WIB Answers: Should I buy inbound links to get more online customers?

This is a great question I often see asked in forums. Unfortunately, many of those who reply offer tainted answers with a sales pitch for services and links you can buy to boost your websites' performance. I own a successful SEO and web marketing company and also get this question a lot from clients. (Note the absence of a link to my own SEO business - this is not a sales pitch - this is advice from the experienced SEO heart you can apply - for free!).

My answer is always the same: do not buy links. Period.

To increase traffic to your website here are three key points to consider:

• To get more online customers you have to be more visible online.
• To become more visible online you have to appeal to robots (and peripherally to humans) to get higher in search engine query returns.
• To get more inbound links you have to appeal to humans.

Read my full answer to this important question to find out why I believe inbound links are important - but not as important as they are cracked up to be. (Yes, develop them, but don't sweat them.) And what you should focus on to get better online traffic. Oh, and, no purchase necessary.