Why You Need an Add URL Page

Exchanging links with sites of a similar topic is the most
effective free form of advertising I have ever found. It
really is the most direct way to improve your web
presence. This is the nature of the Internet... The more
paths you have to your site, the more traffic you will
have. If you don't have a link exchange program, start
one today.

What? You don't want links to other sites on your
corporate or e-commerce site? No problem. I addressed
that in another article called "A Tale of Two Sites". You
can find it here:
http://www.edu-marketing.com/newsletters/

Now that you have an active link exchange program, I can
get on with the real topic of this article. I want to
talk about the importance of having an "Add URL" page and
the important elements of your own Add URL page.

What is an "Add URL" page? It is a page where you
describe how you would like others to link to your site
and invite them to submit a link to be listed on your
site. Here is an example which illustrates most of the
points I'll make in this article:
http://www.edu-marketing.com/links/addlink.html

It is a lot of work to get your first 200-300 inbound
links to your site by finding and soliciting link
exchanges from other sites. Once you do that work, you
deserve a reward. Having an "Add URL" page like this one
is part of your reward. After doing all that work, you
will have enough traffic that you will start receiving
link requests from your own "Add URL" page with no work
to go find these sites. Pretty cool; huh?

Let's talk about the important elements of your
"Add URL" page that will maximize its effectiveness:

1. Place a link to your Add URL page on the navigation bar
that you use on every page of your site. This page is
important enough to warrant it's own place on your
navigation bar.

2. Make your link say "Add URL", not "Submit Site" or
"Add Link" or anything else. Trust me on this. I have
already performed all of the click-thru analysis on every
combination of words imaginable. You will receive your
best response if the links to your Add URL page use the
words "Add URL".

3. At the top of your "Add URL" page, use your major
keyword in a large heading. The major keyword for the
example page is "Marketing". You'll notice that it says
"Marketing Index - Add URL" in large type at the top of
the page. This will help the search engines know what
your page is about. After some time, you'll start getting
traffic directly to your "Add URL" page from the search
engines for phrases like " add url".

4. Next encourage your visitor to link to your site before
requesting a link. You'll notice that the example page
starts right out with "First link to my site". Don't be
tempted to start making your visitor jump through hoops to
prove that they have already linked before going on. You
want them to submit their link even if they don't
immediately link to you. If everyone refused to provide
a link before the other site linked to them... well...
no-one would ever link up; would they?

5. Guide them in how to link to your site, but leave it up
to them to create a link of their own if they want. There
are as many different kinds of webmasters as there are
different kinds of people. You need to recognize that
some are lazy and are only willing to copy/paste some code
you provide... while others have a very specific format
for links on their site and want to do everything for
themselves.

6. For those who want to just copy/paste, provide them
options... but not too many options. You will want about
three text based links of varying lengths. You will then
want at least two standard banner sizes. The two most
common are: 468X60 pixels and 125X125 pixels. You may
also want to create 120X60 and 88X31 smaller banners.
Stick to these IAB standard sizes because many sites are
laid out to require exactly these sizes. If you don't
provide exactly these sizes, the webmaster may pass you
over for exchanging links.

7. Provide an easy way for the webmaster to copy/paste the
code along with a sample of what the link will look like
on their page.

8. In each text link, make sure your major keyword is in
the click-able part of the link text. Many search engines
use the click-able part of the link text for links on
other sites to determine the appropriate keywords for your
site.

9. For the banner links, make sure the "Alt" tag contains
your keyword. This is what will be displayed for surfers
who are surfing without graphics capability (or who have
turned off their graphics capability). It is also what
the visually impaired will hear when they "read" the
page with their equipment. It is also what some search
engines will use to determine the topic of your site.

10. Also include a text link below each banner with your
major keyword. Many webmasters will delete this part, but
some will keep it. Text links receive a much higher
click-thru rate than banners. You want to give every
opportunity for the webmaster to give you a text link...
without forcing the issue. You don't want to give up a
banner link if that's all the webmaster is willing to
offer.

11. Have a simple form to request a link on your site.
Ask the minimum amount of information you need to provide
a link. The example asks for URL, Title, Description, and
Category. If you don't need any other information, don't
ask for it. Some webmasters will turn away if they are
faced with a daunting form asking for a bunch of nonsense
information.

12. EXCEPT: Ask for their email address. This is
important. You want the ability to contact them if your
link disappears from their site. You also want the
ability to send them a reminder to link back to you if
they haven't already.

13. Add the link right away when you receive a link
request from your form. Send a confirmation email letting
them know that you added their link and where they can
find it on your links pages. Some webmasters have dozens
of sites. They will submit your form for just one site.
When they see how fast you add their link, they will be
back to exchange links with perhaps dozens of other sites.

14. Check the links you receive in this way periodically
to ensure that they are still linking back to you. If
not, send them a friendly reminder. Often dropping your
link will be a simple oversight during a site redesign.
Don't assume otherwise.

15. Never use their email address for anything else.
Trying to sell your product to your link partners is NOT
very effective and will likely annoy them. You may lose
your link on their site or worse. Be responsible with
their email address and only use it to communicate about
your link exchange.

That's it. If you follow all of these steps, you can
start receiving inbound links without doing any of the
work to go find sites to exchange links. Of course, you
will have to do that work in the beginning to get enough
traffic to your "Add URL" form, but then you can rest a
little and reap the rewards of your hard work.