Free back links aren't actually free at all. If you resent paying money you must invariably invest your time obtaining them.

The reason for this is because you have to move in a thousand different directions to be noticed as a dependable supplier for your market place. Now, in order to get that extra push you have to add in your garnished monthly budget.

Creating attractive content or just simply a cool site that draws social attention is far more effective then the classic link chase powered by blatant comments and hype-packed signatures in forums.

Here are some other places to look at for generating quality free back links:

1. Substitute platforms for syndicating content to

2. More subtle methods of getting back links

3. Using social media sites for hosting links

4. Expanding Content Syndication Practice

Although linking opportunities may sprinkle in every corner of your niche market, in most cases your eagerness isn't met with the same feelings by your potential partners.

You stand a good chance of acceptance if you show yourself available for a writing gig that will be placed on their site, of course with a link back to your website.

As the content of today's internet is 90% comprised of reworded content, you can also provide a snippet of the future information to prove your professionalism.

If you lack writing skills think of hiring a ghost writer.

When lacking even basic inspiration, thoroughly rewrite some of your previous work. This builds additional relevancy for your site and exposes past (but ever green) content to new readers.

Article and press release directories should remain on your list of content destinations. The reason why I suggest supplementing them with topic related sites is because with some ADs, approving and indexing your content by SEs takes up to 2 weeks.

Plus, working with private blogs you enjoy a certain doze of exclusivity, a rare commodity for directories with hundreds of registered writers.

I highly recommend making sure you target well positioned sites. Check their Alexa rankings and authority (PageRank) before contacting them.

Tip. One of the easiest way to find the best sites and directories to publish your content is by tracking established authors and get your content on the same sites; that's called picky backing on their resources.

2. Free back links from testimonials

A testimonial should and is generally accompanied by a link pointing to the customer's website. If this doesn't happen, even after a quick follow up, you can just as well retract it.

Most of the time, testimonials are signs of mutual promotion between marketers that probably have a long history of doing business together.

All time, be sincere in your appraise because promoting junk products could hurt your credibility.

Best is to compose testimonials on products you've personally used or currently consume.

3. Using social media sites for hosting your links

Another great source of back links is the social interaction and bookmarking sites. From the wide offer it's best to stick with the top rated platforms like Digg, StumbleUpon, Delicious, and Reddit, Facebook and Twitter.

The top social bookmarking platforms have strict rules regarding abusive behavior, but this benefits you in terms of fast indexing by search engines and link juice or authority as they're well regarded by Google, Yahoo and MSN.

Other social media link sources are Hubpages and Squidoo, social environments where you can create content pages discussing topics of interest for you market.

As a matter of fact, if you're just launching a new website and want to promote it through innovative, quality content, you should publish some pieces - or rewritten versions - on these two platforms, as the chances of getting in the first five positions in Google's SERPs are much higher then with your young website.

If you're thinking to use private social bookmarking projects powered by open source software like Pligg and Ning, don't waste your time. It takes forever for them to get indexed and even when they do, they maintain rankings.

If you're using submission software, filter out these types of platforms and focus on only the established services mentioned above.