That is link building in a nut shell!

Originally Posted by krystalpaul

You could write a whole book on what you are trying to do. Some people do it full time as SEO contractors, so telling you exactly how to do it in one thread will be pretty difficult. But as pointers you can try the following:-

i) Focus on a fewer number of keywords to begin with (ie.the most important)
ii) Google ranks pages on backlinks (using both number and quality as differentiators) - look up pagerank for more information. (The size and pagerank of the site that is linking to you plays an important role in determining the value of any given backlink)
iii) To assess the current position and statistics of your web site sign up for a Google Webmaster tools account. This gives a lot of details about his web site including the current number of backlinks
iv) Join forums that discuss similar topics and include a link in your signature
v) contact similar charities and ask for link exchanges
vi) obtain link backs from social media sites such as facebook, myspace etc.
vii) Create twitter, linkedin and similar accounts with linkbacks. Start communicating with people in similar fields.
viii) Submit to Yahoo directory and DMOZ open directory.
ix) Consider submitting to other relevant directories (there are loads out there just do a google search - target those with higher page ranks)
x) Create a blog at wordpress and add an entry a day. Make sure that each of your entries links back to the web site.
xi) Write articles and submit to article directories. Make sure you fill in your "resource box" with links back to your site. You can even download directory submitters that automate the process of submitting articles to article directories. These are powerful because copyright free content cascades as webmasters use your free content on the proviso that the resource box is left in tact on the page.

When linking to your site use the following form:

< a href="URL GOES HERE" >KEYWORDS GO HERE < /a >

The "KEYWORDS GO HERE" part is the anchor and a common mistake is to put a meaningless phrase as the anchor. e.g. sometimes people will put the URL as the anchor, which means that the web site will only be boosted when a user types the URL into Google, which is, of course, pointless.

Sorry for the quick reply, but if you follow each of those pointers you should get your page up the rankings in Google pretty quickly. I haven't researched other search engines, so can't help you there.

For more information on how Google ranks and indexes pages then look at the United States Patent Application: 0070143345

Hope this helps,
Paul