Participating in Link Exchange Programs

When trying to generate traffic to your website, there are a number of things you can try. Ads, promotional efforts, and then various networking websites. The latter is where a link exchange program comes into play. This type of confederation is also known as a banner exchange; the reason being that you display banners for other websites, and - in exchange - they put up your banner. In terms of cost, it is a cheap way of getting your name out there. It is also a very simple means of advertising - you just create a banner, which is a link to your site - and thus no complex writing is involved. Typically, the exchange will have a ratio by which they determine how often your banner gets posted, something like two to one. So, for every two times you display another websites banner, you get one posting of yours on the other website. If you want, you can even get a banner with some animation, but keep in mind that the more complex the animation, the longer the banner takes to load.

As a result, some link exchanges limit the size and length of the animation. You also have to consider your potential clients; if they are linked to the internet via a dial-up connection, the animation may run very slow. This is why the size (in bytes) of the banner is critical; it will determine how long it takes to load, and how fast the animation plays. Finally, some link exchanges have rules regarding the content. For the most part, this will not be an issue - unless your website deal with adult content - some link exchanges do not want to advertise pornography, firearms, and so forth.

If you go online and do a search for a link exchange, you will find a whole host of different ones. So, step one, go to one of the exchanges and put in the theme/subject of your website; all link exchanges are organized around a specific theme. Now, on the downside, this means - as an example - if you are a writer, you are going to be linked with other writers. Some people see that as a negative, as this means being linked with firms that you are essentially in competition with. However, the potential for getting work more than compensates for any drawback.

A key to setting up a good link exchange is to really focus on your strength(s). Again using the example of a writer, if you are good at writing articles or movie scripts, try to link up with writers who do other things: novels, non-fiction books etc, and thus you compliment rather than compete with each other. If you are some sort of general contractor - plumber, carpenter, electrician etc - linking with other such professionals can lead to getting work on similar projects. A developer building a string of homes is going to need all of those kinds of workers.

Another plus to link exchanges is that they boost your ranking in various search engines, and as such they are an excellent form of search engine optimization. Used properly, a good link exchange has the potential to help you boost traffic to your website through the power of networking.