If your blog is really hungry for links, you need to feed it. Fortunately, blogs aren’t very picky eaters. All you need to do is spend some quality time thinking about creative ways to draw links to your blog. You don’t need to be a rich man to cook up these succulent link building ideas. All you need is to free your mind from its prison and open yourself to a multitude of fun strategies that will draw links to your website.

Why are links so important? Well, for one thing, the amount of you links you have will partially determine your search engine ranking. If you have a lot of links, especially inbound links, Google will rank you higher. In addition, links drive a huge amount of web traffic to websites. In fact, links are the largest way that websites receive traffic that they wouldn’t otherwise receive. Inbound links are particularly useful. An inbound link is when an external website links to your website without your reciprocation. Google considers these links to be very powerful, and they are often determinants in search engine ranking. Most search engine optimization companies stress the importance of links when they are advising clients.

So if you don’t feed your blog links, it will starve and die, just like a living being will starve if it doesn’t have food. You can either do link exchange, or go for inbound links. Remember that search engines will highly rank inbound links, and while they will value link exchanges, inbound links will always elevate your status with the search engine. However, it is also very important that the links are relevant to the content of your blog. That means that the link contains similar or pertinent information to that which is posted on your blog. Search engines give significant points to links that are relevant, whereas they don’t really pay much attention to irrelevant links.

In other words, you have to whatever you can to secure inbound links. This means you have to be profoundly creative, because it’s not easy to get these links. But take a look at these three steps which can help you gain inbound links.

1. The Maverick Strategy

The Maverick strategy is a very effective way to gain inbound links. Here’s what you do. Get online to one of your favorite blogs and read up on the conversation that is occurring there. Surely one of those pompous bloggers who thinks he knows it all is making a comment about some current event. In fact, since people are sheep, there’s probably a whole boatload of morons who are following the opinion of one person. Here’s what you do. Carefully research and study the subject matter. Ideally, it should be a subject you are already familiar with. Then write a scathing, but respectful diatribe against the opinion of the status quo. This way, you will set yourself apart from the crowd. What will result is an influx of inbound links. People take notice when someone stands for something different. You really should believe in what you say, because you should stand for your principles. That’s why this strategy works when you find a blog that you disagree with. "Get up, stand up, stand up for your rights" –Bob Marley.

2. The Maven Strategy

If you’re an expert in a certain field or sector, you can share your knowledge and become the local blogosphere expert. You must possess intricate knowledge about the subject matter so that you are the most knowledgeable person writing about the subject. If you truly know as much as you think and you write about it, people will flock to your site. This is another great way to get inbound links.

3. The Comedy Strategy

One thing that the Internet is lacking is quality humor. If you’ve got a good sense of humor and you know how to make people laugh, you will surely gain a wealth of admirers. Just be yourself and write what you feel. Honesty makes people laugh, especially uncomfortable honesty. This is probably one of the best ways you can attract visitors to your web site. Remember, everyone loves to laugh.

You can employ any number of these strategies to increase web traffic and feed your blog. You will feed it a great, whole meal if you use these strategies, and you’ll enjoy a huge amount of visitors.