Linkage

Mindful

Hi all,

I'm very new to all things webmasterish but I'm trying to learn as quickly as I can to promote my local private practice site. I first published it last year but left it as under construction until I was ready to start promoting it, which was just before Xmas. There's a link to it in my profile if anyone's interested - I don't want to spam here

I'm hoping you can help me get some clarity on links as I'm coming across all sorts of conflicting information. All Ive done so far link wise is get on maybe maybe a dozen or so local directories. I'm starting to write content for a blog and I plan to start commenting on others' blogs asap too. I keep seeing warnings against "backlinking" and I'm wondering exactly what this is. Is this when you buy links or something else? I'm not interested in gaining irrelevant links but I would like to know what not to do so I can avoid making any mistakes that will hurt my site.

Is reciprocal linking a good or bad idea? I have linked to a friends relevant website to help her out a bit, and she wants to link to me in return. I've read so many different takes on this way of linking that I don't know if it's a good idea or not.

Basically, I'd really appreciate it if someone could give me a quick rundown of good vs bad linking. I am trying to educate myself SEO wise, but there's a lot to learn in the beginning, and I'm a little stuck on this one. I'd rather not learn by mistakes with this site

Thanks for reading, and sorry for being so green!

Namaste

Mindful

Just to add...

I'm not being lazy - I have searched the forums and elsewhere. Just need a little help still

Thanks!