directories http://www.strongestlinks.com/directories.php backlinks http://www.webconfs.com/backlink-builder.php
What type of site do you have? Be careful about directories and similar places. There are some of these that will actually cause Google to delist you or decrease your ranking. Also, post on blogs, forums (particularly on-topic forums), and anywhere else that allows you to link to your site. This will help your Google ranks a little, but will really help bring in traffic. I've found that for every comment I leave on a highly trafficked blog (even if not relevant to my humor site), I'll receive 10 visitors. That may not sound much, but if you post 10 comments per day, every day, that's ~3,000 visitors per month. Plus, if you have a good site, some of these visitors will link back to you and send their readers your way. I post ~20 comments per day on blogs, which has netted me about 15,000 visits since mid-October. In the process, over 100 of these visitors liked my blog and linked back to my site, netting me another 10,000 or so visits. Not too bad for just posting comments.
Your other advice was good - but what's with this? Incoming links cannot harm your rankings - they can at worst have no effect. Otherwise, wouldn't we all be submitting our competitors sites to these 'bad directories'? I'd be interested to see where you formed this opinion from and if you have any evidence - It's not something any of the SEO folk I know thing is possible. I'll second posting comments on blogs though - This can be a very effective tactic. Don't let yourself start spamming blogs though - post on relevant blogs and join in the conversation. Also if you're launching a new site, don't forget the on-site basics. Header tags, well planned internal navigation and a sitemap are all must-haves. Depending on your site content, make it easy for people to link to you (Social bookmarking, link code etc) - it's a lot easier to sit back and watch the links coming in than to chase every last one!
I have seen firsthand the impact of signing up for "directory" listings that turned out to be massive link farms (not with my current site, but with a site a friend ran last year). Google may claim that incoming links don't impact rankings, but for this friend incoming links destroyed his online business. This individual signed up for one of those "spend ~$100 to be listed on 1000 directories" sites. He started getting hits from random sites, and found them to be link farms. About 1 week after enrolling in this program, all his optimized keywords (~15) dropped from positions 1-3 to not even on the first 10 pages. Since almost all his traffic (over 90%) was from Google, it had a devastating impact on his small online business, and he ended up closing shop (it was just a side job, so it's not like he was on the street). He didn't have a single outgoing link either. This hardly seems like coincidence.
I also agree with Anita. For instance, if you use the Google toolbar, you will come across sites once in awhile that are "gray barred". It definitely would not be a good idea to have back links from a site like that.
Actually, inbound links towards your website doesn't hurt your website. You can not control other's linking to your site. Google however will decrease your ranking if you are linking back towards them(2-way linking).
@Anita, I think the effect your friend saw was from gaining too many links too quickly. Google is VERY wary of sites that gain links suddenly. Signing up for one of those x hundred directory links for $x is sure to trigger one of Google's filters and knock you back for a while for trying too hard! I see it all the time even with less aggressive link building: you gain links, you lose position, you do nothing, you gain position plus some due to the links.
My site is www.newsbog.com its a celeb type site. Sounds like I wont bother submitting to directories.
You actually have a pretty good site, one I'd expect could quickly reach a few thousand readers per day. Here are some tips to get there: - Post comments on all the big celebrity blogs. If you expand upon any of their posts, post a link back to yours (but do not spam) - If you scoop other sites, send them your stories so they can publish them - If you feel you have the inside scoop (before anyone else), get a friend to use the D-word tool. If it really is a good story, it will make the front page on its own and get tons of hits - Use StumbleUpon and give thumbs-up for all your good posts - Keep trucking, you'll get there, it just takes a little while