The Power of Linking

An exchange of links, also known as reciprocal linking, is simply swapping links with another site. In return for another site posting your link, you post their link on yours. You can trade different types of links, including banners, text links, buttons, etc.

One of the best ways to get traffic while waiting to be listed by search engines is through link exchanges with other quality sites. This will also help you to get better search engine rankings.

You can easily go after your target market by trading links with sites that relate to your offer. How do you find sites willing to trade links? You can go directly to sites that interest you and see if they offer reciprocal linking. Review the site and contact the site owner or administrator by email and asking.

You can also conduct a search using "directory of link exchanges", "reciprocal linking", "banner exchanges" etc., to find sites that might be willing to trade links themselves, or provide a list of other willing sites.

Many of your requests for a link will probably meet with a negative or no response. The reason why is simple. It's back to the WIIFM (What's In It For Me) principle, the most basic of motivators in the human psyche. If you approach a well established site to link to you, there has to be a good reason for them to do so.

I have received a number of emails simply stating "link to me - http://www.somewebsite.com". That kind of promotional strategy gets you nowhere.

Here are a few hints and tips for site owners as to how you can persuade an established site to link to yours.

1. Most Important! Be Polite.

When you send your email for a linking request, make sure that the tone of it is extremely courteous and not demanding.

If English is your second language, run your request note by someone who is familiar with the complexities of the language. The way you word your note is the most important factor as to whether another web master will even bother with taking the time to take a look at your site.

2. Grammar and Spelling

Your request note is your official representation. If you don't take the time to spell correctly, other web masters may believe that your site will be of the same quality, and discard your request immediately.

3. Ensure your site is complete.

No one will link to a half finished site.

4. Respect that many web masters are busy people

Don't expect an answer straight away and harass the site owner with countless follow up emails. Leave it for at least two weeks before your second contact and ensure that the second note is equally as polite as the first.

5. Read the site

Ensure you take a good look over the site you wish to link to you. Be familiar with it's content and mention some of the content in your request for linkage. Identify the common theme between the sites. If the site has a "Submit your URL" page, use it. Be sure to read the guidelines for submission carefully.

6. Appeal to the web masters WIIFM (What's In It For Me) motivator.

Experienced site owners can pick a new web master or site a mile off, so don't misrepresent your site or it's traffic levels if you propose a reciprocal (swap) links agreement. Point the web master to a section of your site where you provide content or tools that are original and would be of use to their site's visitors.

If you have a banner rotator, you could offer the site owner a few thousand impressions as a sweetener for him in linking to you. Very few web masters will give you a link if they receive nothing in return, especially if they are earning money or gaining traffic from the links they already have in place. Even just making an offer of an exchange of services, no matter how small, will motivate the web master to at least consider a link.

The link request note.

There are a number of examples of link request emails on the Internet, but my advice is that if you are going to use them, make sure you modify them each time they are sent to different sites so they at least appear original. I receive a certain template note regularly and disregard it, as it appears to me that the person sending it has not reviewed my site properly and really doesn't take the process seriously. If another web master points towards a certain article or section of my site, it motivates me to review what the web master has to offer my site visitors.

Bearing that in mind, here's a sample note that you can base your requests on:

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Greetings [Name],

I visited your web site, [Web Site Name Here] and found some great information regarding [Insert Subject Here]. I thought you might be interested to know that we have a web site dedicated to [Your Site Details]. This kind of information would be a great addition to your resource center and I'm sure your visitors would gain from it. [If you have linked to the other site already, mention it here and give the URL of the link]

We were hoping that you might consider linking to us and invite you to review our site at your convenience. [Depending on situation, insert further offer of reciprocal linking, banner impressions or exchange of services here]

If you determine that a link to our site is appropriate, please add it at your discretion, or might we suggest the following link and description:

[Your site name and URL] - [Your site description - keep it brief, focused and not too much hype]

If you'd like to discuss this further, please feel free to contact us at [Your contact details].

Thanks!

[Full official signature lines here]

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This example is brief, to the point and courteous. It respects the other site owners time and intelligence. Remember to modify each note slightly to avoid the "template" stigma.

Be prepared for rejection.

Don't get too upset if you are officially denied a link, even if the response is rude, as they sometimes can be. If you do receive a nasty email back, be happy in the fact that you went about the request in the right way, and perhaps that web master was having a really bad day as we all do at times. Leave it for a few months, then try again, outlining some of the improvements you have made in your site that are relevant.

The promotion strategies you put into action from the outset define your standing in the online community and in the time ahead, so don't blow it. Be careful in using the hype marketing techniques offered by some, they may have worked for them, but they may not work for you.

Market leap Link Popularity Analysis Tool

Link Popularity is simply a way to measure the total number of links that a search engine has found for your website. Link Popularity is getting more important all the time. With so many websites optimized to any keyword or phrase the number of websites containing links to your website is another factor search engines use in determining your ranking. In short the more popular you are the higher your placement.

There are several tools and sites that you can use to determine your link popularity. One such site is http://www.marketleap.com/publinkpop/

Power Linking

There are several very good resources available on linking. I believe that "Power Linking", by Jack Humphrey, is the best. He offers an excellent five day power linking course, which you can get free by sending an email to powerlink@listwarrior.com