How can I get lots of relevant back links?

First off, let's define a few terms here so we're talking about the same thing.

A "link farm" is a site that's entire purpose is to link to other sites. It's based on the fact that Google considers a link from another site a 'vote' for the quality and relevance of your own content: more links = better search engine results. Problem is, if the site is only about links and has no actual content of its own, it's either ignored or can actually hurt your search engine ranking.

A "tinyurl" is actually a bit of URL misdirection in this situation and isn't going to help you either. These URL shortening services have popped up because services like Twitter have a very limited message length and long URLs just don't work. Enter services like tinyurl.com, which take a long URL and convert it into something like tinyurl.com/f7f439. As far as I am aware, URLs listed on Twitter are not counted as back links (that is, links from other sites to your own) by Google anyway, and they definitely aren't if there's a redirection service in the mix.

The "ezine" site you mention is probably EzineArticles.com, a pretty amazing site run by a friend of mine. It's a place where you can make your own content available for others to publish on their own sites and it has a wide range of material. Problem is, it also has a wide range of content quality and there are no constraints on how people use your material. It can work, but if nothing else, I strongly suggest that you not have the same material available on your own site or weblog simultaneously.

Really, in my opinion the best way to get relevant back links is to produce great content and let people in your market segment know about it.

You run a charter fishing service, so I'll also strongly suggest that you contact some of the well-read travel bloggers and offer to write guest articles for them, gratis. You have a great perspective, you can talk about how to book a fishing trip, what to expect, how to avoid getting seasick, etc. Interesting topics. Caveat: you have to write as neutrally as you possibly can, because turning this into a marketing opportunity would be a mistake and will result in them undoubtedly rejecting your material.

All you seek is that little two-line bio on the bottom of the article, listing your name, site and credentials. People *will* click on it and you *will* get more traffic and visibility.

Make sense?

Good luck to you and happy fishing!