Darren talked a while back about various SEO techniques you can employ. I thought I’d share a few I’ve found useful.

Inbound Links are the most important factor to consider. But, you cannot control it. And asking for it is a no-no (most of the time).

How do you get people to vote for you (link to you)? My tack - write good stuff. Then communicate. Let IM be your friend. Most bloggers share a heck of a lot of personal information. If you like what someone writes, comment. That is a basic step. Email is the next. Get that rapport going. Once these relationships are in place, you have someone interested in what you write and in you - and that’s a powerful thing.

Other tips from Darren:

I would recommend that if you write a quality post on a topic that you know will interest another blogger that it might be worth shooting them a short and polite email letting them know of your post. Don’t be offended if they don’t link up, but you might just find that they do and that in addition to the direct traffic that the link generates that it helps build your own page rank in the search engines.

Directories - Another way to generating inbound links is to submit your links to directories. I know of webmasters who swear by the benefits of such a strategy - the first thing that they do when starting a new site is to do the rounds of directories - submitting links to key pages with appropriate keywords in the links. There are loads of directories out there - many of which offer a free submission…

Inter-link your Blogs - Increasingly bloggers are starting or joining blog networks to enjoy the benefits of multiple sites and writers working together…

Great tips for websites and blogs alike. Be you. Write what drives you. Have fun. Talk. Blogging is as much about social networking as it is about the stuff that gets written.