Web Development in 2006

2006. Wow. Thirteen years since the release of Jurassic Park. Also... um... thirteen years since Mr. Bobbitt lost Mr. Winkey. Well, the point I'm trying to make is things change on the Internet, and fast.

Gone are the old days of submitting your site to a billion directories and instantly shooting to the top of Google's search results. Search engine algorithms, not just Google's, have advanced considerably in recent years. Links from unrelated pages, such as a directory, seem to hold little or no weight now. Reciprocal linking strategies are quickly losing value and keyword stuffing can actually result in search engine penalties.

So what can you do to promote your page? Aim for traffic - not bots. Don't buy a link from a site just because it has high pagerank. Get your links from relevant pages where you will get traffic from - real people. Get involved in forums relevant to your site's topic and make high quality, original posts. Don't be over-the-top obvious that you are advertising your site, though. Just drop a small link in your signature - if people like your posts, they'll no doubt check out your site.

So, instead of "Link Development" the name of the game is now "Traffic Development". Design your website for humans first and foremost. The bots are now smart enough to follow.