Submit to Directories: Large directories such as DMOZ and Yahoo! Directories may not send major traffic to your site, but they can ensure that your site is found by search engines faster. Consider getting listed in niche directories related to your field, or directories that rank for keywords that you want to rank for. A free tool like SoloSEO can also be used to find directories that are relevant to your niche or keyword.

Press Releases: There’s the regular process of submitting press releases to paid distribution channels, then there’s the SEO process of distributing to paid distribution sites. Partnered with a pitching strategy, the paid distribution sites are great for getting media attention, but it’s the free distribution sites that will help you earn some backlinks. While a paid distribution channel, PRWeb also offers an SEO Package that will get you backlinks. If you regularly submit press releases to the paid channels, take a few minutes each month to also distribute them to the free press release distribution sites.

Article Syndication: Article marketing can consist of submitting articles to directories, social media sites, or even guest blogging or writing an exclusive feature article for another site. By submitting articles to a variety of sites, you expand your traffic base and receive backlinks from relevant sites. Sites like Ezine Articles and Hub Pages are great when you have unique content to distribute, but also consider re-writing one of your popular blog posts and submitting to a site like Unique Article Wizard. Your article will be distributed to over 500+ sites depending on the topic, and a large percentage of those sites will give you a one-way link back.

Take Advantage of Social Networking Profile Creation: Creating social media profiles can be a quick way to earn backlinks. Some of the social media sites will give you a dofollow backlink to your site, while others aren’t so generous, although the traffic you get could still be worth it. Check out a site like KnowEm for an extensive list of social media sites that allow profile creation.

Blog and Forum Commenting: Finding a blog that will follow your comment is a dime a dozen, but blog commenting is still a great way to receive links, especially if you are commenting on relevant sites. While a software blogger commenting on a food site may not make sense, commenting on blogs in your industry does. Forums also generally follow backlinks via the signature field and are a great way to earn additional links.

Find Reciprocal Link Opportunities: While reciprocal links aren’t as beneficial any more, they can still make up a small portion of your link building strategy – just don’t depend on it for your entire link building strategy. You can get reciprocal links from vendors and partners that you do business with, friends and family with web sites, directories and sites that offer a reciprocal exchange, or by emailing sites you’d like to appear on, asking them for a reciprocal link. Try a tool like Link Assistant to help find reciprocal linking partners and to monitor your link popularity over time.

Email Relevant Sites: If your web site is relevant to another web sites target market, email the webmaster of the site explaining who you are, what your request is, and how a link would benefit them. Don’t send blanket emails though – make sure to thoroughly research the website, find out their needs, and then pitch accordingly.

Publish Link Bait: Much like article marketing, link bait consists of writing an article or blog, but instead of submitting to a variety of sites, you’ll keep this on your own web site. With link bait, you’re looking to write an article that will spike the interest of your industry peers, social media sites, or verticals that you’re interested in entering. Link bait articles aren’t always planned – a blog post that took you 10 minutes to write may end up driving thousands of visitors to your web site, while a post that took you hours of research and time may not get a single view. Posts that tend to get the most links and views offer a different viewpoint to a common issue or problem, describe how to do something, are top 10 posts or roundups of a popular topic, consist of breaking news or trends, or even just supply a picture, humor, or thought on something that is unique to your industry.