October 2022 - Page 2 of 12

Useful Tips For Singapore Business Start Up

Singapore is one of the leading Asian countries for business and commerce and has been rated as one of the best business environments in Asia Pacific. It’s no wonder that small and medium sized businesses and even business conglomerates from across the globe surge to this tiny nation.

If you are planning on starting a business in Singapore here are some useful tips that can help you in the Singapore business incorporation process.

Singapore Companies Act

To begin business formation in Singapore you must be familiar with the Singapore Companies Act (SCA). Singapore companies are primarily governed by the Singapore Companies Act, but it must be noted that companies may fall under regulations of other statutes based on the type of business they are into.

Requirements for Singapore business set up

• The law states that the in order to set up a company in Singapore, the company must have a minimum of 1 Shareholder + 1 Director + 1 Company Secretary

The director:

The director of the Singapore business setup must be a citizen or permanent resident of Singapore. He/she may also be Singapore Employment Pass holder. The director of the company must be above 18 years of age and must not be bankrupt nor have prior record of malpractice.

The shareholder

The law allows a maximum of 50 shareholders for a Singapore business setup. The share holders may be individuals or a corporate entity. The said director can be the shareholder as well or they can be separate individuals. 100% local or foreign shareholding is permitted.

The company secretary

According to the SCA, a Singapore business set up must have a company secretary. The company secretary needs to be appointed within six months of company incorporation and he/she must be a resident of Singapore.

• The company must also have a minimum initial paid-up share capital is S$1

The minimum paid-up capital for registration of a Singapore company is S$1 unless if you are an EntrePass holder in which case the paid-up capital will be S$50,000.

• The Singapore company setup must have a Singapore registered office address. The office address must be a Singapore registered address and addresses with a PO Box are not allowed.

Singapore business formation is made much simpler with the help of a professional business start up service. A professional service provider can aid you in the process of business incorporation in Singapore. A professional service provider will not only assist you in registering a company in Singapore but will also assist you throughout the entire process of business incorporation.

Professional business incorporation services ensure that you have the right information, documentation and get the right resources for setting up a business in Singapore.

Business incorporation services advise you on the relevant licensing requirements specific to your line of business and you can also avail useful business concierge services that can help you find a suitable location for your office, develop your IT and networking infrastructure etc.

You can also avail several supporting services such as taxation services, bookkeeping services and business accounting services.

Advantages of Promotional Duffel Bags

Are you trying to promote your business through a fast method and you also want your product to reach far away areas but limited budget is restraining you from doing so. Well then it is important for you to know that expensive marketing is not the only way for promoting your business. A wise idea can become a good alternative for all those expensive marketing schemes.

Using promotional products for your business promotion is a really good option. Using this idea for your business promotion is an effective way of promoting your business in a limited budget. It is not the only advantage of using promotional products for the promotion of your business but there are several other advantages too. Practical application by using products for the promotion of your business will surely do much better than just an ad in the newspaper or a one-sided campaign.

When you are thinking of using products for promoting your business, how does the idea of using promotional duffel bags for this purpose sound like? Well if you choose these bags for your promotion it is surely a wise choice as this choice of yours offers a great deal of advantages for your company. Here is an overview of some of the advantages that you will get by using bags as your promotional product.

One great advantage of using these as your promotional product is that these are the products which are of great demand in the market and people always need them for different purposes but the branded duffel bags available in the market are quite expensive so many admirers of duffel bags do not get the delight of having duffel bags as these bags are out of reach for them. So if you are using promotional duffel bags as your promotional product then you can provide many admirers of duffel bags with the delight of having duffel bags. So this is of great use for you as it will flourish your brand’s image through one to one advertisement at a wider level.

They are also useful as they are used for carriage by different people to different places like at a picnic or for a travel tour or to gym. So when people carry your promotional duffel bags to far away areas your company’s name will also reach those places in an effective way without you putting much effort for it. And in this manner this wonderful product can publish your logo in different parts of the world.

Now if you are thinking of ideas how to make your promotional duffel bags more and more popular as they can only be popular when they are used more and more by people. You really don’t need to worry as there are many methods for this too. For example you can distribute in a gym as people coming there use quite frequently.

So now when you have to choose a promotional product which can promote your brand’s name at a wider range, you surely know which one to choose.

The Methodical Approach To Graphic Designing!

Creativity is not everyone’s cup of tea. A graphic designer’s job for example, is a highly creative one. Graphic designing is a vast field and has many applications. It can be used in designing flyers, brochures, handouts, book covers, letterheads, and business cards too. If you are of an inquisitive bent of mind, you might even have gone to the extent of scouring various websites for information regarding graphic design and you will surely have come away a little enlightened, but more confused.

This is because graphic design is a specialized field and a professional graphic designer goes through years of study and training to reach the level of expertise that can enable him/her to take on jobs such as these. Let’s take the case of an entrepreneur who is setting up a new business and needs his office stationery as well as some print material for his company. The few things that a good designer will do:

– Even before the actual designing process begins, the designer will always have several discussions with the client about the nature of the business, the company’s vision, the target market, and the aim of the marketing campaign.

– Checking preferences that the client may have. Though the graphic designer is the one who will eventually be giving you all the ideas, several clients do have an understanding of what they want their business print matter to look like. With designing, customization is the key!

– Choosing the right corporate colors and ensuring that the same color scheme is carried through all the print material adds to the sophistication and cohesion of the design.

– Choosing appropriate graphics and images is important. Though the flyers/brochures should look attractive and catchy, they need not necessarily be garish and loud.

– A good design will always be free from clutter.

– Typesetting includes formatting the font that is being used, and the size of the font, etc, which is very critical to the layout of the design. This holds true of stationery as well.

Designing marketing products, in this case, your business print material, involves a lot of trouble and time. The best way to take a wee bit of this burden off your back is to get all your print matter designed from a professional graphic designer. This can prove to be the fulcrum of your marketing campaign and will have a positive impact on the way in which your product or service is positioned.

Brainstorming The Ideas for Influencing Your Mobile App Audience

Once the app is downloaded, you have little time to take a sigh of relief, and then again start focusing on making things easier for the them till their goal is achieved.

According to the AppsFlyer, an app marketing company, the global uninstall rate for apps after 30 days is 28%. Entertainment apps are most frequently deleted, whereas apps based on Finance is least frequently deleted. No matter which app category you belong to, your strategy should be to remain in the mobile phones of users for a long time, and not just sit around but to fulfill your purpose as well.

If we analyze the encounters of users with an app step by step, it can help us unveil the critical factors that influence mobile app audiences, so that we can work upon those and achieve our purpose. Here are the details:

Step1. Finding Your App in Appstore

For this, we have to first find out what exactly users type to search an app. Based on a research, it has been found that 47% app users on iOS confirmed that they found the app through the App Store’s search engine and 53% app users on Android confirmed the same.

What have been their search queries? Interestingly, as the per the data provided by the TUNE research, 86% of the top 100 keywords were brands.With little scope for non-branded categories, most of the keywords were either of games of utility apps. Common keywords in the non branded category are: games, free games, VPN, calculator, music, photo editor, and weather.

Leaving brands aside, if we analyze the user-type of a Non-branded category, we will get two types of users:

1. Users are informed, and they know what they are search

2. Users are exploring possibilities, have no precise information in mind.

If you are a mobile app development company, targeting non-branded users, then your efforts must be directed to creating apps that compel these two types of users. To do so, we have to analyze once they are on an app store, what keywords they use to search. Regina Leuwer, with expertise in marketing & communications, bring some light to the subject. She reached out Sebastian Knopp, creator of app store search intelligence tool appkeywords, who shared with her the data of unique trending search phrases. And according to that data, in 2017, there were around 2,455 unique search phrases trending in the US.

Now, if we study these data to get information, we will find that name of the app is critical to attract the attention of the users.

If your app belongs to non-branded category, then make sure your app name is similar to the common search queries but also unique in comparison with your competitors. So that when your app name is flashed, they click it on to it, finding it purposeful and compelling both.

Step 2. Installation

Remember your users are on mobile devices has limited resources, from battery to storage and RAM to Internet. Everything is limited. So better create an application that is easy to download or say get downloaded with 5 minutes. One critical advice here:

1. Keep the application file size small.

If you are a developer, use APK Analyser to find out which part of the application is consuming maximum space. You can also reduce classes.dex file and res folder that contains images, raw files, and XML.

Step 3. Onboarding

After the user has successfully downloaded your mobile application, don’t leave anything on assumptions. Guide them properly. This you can do through an onboarding process, where users can learn the key functionality and where to begin with the mobile app. Below are the 3 things you need to keep in your mind when creating an onboarding process for your users.

Short and Crisp: The entire guidance of features and functions should be completed within few seconds, with easy options loud and clear option to skip.
Precise Information: Don’t introduce them to the app. They already know what they have downloaded. The objective to inform about the key functions and features.
Allow Users to Skip: Let the tech-savvy users skip the intro. Your app is to meet their requirement and not to have a friendly session.

Step 4. Purpose and UI

Here, the stage is set for your app and it is the golden chance for you to impress your users. What is needed here is the collaboration between purpose and UI of the app. It totally depends on the problem-solving capability and ease of use of the mobile app. Interface design plays the critical role, allowing the users to access features of the apps easily and quickly to perform the task for what they have downloaded the app. When it comes to interface design, make sure that the design is interactive and task-oriented. Here are some factors that you must take care off while creating mobile app interface:

1. Usability: The Mobile phone is an epitome of convenience and if your users find it difficult to use your app, then there is no way there are going to make the space for it in their mobile phones. From screen size to the color of the app, there are many factors that are equally critical and need attention.

2. Intuitive: To create an intuitive User Interface, you have to read the mind of the users, and develop a model based on that. The next should be precise, clear and ‘obvious’ in an interface.

3. Availability: Key features should be hidden in the drop down menu or even if so, it should be obvious for the user to look into the drop-down. An intricate work of design and research is required to make essential features available for the customers and they don’t need to navigate here and there.

If you need more help with the user-interface and innovative ideas for a mobile app, write to me webmaster@finoit.com and I promise to get back to you with interesting mobile app designs.

3D Blockchain Application Platforms

3D blockchain application platforms are now available. These are projects that are developed by using a cryptocurrency. The program is regulated by the use of different kinds of cryptocurrencies. When you have a small business, it is possible to make very interesting presentations so as to manage projects in a more impressive and efficient manner only by using such programs. This means that you can be in a position to manage different business services or even a store better.

Why use 3D blockchain

The main reason as to why this kind of programs is created is to make it easier for persons who do not bear any computer science knowledge. This then allows them not to have to using compiling code that can be very laboring and hard. When you have an open secure 3D blockchain application platform, you can achieve so much more even with minimal knowledge.

Most of the projects aim at offering community assistance. The projects are aimed to aid different people who don’t have adequate financial resources. These are businesses that struggle a lot so as to be able to compete with the main players in the field. The big companies are willing to send as much as they can in things such as advertisements and so on. This means that they can reach a larger audience. For small businesses, they have limited resources and this means that they struggle to achieve any kind of growth that they may desire. Sustaining a field becomes difficult for smaller businesses. This is what the 3D platforms were created.

How they work

The 3D blockchain applications allow the users to interact. They can communicate in a direct manner. The users can be able to share different ideas, they can shop, order take outs and play games without having to take off the virtual reality headsets off. This is because all then applications and games within the 3D platform are all compatible.

The platform offers a space where the creation of decentralized applications is made possible. This is in relation to shop management and services and they are unlimited. Every user has the freedom to choose a project that interests him. The 3D world allows them to be able to communicate in an easy and a direct manner so as to share all the ideas that you may have without any kinds of hassles. It is possible to shop, play games and place different orders.

Benefits to business

The 3D blockchain aids business owners who aren’t tech savvy and those that don’t know too much regarding computer science or even information technology. This makes it very efficient to have the 3D platform that helps them reach a large population of their customers.

The main benefit to the business is the fact that they don’t need to take too much time as they write projects. There are very few steps that can be followed so as to choose the right template for projects. You can publish and manage your business in no time at all.

These platforms have some advanced features including privacy, encrypted messenger, social networking and transaction blocks.

Home Based Business Made EAsy

Everyone wants to start their own business and become their own boss, but many do not know how to do it. There are several types of home-based businesses. Service companies, product sales, and web-based home-based businesses, to name a few.

In this article, I will walk you through the process of starting your own online home business. I will try to eliminate some of the mystery of the process. By following this guideline, you’ll be up and running in no time without making a huge investment.

First, you need to know what your business is going to do. Will he provide a service? Do you intend to sell products? These are the two general types of home-based online businesses I will discuss in this article.

If you plan to provide a service, what kind of service will you provide? Will it be provided to people who own websites? Will it be a service that everyone can use or will it be confined to your area?

Ask similar questions if you plan to sell a product. Will it be a product that you sell and deliver locally, nationally or internationally? If you choose around the world, do you know anything about shipping your product abroad? The same applies to national delivery. Do you know the costs associated with delivering your product anywhere in the country where you live?

Once you have answered these questions, you will have more of an idea on how your home web business will eventually be shaped.

Then you will need a domain name. Most people think that the name of their business is the best way to get a domain name, however, a generic domain name with keywords associated with your product or service will serve you a lot better. You can also register your company name as a domain name and direct it to your website, but it is not necessary.

The generic domain name can help you with search engine traffic and can be more memorable. This is just one of many factors that will help you with search engine optimization, but it’s a step you should take at startup. Example: Cars.com is a better domain name than Ford.com, even though Ford has spent millions advertising and branding itself. Even cheapusedcars.com is better because people will look for that.

You have to find a good domain name registrar, not a cheap domain registrar. Cheap means cheap in the field of domain names. Your domain name is important. Spending $ 25 a year on a registrar who offers more services and quality VS spending $ 10 or less at a cheap registrar is what we are talking about here. If this extra $ 15 a year will make or break your home business, then maybe you should not start one.

Then you will need a web hosting service. Again, cheaper is not better. There are good hosting services for $ 100 a year or even a little less. Anyone who offers you hosting for less than that should trigger a red flag. Choose and pay for at least a year, just as you have registered your domain name. If you are going with a monthly plan, you are probably not fully engaged in your new home business.

Now you have your domain name and hosting your new website, but where is the website and how can I get it? You have several options. You can learn HTML and build your own. You can use a WYSIWYG editor like FrontPage to create your own website. You can hire someone to build your website for you.

First, let’s talk about learning HTML to build your own website for your home business. There is a learning curve here. This is the best option of the three that I mentioned above, but it takes time to learn. You will probably not be operational in a few days with this option. In the long run, it will save you a lot of money to learn HTML and build your own websites. The more websites you have in your wallet, the more you will have at least one who will be a big winner. Writing your own code means that you can create a new site as often as you want.

Then build your own home-based business website with a WYSIWYG publisher. (What you see is what you get). These editors are similar to creating a document. Everything is visual and you do not need to

Code a piece.

Then hiring a web designer to build your home business website is another option. A professional website designer knows how to give your website the look and feel you need. However, be careful when choosing a web designer. I will add a few things that you need to be aware of here;

1. If they say they will register the domain name for you, say no. Registering a domain name is not technically difficult. Do it yourself. Many web designers register the domain name at the cheapest place they can find, then charge you $ 100 or more per year for the domain name. Then, many of them record it in their own name! This will cause you huge problems if you decide to stop using their services. The domain name should always be in your name.

2. Ask them which program they use to build your website. If they will be using FrontPage or Dreamweaver or another WYSIWYG publisher, you may as well build your own home business website. If they do not write HTML from scratch, then they should not be in the web design business.

3. If they want to bill you monthly to run your website for you, be careful. Do not sign annual contracts. Their job is to build you a home business website. Let them stick to that. Most designers are just designers. They are not search engine gurus, business leaders, or anything else. Hire a designer to design and others to do what they are good at.

4. Do not let them talk about features you do not need. Just like used car salesmen, they will try to make you add a lot of bells and whistles you do not need.

5. A brochure website is one that is basically designed to just let people know what products or services you are providing and to contact you for more information. Usually it’s a main page, a page about, and a contact page. It should not cost you more than $ 500.

6. If you are going to add the ability to purchase your product or service by paying for it through your home-based business website, then it becomes an ecommerce website. Again, pay attention to the bells and whistles that the used website seller is trying to sell you. PayPal is a good option when you are starting out. You can get a PayPal account easily. You can create your own purchase buttons and insert them into your website with the code they provide without being an HTML guru. You can even set the shipping costs and everything else via PayPal for free. They charge small percentages per sale, but the services they provide are worth it. In addition, they have no setup fees or monthly fees like other e-commerce solutions. When your sales volume reaches thousands of dollars a month, you can look for a better solution, but until then, use PayPal.

7. An old adage among those who make money on the web is “You build the first for the show and the rest for the dough”. What does this mean? You will probably be very concerned about the appearance of your website at first, but the design is the least important aspect of your home web business. Many will disagree, but who cares? Let me repeat, design is the least important aspect of your home business. A beautiful website without traffic becomes uglier every day. An ugly website with the traffic that makes money becomes more beautiful by the dollar. Create a total budget for your home web business. Do not spend more than 30% of this budget on design. Spend the rest of your website promotion, advertising and other actions that bring you customers. Do not let a designer tell you that his design is more important than the success of your home-based business.

Now that your domain name, hosting and website are up and running, you now need customers. Where do you find them? I have my website, will not they find me now? NO, they will not do it.

There are many things you can do to get traffic. You can buy AdWords from Google, MSN (coming soon), or Yahoo. This sends you traffic from people who are looking for specific keywords. Pay attention to bidding and set your spending limits until you see what keywords will earn you.

10 LinkedIn Tips for Your Company

LinkedIn Profiles were commonly considered as an online profile of a person or a digital business card, but it can reap a lot of potentials if taken a step further. Indeed going beyond the basic capabilities of LinkedIn to build a more powerful social contact and to maintain a professional online presence would translate as tremendous business opportunities.

Best ten tips for a business:

1. Profile Completeness:

The heart and soul of any business brand is its profile. Profile names are powerful enough to get a business rank high in search engines. When people visit the page to learn on the product or service, about the company and its work, then it is important to feature a solid profile to create that first best impression with 100% details.

2. Connecting with all:

It is important for business profiles to expand their options and opportunities through interaction with almost everybody enrolled in LinkedIn. LinkedIn act as a live networking event that helps a business introduce itself to others and helps create new contacts and expand the business network, which in turn helps create new business opportunities in the long run.

3. Create a compelling online presence:

Create LinkedIn profiles and pages that are interesting, attractive and compelling for visitors to keep visiting it again and again. It is also a good idea to get moving pictures and video recommendations incorporated in the profile as this helps people learn who you are, what you do and how best you could help them.

4. Products and services page:

All business LinkedIn pages should ensure that they have a specific services and products page to offer more details and context and link directly with each products and services pages on the website and on its landing pages.

5. Careers:

Even large brands could be a flaw if they don’t have a careers tab. For, this helps in promoting positions until they get filled.

6. Recommending others:

This tip is based on the old concept that the more one gives, the more they receive. Recommend others without they asking is an excellent way to improve one’s social proof on the social network. This indirectly helps in improving traffic for a website.

7. Using apt keywords and phrases in the heading and title:

Title is important to be easily findable in a LinkedIn search but the heading is an opportunity to extent the business to excellent heights as it helps elaborating one’s skills, ideal customers and their area of expertise.

8. Getting LinkedIn profiles come Alive:

Whatever one does in LinkedIn Profiles, it is important to get them live, this is accomplished by adding videos to the profiles, slide shares, presentations etc., with the help of specific applications. Videos should be launched and linked with the profile in such a way that it could be accessed from anywhere in the profile.

9. Making best use of saved changes:

LinkedIn allows its profile users to save close to ten job searches and at least three people searches. After performing a primitive search, click on the save search option to run them easily again later. Users could choose to gain weekly or monthly reminders through email newsletters.

10. Consider SEO:

It is important for all business pages to be SEO friendly and to treat them well with the right content. It is important for brand descriptions to be tailored heavily, concise and impactful so that Google previews and ranks them.

Conclusion

LinkedIn has indeed rolled out a number of applications to help people promote their businesses better. Irrespective of what industry a person lies in, there is an application for everyone to get their business message across in a better way. These tips help improve the overall experience of LinkedIn.

Want to Mark Your Online Presence? Then a Good Web Development Company Is Your Destination

Website chiefly determines your online presence. In a fast-moving online industry with everybody projecting themselves through their websites, standing out of the crowded herd seems no short of a miracle. Well, for that certainly you do not need to have a magical wand, all you need is a good web development company.

There is no dearth of web development companies these days because everybody wants to have a website to market their products or services. Then the question is how to choose the one that can weave magic for you? Look out for some essential things that are must before you settle for the company whom you want to hire actually.

A web development company should be able to provide end-end solutions for your website i.e., it can cater to both the development and design needs of the website. Flexibility in the working approach is another important criterion as this will help you to get what you want for the website. Your website is a real-life translation of your vision, ideas and business needs so an ideal web development company should be able to meet your customized requirements and tailor your website according to your demands. Understanding the context of your website i.e., the business purpose and developing website accordingly is also of cardinal importance.

Thorough acquaintance and expertise of current practices in semantic, framework, web standards are must to get a functional and intuitive website. Your website must also be completely Search Engine Optimization or SEO friendly. This is vital if you want to generate high traffic for your website and want to keep your business in focus for the targeted audience. The platform on your website should be such that you can manage it on your own and for every edit or update you do not have to run to your developer. Along with the functionalities, visual representation of the website must also be kept in mind to allure the visitors. Your web development company must be able to present to your visitor a website that looks eye-catching yet bears a professional look and has an easy-to use layout.

The company to go for will not only develop and design your website but must also maintain it. Thus, it is vital that the one you choose is backed by a good customer support which you can contact in need. Only a professional web development company with skilled resources at their disposal can provide you with such services. Since your website is the representative and the primary bearer of your brand, you must do careful research before you settle for one. Look just not for competitive pricing but also for the quality and the range of the services that the company can offer.

Techniques For Entrepreneurship Development

There is a certain way to carry out entrepreneurship. One has to follow certain fixed guidelines to develop an entrepreneurship of any choice. Designing a clear cut plan is necessary. Following are seven guidelines or techniques on the basis of which any entrepreneurship or business can be developed;

1. Focusing on the key product:

Your business revolves on the key product so focusing on your core product is the first step to create a business opportunity. A certain successful entrepreneur has stated that “Prospects buy when they trust your value is applicable to them and believe your company is stable” suggesting that an entrepreneur should focus on providing value to the customers. This suggestion is the key to the core plan. An entrepreneur of small business needs to differentiate from big business by concentrating on the core products. Specialization is the biggest asset of entrepreneurs.

2. Keeping it simple and short:

One should be able to tell what their business is in few precise and concise words(I.e the patter or pitch) lasting for 30 seconds since any prospect can understand clearly about the business without being confused.

3. Staying true to who you are:

You can reach your goals by knowing who you are and what gets you excited and not. Notably procrastination as human nature is can delay your growth plan so it’s better to not procrastinate and go for a perfect result oriented plan

4. Mapping it:

The best way to determine your service strategy is by mapping your capabilities with your target clients’ needs. Hence the customers who do not need your particular expertise are also avoided. The urge to cast a wide net is one common trait among many entrepreneurs. However a small business flourishes since it has limited service offering. Specializing in distinctive top quality service is the value in having a small business. So in many instances, a small business flourishes. Significantly, while choosing a provider, a list of decision making criteria can be made, from which, your client can choose as per your expectation. Then categorize yourself honestly or evaluate intensely as to where you would be position in each category. After this, make sure that your patter or pitch is still on target.

5. Utilizing the best marketing tools that work for you:

Implement the best marketing strategy that suits your personality and that of customers to be served. Identify the top two marketing tools that have worked for you in the past and then start adding new ideas from a fresh perspective. It’s also important to evaluate the selected marketing tools from cost basis. You have to take a decision as to which marketing tool will yield the best returns on your efforts. In one or another each tool should be result oriented or revenue productive.

6. Implementing a plan of action:

It’s essential to know whether the plan of action made is in progress or not. This can be done by establishing goals at short term say 3 months to long term of 6 months. During short term, you need to check your plan every month. If the plan is not being met you need to ask questions to yourself like did I select the appropriate tools for my target customer? Did I integrate the strategy into the plan? Or did I focus on only one of the marketing tool? Thus there should be a strategy check on a day to day basis so as to know if the plan is in progress as per your plan.

7. Exercising the plan:

The final step is to complete the daily actions and to put n extra efforts to accelerate your plan towards success. Precious time should be not wasted and used for reaching your goal soon.

These are the basic most important techniques for Entrepreneurship development.

Thanks

5 Easy Ways to Free Link Building

In these turbulent economic times, every penny saved can help in the sustenance and survival of businesses, especially when it comes to small and medium businesses. The best method to secure a credible online presence is link building.

Links pointing to a web page play an integral role in Search Engine Optimization. Along with giving more importance to the number of links a web page has, search engines also pay close attention to linkage patterns. So it is not only the number of links pointing to your web page that decides your position in the search engine results page, but also the quality of those links. The quality of a link is determined by two factors: authority of the web page linking to you and the link anchor text. What link building does is help you not just in improving your page rank in search engines, but also in generating quality traffic to your web page.

Listed below are five easy ways that you can utilize for building links without spending a penny:

1. CREATE CONTENT WORTH LINKING TO: Nobody wants to link to a web page which has irrelevant or bogus content. Content on your web pages must be useful to your readers or web page visitors. This will generate traffic as well as help your page in ranking well in search engines. It really costs nothing to come up with original and useful content. Once you do this, gaining links from various trusted or authoritative sources will be a lot more easy.

2. GET LINKS FROM DIRECTORIES: Links in the major directories help provide context to search engines. The two major directories are the Yahoo! Directory (dir.yahoo.com) and the Open Directory Project (dmoz.org). Yahoo! Directory is part of the Yahoo! Search system and Open Directory Project feeds results to Google directory. The Open Directory also feeds results to hundreds of other sites thereby helping in further link building.

If you want to submit your website to specialized directories relevant to your business, find these by typing your primary keyword followed by the word ‘directory’ in Google. Make sure you read the submission tips before submitting your website in any of these directories.

Websites that are submitted to directories are subject to human review. Make sure your site has quality (relevant and original) content and follows all guidelines specified. If you manage to do this, you are very likely to secure links from these directories.

3. SOCIAL NETWORKING: One great way to ensure quality link building is social networking. Currently, most search algorithms are driven by link reputation. Eventually, search engines will have enough user feedback data with which they will be able to augment the links with how users tag web pages and their usage data. If a site with exceptionally high link popularity scores rarely gets tagged, search engines may not count the relevancy for that site or flag that site for human review.

Spread the word about your website, business ideas and developments on social networking sites. Build communities and start discussions. Again, ensuring quality and relevant content must be your priority. Use these sites to build links to your web pages as well as to develop your existing network of friends. Some of the popular social networking sites are Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, LinkedIn and Orkut.

4. SOCIAL BOOKMARKING: Another way of popularizing your website is social bookmarking. Visitors who like content on your site can bookmark this for their own reference as well as others. Since all social bookmarking sites attract heavy traffic, getting bookmarked can generate a good reader base for your website. What this also means is that you’ll get quality links which will help your website gain credibility. Some of the popular social bookmarking sites are del.icio.us, reddit, Digg, Technorati and StumbleUpon. Google has indexed millions of pages from del.icio.us and Digg.

Indexing links from social networking and social bookmarking sites, along with the links from other websites provides Google with more popularity information. If you track what types of information people are tagging, you can develop good ideas to create free viral link popularity.

5. POST COMMENTS ON BLOGS: Many bloggers allow people who post comments to have a link back to their site. Spot blogs that are relevant to your business or website and post comments. Never post a comment that is solely dedicated to popularizing your site. Make sure you have something constructive to say and if possible, provide a link back to content on your site that supports your comment or the blog post.

Here are some tips for commenting on blogs:

o Don’t put a keyword phrase as your name

o Avoid blog spamming: Leave meaningful comments. Don’t say “Nice post” or “I found this very useful.” Why did you find it useful? What can you add to the conversation?

o Try to be interactive. Even though link building is your priority, don’t make it very apparent. Post a comment that directly deals with the blog post in question and casually add a link back to your website.