Can Someone Explain Backlinks to me please?

I know this is probably a stupid question but I am going to ask anyway. I keep seeing that people either want to hire people to create backlinks for them or that they are good to have to promote your articles and blogs etc.

What exactly is considered a backlink? I have seen some things about Google adsense and problems with certain places used for backlinks as well.

I am totally confused on this and would appreciate any help. I have just started 2 blogs and do want to promote them so any help would be appreciated.

Backlinks are links that point toward the site you are wanting to direct traffic to. So if I would say something that points you to http://workathomemafia.blogspot.com on a site then that is a backlink to that site.

The backlinks that get you in trouble are backlinks from places that are not on topic for your site, like the places that sell backlinks. For a backlink to be considered valid it should be from somewhere that your topic is being discussed, a site that is about a similar or the same topic. For example, say you have a blog about kittens, a backlink from a site dedicated to golf clubs would not be considered valid. Google is looking for links that could or did happen organically. Of course, you don't have control over who backlinks to you organically, and some will be off topic, but the majority of them should be legit or you'll get slapped by google.

There are places out there to link swap, or places that sell backlinks, but unless they're giving you links to valid sites in your niche it will only hurt you in the long run.

Pam
http://shrinkingpamelalala.blogspot.com

Yeah I have to agree with Pam, you see so much of backlinks that are spamming on forums, messageboards, etc. Especially in like Yahoo answers

Hey, speaking of backlinks, I just gave the Mafia another one!! Someone was asking about working from home on the obesityhelp.com forums and I answered and gave your link. You should hire me as a affiliate.

I wish I had the money to. You are all over the net!