Learning how to get backlinks to your home business or MLM blog is an important way to help your blog get found online.

Backlinks are simply links back to your blog home page, or individual posts. These can come from any number of different places. They are good for getting direct traffic when someone sees them while searching or surfing online.

If you get enough quality links back to your site, search engines will tend to rank your content higher, which makes getting found online easier. A backlink is considered a vote for your site.

In theory, if you publish really good content that people like and find helpful, you will get a lot of links back to your blog effortlessly. This is true in part, but with home business or MLM blogs, it isn’t that easy to get quality backlinks. There are just so many people out there blogging in this niche, it’s easy be get buried and unnoticed even if your stuff is great.

So, to get more exposure faster, the question becomes how to get backlinks – enough of them to make a difference in your traffic.

Here are five common ways to get links back to your website or blog.

Article Marketing

This is the classic approach. The secret of how to get backlinks with article marketing is simple. You write articles (500-700 words typically) about topics related to home business or network marketing – whatever your niche is. At the end of the article, you create a “bio box” that contains a link back to your site with anchor text.

For example, the anchor text for your link might be “Buy XYZ Product” – when the search engines see a link back to you with that anchor text, it tells them that the page you are linking to is all about buying XYZ product. If you have enough links in the right places, this can boost your ranking for that keyword phrase. Your articles may also be republished in various places, and read by people who will click your link to visit your site.

Forum Profile Backlinks

Building links this way is basically spamming. It involves using automated software that creates mass numbers of accounts on forums and message boards, and then creates fake profiles that include a link back to your site. Typically, these are found by administrators and removed pretty quickly. This is why you have to constantly keep building these for them to have any effect at all.

This type of linking can help boost search engine ranking for obscure search terms that don’t have much competition, but I don’t recommend this for home business builders. I really can’t recommend this technique to anyone. You really don’t want spam links like this pointing to your blog.

“Home Page” Backlinks

These are links back to your site that are placed on the home page of blogs with high Google Page Rank. This will give you a boost in the rankings, but the cost is usually high. Some services like this charge upwards of $100 per month to maintain a few links back to you. The technique can help boost your ranking for important keywords, but the ongoing cost is pretty steep.

Social Media Backlinks

There are several automated tools available that will create accounts on dozens of social media sites (typically blogging platforms like LiveJournal and Tumblr), then post content on them with links back to your blog. While these links are not always very effective for ranking, it is one way to get more links out there and help increase your overall presence online. Most of these tools carry monthly service fees, and you must create accounts and post content often to get much benefit from this technique.

Private Blog Networks

Some people have developed networks of blogs that carry, for the most part, decent Google Page Rank. These networks can have hundreds of different blogs hosted all over the world. Typically, you create short snippets of content (150-300 words) that contain a link back to your blog. You submit them, and they are posted randomly across the network. Posting to private blog networks can be effective, assuming the network maintains high quality standards.

When considering how to get backlinks for your home business blog, it’s important to keep in mind that the quality of your content is very important. You can build backlinks all day long and get better search ranking and more visitors, but if your content doesn’t help them or provide solutions to their problems and needs, it won’t do you much good.

If you have any questions about these strategies, feel free to ask in the comments below!

The Home Business Radio Network launches tomorrow, January 30th.

Are you interested in learning more about how to build a successful network marketing business from some of the most respected and powerful leaders in the industry?

Does hearing about the success of home business industry leaders inspire you to find out how they did it?

Would that possibly make a difference in your network marketing business?

The training, education, news, music, and special events that you can be a part of will be amazing. We like to call the Home Business Radio Network “Positive Powered Radio“. Our goal is to Educate, Entertain, Encourage, Empower, Elevate, and Enlarge your ability to succeed in your chosen home business. This will be positive and powerful content that will help you achieve greater heights than ever before.

The network shows will be focused on many different aspects of building and promoting a home based business. Some of the topics will include network marketing & MLM downline building, attraction marketing, personal development, Internet marketing, recruiting and prospecting strategies (both online and offline), niche marketing, personal branding, copywriting, list building and conversion, social media, and many other topics that will help YOU master the skills necessary for success.

Not just skills, but there will also be a ton of encouragement and support for everyone out there working to create a successful future with a home business.

The founders of the Home Business Radio Network, Doug Firebaugh and Paul Saunders, have worked together to develop a slick social friendly platform with incredible sound -  it’s just something you have to experience to see what sets it apart from anything the home business industry has seen.

Visit the HBRN home page at Home Business Radio Network and subscribe for updates and announcements.

Some of the leaders hosting programs will include:

Chris and Josephine Gross, publishers of the highly respected Networking Times magazine

Nick and Grace Keohohou- Founders of the Direct Selling Women’s Alliance

Ray Higdon – #1 earner in his company and a powerful leader with a gift for teaching

Zig Ziglar & Tom Ziglar – legendary trainers and motivational speakers

Doug Firebaugh – one of the top trainers in the network marketing industry, and co-founder of the HBRN

Troy Dooly – well known spokesman for the industry who tells it like it is and keeps us up to date on the latest news

Rachel Henke – the “Niche Expert” and network marketing leader with a passion for helping others find their ideal niche

John Milton Fogg – author of “The Greatest Networker in the World” with a wealth of knowledge and experience to share

I am honored to say that I will also have a show, the “Eldon Beard” show. My focus will be on how to get found online, SEO, blogging, and other topics related to building a successful home business.

There are several other excellent show leaders I haven’t named, so be sure to tune in the Home Business Radio Network and see what we have to offer! We believe we are going to make history in the home business and network marketing industry, and would love to have you join us!

Home business marketing – everything you do to promote your home business, both online and offine – can become quite confusing and stressful.

Even if you are working a business model that comes with a simple step-by-step marketing plan, it is human nature to want to explore as many other options as possible. Just about everyone desires to build their business as quickly as they can.

So, let’s say you have a network marketing business. You know that the business is pretty simple – prospecting, presenting, and enrolling those who catch the vision and want to work with you.

Most likely, your opportunity has a basic training routine that teaches you a simple system for finding leads and building up your business. So is that enough?

Think about all the home business marketing techniques you can use to grow your income even faster!

• online advertising

• social media prospecting

• article marketing

• blogging

• press releases

• message boards and forums

Not to mention all the neat tools, e-courses, DVD sets, MLM training programs, and everything else out there that seems to offer great hope for helping you attract hundreds more MLM prospects fairly easily.

Home business marketing can become very overwhelming because of all these options. There are lots of ways to find more prospects, and all of these methods can work.

The problem is, if you take on too much, you can end up scattered and not accomplishing much at all. I am writing this today because I was once in this situation.

I am a student of home business marketing, especially the online aspect of it. I have tried, tested, and adapted many different approaches for attracting visitors to my blogs and websites over time. I’ve found myself becoming overwhelmed and losing ground when I took on too much at once.

So, to avoid confusion and inertia that is a natural result of being overwhelmed, here is what I learned and recommend to you.

1) Master the basic fundamentals of building your business first – it does little good to attract more prospects if you aren’t able to follow up and present your opportunity effectively. It’s easy to avoid the fundamentals and spend time looking for “faster and more efficient” ways to prospect. Beware of this.

2) Once you have the fundamentals down and are sponsoring people and making some money, pick an area where you want to branch out. For example, you might choose to study and master the art of Facebook marketing. Begin getting some leads this way and sponsoring them, then if you have time, choose another technique and repeat.

I emphasize mastering the basic fundamentals of your business first because so many home business owners make a big mistake.

They jump into many different promotional methods, particularly online, and end up not gaining a whole lot from all of it. This is because they never get mastery of the basics that are essential for success in the first place.

Home business marketing doesn’t have to be difficult – just master the basic fundamentals first, then branch out and learn how to do everything you do well before you move to something else.

Success in network marketing is what you want, and hope for, from the day you sign up.

Some people do very well from the beginning, others never seem to gain traction and live up to their potential for success in the business. Often, there are obstacles that aren’t even apparent, but they are very real.

There are two common obstacles to success in network marketing which, if you recognize them, can be corrected. Getting these problems fixed can go a long way toward helping you make money and sponsor prospects into your business.

These two obstacles are, “broad focus” and “open options”.

Broad Focus – Just Want to Make Some Money?

Real success in network marketing requires more than just a desire to make some money. You need to have significant motivation for desiring that income, and you should have a firm vision of how much you want or need. I think too many people start a business with only a vague idea of what they want from it.

There should be a target – “I want to earn $2000 per month from my business by December“.

There should also be reasons driven by some emotion – “It is painful being in so much debt, I really really want to be free of this!”

There is that old saying – “your why should make you cry”. You have to have something backing up your business goals, something to keep you moving forward when things get tough. Success in network marketing is a lot easier when you tie it to something that is really important to you.

Open Options – Easy In and Easy Out

Many people go into MLM and network marketing with an attitude. I’ll give it a try, if it doesn’t work I’ll try something else. This is what I mean by “open options” – just giving the business a try with the idea of backing out if things don’t go as well as hoped.

I think that’s one of the big problems in this industry. Low cost of entry, combined with easy out, makes it pretty painless to quit.

Compare that to a traditional business investment – a franchise. If you sink $100K into opening your own franchise, you are going to take it very seriously. You will be trained, watched, and subject to high expectations. It is your business, but you are not in a position to just walk away if you decide you aren’t making enough money. You have to stick, work hard, and make it work.

There might be a lot more people enjoying success in network marketing if it cost significantly more to get involved, and it wasn’t so painless to quit. That said, though, I’m glad that this is an income opportunity that is open to so many. You don’t have to have a lot of money to start a business and achieve success in network marketing.

So, for greater success in network marketing and MLM:

• narrow your focus and have a clear and well defined goal, along with very strong reasons and motivation for achieving that goal

• go in with an attitude that “this is going to work and I’m not looking back” – make it happen where you are with what you have

This will go a long way to help you achieve the prosperity that you deserve.

As a home business entrepreneur, knowing how to get found online by your perfect prospects is essential to your success.

The Internet is a big jungle, and it will only get more crowded and competitive as time goes on. Think about your potential prospects who are searching online for your product, or a business opportunity like yours.

How will they ever find you among all the home business hype and hoopla that is out there today?

Unless you are already firmly established online, and have a reputation that encourages people to seek you by name, figuring out how to get found online will be one of your primary challenges.

Let’s say you publish a blog to brand yourself and attract people who might enjoy working with you. Your blog is just one in a huge sea of home business and entrepreneur related blogs out there.

How do you stand out and get found online by opportunity seekers?

Allow me to tell you a bit of my story.

In 1990, I was online promoting a network marketing opportunity. That company shut the doors in August of that year, which actually turned out to be a blessing in disguise. After evaluating my options, I settled in with a long-established home and personal care products company that was just beginning to get some exposure on the Internet.

I teamed up with a group of visionary networkers who understood the potential for promoting that business online. Many others in this company thought we were mavericks, or downright crazy for trying this. Lots of critics. However, as a team we went on to build what became the largest and most successful downline organization in the history of the company. I was honored to be a part of that team.

Since that time, I’ve been a student of online marketing and everything related to achieving maximum exposure and visibility, especially for people who are promoting a home business. How to get found online has fascinated me for years. It is a passion of mine.

So what is the secret? There are a lot of things you can do. If you have a significant budget, you can use paid advertising tools like Google Adwords to gain exposure and get leads for your business. On the other hand, there are better ways.

It’s good to have some paid advertising, but what if you could set some things in motion that would cost little more than some of your time, and create a steady stream of visitors and potential prospects for your business?

On the top right side of this page, you’ll see something that promises to show you “Ten Clever Ways to Get Found Online…without spending a fortune for advertising“. I’m revealing some of the most effective ways I’ve found to increase your exposure and attract new leads for your home based business opportunity or your products.

Please take a moment to enter your information.

These strategies will help you break away from the pack and get found online by people seeking what you have. You won’t receive an endless series of emails with nothing but pitches to buy something – I hate that – I will deliver content that you can use. I look forward to helping you excel in your business!

Too many people in network marketing and direct sales let fear and hesitation hold them back from ever achieving what they started their business for in the first place. This is often centered around a fear of rejection or embarrassment. Whatever the reason, this lack of confidence can hold your business back and cause you to never experience success that you are perfectly capable of achieving.

It doesn’t have to be this way.

Not long ago, I finished listening to the entire 24 hour audiobook version of the biography of Steve Jobs. Jobs was an entrepreneur, visionary thinker, and a good example of what many would call a “free spirit”. He had a vision and dream for his life, and did what it took to achieve it. He overcame many obstacles because he was driven to succeed. Failure was not an option.

I can’t say that his life was perfect, because it wasn’t. Like all of us, Steve Jobs had his own personal challenges and issues, but he didn’t let them stop him from living his dream.

I recommend anyone with a desire to build a strong and profitable business in network marketing or direct sales to read this book. Or, if you are like me, you might prefer to listen to an audio version while exercising or working around the house. Even if you aren’t particularly interested in the high tech world that Jobs worked in, there are significant lessons about business (and life) to be enjoyed here. I appreciate Ray Higdon for blogging about this book, because it is his post that inspired me to check it out.

Below is a video of Steve’s commencement address at Stanford University in 2005. It is 14 minutes long, and worth every minute. This is some great insight. His “third story” is especially thought provoking.

When thinking about “online MLM” and building a business on the Internet, what do you consider the most important key to success?

The actual process of building a successful network marketing business online has been the subject of considerable debate and discussion over time.

The reality is, far more people go online looking for a home business than search through more traditional methods such as newspaper and magazine ads. People who don’t know specifically what they’re looking for will “Google it” until they find something. If they find you, you need to be prepared.

Many online MLM entrepreneurs do all the right things, up to a point.

• they create a blog for attracting and communicating with prospects

• they come up with a free giveaway and set up an opt-in form to capture leads

• they load their autoresponder with some good follow up copy

And then wait….for something to happen.

That’s all great and part of what you should do. Problem is, though, many people doing online MLM stop right there. Their followup messages are designed to entice prospects to click a link, review their MLM opportunity, and hopefully sign up as soon as possible.

What’s missing? What is the number one key to success, if you want to succeed with  network marketing and recruiting online?

Taking the prospect offline and creating a relationship. It’s really that simple.

Why do so many fail to do something as simple as calling their prospects who leave a good phone number? We know quite a few won’t leave valid contact information, and you can’t make people do it, but at least follow up personally with the ones you can.

Unless you already have a strong reputation online and people looking at your opportunity seek you out specifically as a sponsor, you can’t afford to skip any opportunity to make that personal connection.

Look at it like this. Using online MLM sponsoring and recruiting methods is best for accomplishing one thing – identifying an interested prospect. Past that, you need to do whatever it takes to make a personal connection with that person. Otherwise, they are likely to bounce around looking until they find someone who will.

If your prospect leaves a phone number, call them. If most of your leads are not leaving them, or they are leaving information that looks or turns out fake, consider where your leads are coming from. Free classified sites, traffic exchanges, places like that tend to send a less serious prospect.

I’ve found that the best prospects, the ones most likely to leave contact information, come from places like:

• social networks where they can review my profile and learn a little about me before they visit my blog

• ads on work at home or home based business sites that publish great content (this attracts good prospects)

For better success in online MLM, get your profile and opportunity out there where your ideal prospects are likely to be. Then, make it a point to take the prospect offline as quickly as possible and begin building a relationship.

If you haven’t set goals for your network marketing business in 2012, it isn’t too late!

I remember when I used to think I had to sit down no later than December 31 and write out my goals and plan for the next year in its entirety. Everything.

Later, I realized that there is nothing magic about January 1, it is simply a popular point that people traditionally use to get a new start on things they want to do. If you haven’t already created targets and goals for your MLM business this year, now is a great time to do so!

Without some goals and objectives to shoot for your network marketing business can become like a ship without navigation, just floating along and hoping to reach the Isle of Success someday. If you just float and drift along in your business, you will achieve far less than you’re capable of.

Your goals should be tied to numbers or benchmarks,whenever possible, that you can use to measure your progress. For example, a networking friend of mine focuses on prospecting and sponsoring people he meets through online social media. This has worked well for him, but he realizes that he is leaving a lot of business behind by not working and prospecting in his local area as well.

So, Roy has set a new goal for his network marketing business in 2012. He will connect with at least two new prospects in his local area each day. “Connect” means actually talk to somebody and invite them to review his opportunity. This might be a friend, an acquaintance, or someone he meets and strikes up a conversation with. People are everywhere, and many more are open and looking for opportunity than ever before.

What are your goals for your MLM business in 2012? Here are some of the things I plan to accomplish in my business this year.

1) Put more focus on my local prospecting efforts – I’ve been a strong online marketer for years, and honestly have not paid enough attention to my local area market. There are some powerful and influential business leaders in my area who are much more likely to work with someone they know locally. I am going to seek and find the ones who are open to additional opportunity.

2) Allocate more time to personal development and sharpening my skills – I’m a big believer in ongoing self development and improvement, and I’m going to kick it up a notch this year, knowing that this will also have tremendous benefits for my network marketing business. I have already reserved my place for two training seminars in January, with more to come.

3) Become a more effective leader and sponsor for my team – I’ve always believed that the difference between a downline and a team is my leadership and how I relate and work with the people in my group. In 2012, I will strive to spend more quality time working with key team members, and work harder than ever to help them develop their own successful network marketing business.

What are your plans for your business in 2012?

This is a good time to kick back and think about all the great reasons to start making money with a network marketing program.

If you’re currently building a business, this can help remind you of what’s ahead. If you’re thinking about doing it, I hope this will give you some incentive.

Put aside all the hype and let’s look a realistic look at what a solid network marketing program can do for you.

1) How do you feel about spending the next 10 years or more pretty much doing what you do now? How does that look to you? Are you interested in an alternative?

2) Getting serious and building your business requires you to help other people succeed and achieve financial prosperity, which is a great feeling!

3) Success with a network marketing program demands personal growth and getting outside your comfort zone. It might hurt for a while but the joy of liberation that comes later is intense.

4) Your job may be secure now, but if something happens, what are your options? Build yourself up and become a leader, and you will never lack for ways to earn an income.

5) Do you have kids and family you’d like to spend more time with? A prosperous home business opens the door to time freedom. You sacrifice up front to reap rewards for years to come.

6) What business, apart from a legitimate network marketing program, lets you achieve a solid residual income for so little money invested up front?

7) You probably know people less fortunate than you, and you’d love to help them, but your current income doesn’t allow you that option. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to share your wealth and help others in need?

8) Think about how it feels to wake up on the weekends (or your days off) and be able to relax and enjoy your day at your own pace? Full time income from a network marketing program can give you that option.

9) Your future is much brighter when you take charge and design your own destiny.

10) Most people enjoy traveling, if only to “be somewhere different” for a few days. How would it feel to travel when you wanted, stay as long as you wanted, and not be tied to “vacation days”?

Now, this has been intended as a brief look at a few of the benefits you might enjoy if you enroll in a network marketing program and achieve success. Of course, the big thing that makes much of this happen is money.

This isn’t all about making a lot of money, because some of the most miserable people in the world make tons of cash and are set for life. It’s in part about how you receive that money (residual income beats the heck out of trading time/jobs/projects for money).

Another thing is what rewards that earning money this way can bring you. To be truly prosperous in MLM and network marketing, you have to build relationships and help other people achieve success. This is not like the corporate world where in some cases you are fighting tooth and nail and playing politics to move up.

A network marketing program can bring success, fulfillment, and freedom. How many long hour, high pressure corporate jobs can do that for you?

I have been reading the Steve Jobs biography by Walter Isaacson.

Actually, I have been listening to the unabridged audiobook version. This allows me to better utilize time spent on routine tasks that don’t require a lot of focus (such as jogging or cleaning up around the house).

Anyway, I’m finding this book to be quite inspiring, and a highly recommended read (or listen) for anyone building a home based network marketing business.

Here are four key ideas that I’ve taken from this book so far.

1) You don’t have to have everyone like to you be successful. Steve Jobs was often brutally candid with his team and the people around him, and offended many, but those who stuck around knew he was a creative marketing genius. He had quirks.

With Steve Jobs, you could be a jerk and failure one day and a genius the next. And, he would tell you so. Now, I’m not suggesting that it’s wise to go out and offend people, just don’t worry that everyone has to like you. In your business, take charge and do what you need to do and don’t worry about what people think.

2) He only wanted the best people on his team. He went out and sought people who could step right in and be major contributors to bringing his dreams and vision to reality.

How do I apply this to network marketing? When you work with people you sponsor, do you ever find yourself getting totally frustrated trying to help those with bad attitudes and negative thinking? Nothing can drain you faster than spending too much time with people who think “I can’t” all the time.

If you are like me, you want people who have desire and motivation to forge ahead and reach their goals and dreams. You don’t have time for complainers and whiners. Focus on the people that “want to” not the ones who “can’t”.

3) Jobs understood how priceless time really is. It’s so revealing when we realize how much time we all have wasted fretting over things and just delaying things we know we need to get done. Or start on.

In his commencement address at Stanford University in 2005, he said this. Give it some thought.

Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.

4) Every year, he would take his top team members and have a mastermind retreat. They would brainstorm and come up with new ideas and strategies. He would then narrow it down, then again, and finally would come up with three ideas to focus on the next year.

In looking back on my network marketing and home business career, I’ve had best success when I narrowed my focus and concentrated on the fundamentals – what matters most. I’ve been through cycles where I tried to learn, master, and do too much too fast. That only produced frustration and failure. Narrow your focus and don’t try to do too much at once. Get laser focused.

There is a lot we can learn about the entrepreneurial spirit and success in business from Steve Jobs. I highly recommend that you get the book, or audio, and spend some time with it. It is quite long (24 hours for the unabridged audio) but worth it.