Link Building has always been a vital part of starting a successful online e-commerce site. Throughout the years, every aspect of linking has been viewed, contemplated, and deemed either worthy or unworthy. On the other hand, has it?

There are literally thousands of sites on the Internet that are selling what you sell or providing the same service that your website offers. So how does one make their website stand out above the rest? Simply put, by utilizing creativity and being able to think outside the box that is the marketing process largely utilized in online networking today.

Yesterday, in the first part of our 5 part series, “Becoming a Netrepreneur,” we discussed the presence of Web 2.0 and how it evolved from the presence of Web 1.0. We also discussed the possibility of the concept of an eventual Web 3.0. It is those who can go beyond today’s marketing techniques that will remain through the crash and resurrection that will mark the birth of 3.0.

We will begin with the marketing technique of linking. You can cross link or back link. Both work equally well. Although both are absolutely necessary, you can still take a step back and look at the prospect of linking from different point of views, outside the normal scope of everyday marketing. What about the concept of pathway linking? Never heard of it? No, because it is not a widely used, or even considered, strategy. Visualize if you will, a deep forest with two big cities and one small city on three sides, each only reachable by the others through the forest. The forest is dense and rugged, rough traveling for one trying to reach the other side. Then, there is you, living in the small city. You want people to come to your city so it will grow. What do you do?

Everyone is going back and forth between the big cities. It is hard to go to all three through the forest, so if they are going to put forth the effort, they would rather just cross between the big cities. Quite simply, you pick the biggest city and make a trail between it and your city. Now it is easier for the citizens of this city to get to yours than the other bigger city. People will follow the trail and your city will grow. It is human nature to follow a trail rather than choose the hard way to go.

With this metaphor in mind, we can deduce that pathway linking utilizes not only the normal direct link path, but also links through a network of sites that ultimately leaves the individual in yours. No, it is not a brand new school of thought, but one that has gone largely untapped. Find a series of sites that cover the same issues as you. Try to trade links with them, but if they will not, then do not give up. Find another site that they are already linked to and attempt to trade with this one. Even if you cannot directly link from theirs, you will become a part of their pathway link. This will still result in a long-term gain in traffic on your behalf.

Another concept, more often used yet still largely untapped, that goes along the same line is that of pathway resource linking. Consider the homebuilder website. This site revolves completely around the creation of a house from top to bottom. It covers carpentry, wiring, plumbing, and virtually every other aspect of being a do-it-yourself builder. Virtually all the links on the site is for other sites that give you information on building a house. Let us say that you are an insurance bureau. Though your business has nothing to do with the actual construction of the home, the homeowner will inevitably need homeowners insurance. There is your link opportunity.

You should absolutely utilize the more popular linking techniques. They are not popular without a reason. They do work. However, if you can tap into the less used or highly creative linking zones, you will begin to see yourself rising up the e-commerce ladder, rung buy rung.

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