Manual SEO Guide/Advise please

These are a few ways to get some manual links, although you also must remember that manual doesn't always mean better and Google can still penalize you. With that in mind here are some good ways:

Article Directories: The top ones only, do not use the same anchor text in each.
Blog Commenting: Use CommentLuv blogs, do not try to put keywords in the name field as most moderators will not let you post any keywords.
Videos: Create videos from your blog post/articles insert your link in the description and post it to various video sites.
Forum Sigs: Find relevant forums and post useful content with a link back to your web page. (I don't really like this one because it can be huge time suck).
Web 2.0: Create content for web 2.0 properties like blogger or HubPages link back to your own site.
PDF Sites: Convert articles into PDF form and share to the top doc sharing sites. Some will not give you a link credit but you do gain exposure.
Guest Blogging: Using a site like bloggerlinkup.com find other relevant blogs to guest post on.
Networking: Building relationships with other bloggers through email/social media and creating a network of people who almost always share your content and link back to you. (this one is the hardest but also most rewarding).

Here is a pretty cool resource that explains types of linkbait content to naturally generate links SEO Guide to Creating Viral Linkbait and Infographics - Distilled

Nice that you have taken a step in the right direction.

I recommend backlinking on other sites similar to you in the way of guest posting. Something that has worked for others, and is working for me, is to buy the ability to guest post on other peoples high PR blogs. I made a post discussing the benefits of guest posting on my site.

Basically i saw someone saying they would publish a guest post on there PR5 blog for $5 on fiverr with 2 contextual back links. I bought the opportunity and it was a really good experience. I made sure the blog post was really good, as hopefully it will get some backlinks to it and provide even better link juice for my site. I may even send some links towards it myself

Hi,

Check out TrafficGenerationCafé.com the author has a free eBook on seo and back links.

Best thing to do is associate with top PR domains with several different link types.

Google search: "Top PR social bookmarking sites", Top PR web 2.0 sites, "Top PR web directories", "Top PR video sharing sites" etc.

You only need to pick 10 or so from each and build profiles manually. Ensure your web 2.0 profiles have unique content, a video and an image.

Submit press releases to only top sites such as sbwire and prbuzz. There is no need to submit to a heap of sites. You can use fiverr to get someone to do this for you for only $5.

Interlink social media profiles, and update them often.

It takes time to set this up, but once it's in place it is easy maintenance, and you'll rank for anything.

I already have a half finished website still with lorem ipsum text ranking 3rd for 4 keywords without a google places added yet, and i'm doing this for a local business.

Good luck!
Ben.

You must be aware of link building methods like blog commenting, forum posting, social bookmarking, directory submission.

You can use all of them as well, so that your link profile would look natural.. vary anchor text too..

And build slow and manual link building on regular basis.