Small businesses are constantly looking for valuable marketing and advertising opportunities, but are often limited by tight budgets or minimal knowledge on the subject. While there are hundreds of common marketing tactics to choose from, some are demonstratively more effective than others, with a higher return on investment, a wider range of effects, and a lower barrier to entry.

Among these strategies is link building, the practice of writing valuable content for offsite publishers and earning links pointing back to the pages of your site. It sounds simple, and it’s true that you can learn the fundamentals of link building in the span of an afternoon, but it takes years to truly master.…