a handy chunk of your target market. Making friends and building relationships in industry forums can lead to some of the best links out there.

• Groups: These are much like forums, with the added bonus that most messages tend to be sent group-wide. This is great when you need to publicise your site.

• Social bookmarking sites: Social bookmarking exposes your site’s content to a broad audience, and as an added bonus can generate some inbound links. Not all social bookmarking sites allow link juice, as many have jumped on the ‘nofollow’ bandwagon, but links are still possible.

• Other social media sites: Social media campaigns are a tried and true method of achieving off-page optimisation. Every social media community has its own rules and triggers, and you should familiarise yourself with the way the site works before you try to publicise your site.

• Blogs: There is a unique community surrounding blogs. A sort of comment-exchange system has developed over time, and this can be used to advantage. Many blogs allow a link to be posted in a comment signature, and this is a great, easy way of seeding links. Commenting is also a good way of building a support network.

• Multimedia hosting sites: Places like Youtube have their own community, which you need to tap into if you want your video content to draw links.

• Wikipedia: Wikipedia is an amazing resource in general, but if you manage to get your business, one of your products, or one of your staff members mentioned on the world’s community-run encyclopaedia, it’s incredible publicity. This is not an easy task, but can help to establish your business as an authority in your industry.