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Exchange Links to Build Website Popularity
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It has been said, "Build it, submit it and they shall come." This is a common
misconception.
Search engines and natural search rankings are very important to any web site
promotion scheme but it is only part
of the battle. Self promotion must play an important roll. Many things fall into this
category. Word of mouth, business cards, print and media adds are all good ideas but
a commonly over looked idea is link exchange. No, not the "buy 10,000 banner
impressions for $9.95" link exchange. Depending on the company you use for this type
of advertising from they could give you 10,000 banner impressions in ten minutes, that's
not reaching a very large audience. Usually this type of link exchange is not very
targeted either.
Link popularity is a driving factor in obtaining high SERPs (Sear Engine
Result Pages) for your desired keywords. The
more sites that link to your web site the more popular your site looks. The
more popular your site becomes, the higher your ranking becomes in relevant searches
on most search engines.
You can do one for one link exchanges or three-way exchanges with similar web sites.
These can fall into three different basic categories of exchanges.
- Similar content or market
Such as a dog grooming web site linked to a pet storefront, a web designer linked to
a web site hosting company, or a cooking store linked to a recipe directory. Link
exchanges with similar web sites can be mutually beneficial to both parties, by
soliciting a targeted audience that is on one of the web sites already looking for
that certain type of product or content.
- Location
The World Wide Web is quickly becoming The Regional Wide Web. Exchanging links within
your local region or community can be a great way to target your desired audience. For example,
a large hotel linking to a local restaurant could attract tourists, or a flower shop
linking to a local DJ service could attract brides and grooms looking to consolidate
wedding plans.
- Web Rings
No, not that! They can be good and they can be bad. Web rings are a linking system
between similar subject matter web sites that you join like a membership. A good
selection of them can be found at dir.webring.com.
Look for one within the same
content subject as your own and then visit some of the sites on the ring.
First, look for consistent support of the web ring. If it has a lot of members
that don’t display the link then it’s not being supported. Also, choose one that
doesn't have 10,000 members. Your odds of getting targeted visitors will increase
if the membership is more manageable.
Some important link exchange recommendations:
1- First develop your own link exchange page on your web site. This can
just be one page that is organized alphabetically or by subject with the links you
would like to have on it. Then at the bottom of the page place the link, text and contact
information that you would like someone else to use when linking to your web site.
2- When you're soliciting for link exchanges look for a "link-to-us"
type of link on the perspective web site. Often this will be located at the very bottom
of the home page or somewhere away from the main navigation. By using this already set
system your request will go directly to the source and receive a better response than a
random email.
3- Always place your perspective link exchange partner’s link on your
page before soliciting them to put your link on their site. This shows good faith and will
get a better response.
4- Keep a list of the requests you make so you can follow-up with the
sites later and don’t Spam your perspective web sites with continued requests unknowingly.
5- There are a number of programs and web sites that will help you build
your link exchange web pages but review how they are used carefully and where the list of
links are hosted from. Having a links page not hosted on your main web site address may
hurt your site’s ranking and help someone else’s. Also, do not use Free For All link
pages since they only keep your link for a few days or weeks while sending you a bunch
of email forever afterwards. It’s always a good idea to set up a specific email just to
handle your link exchanges and site submissions so they don’t clog up your main
email address.
Follow-up:
Once you have established link exchanges with other web sites follow-up is key.
Make sure that they have reciprocated with a link to your site and check back
every six months to be sure it hasn’t been removed. Second, every six months check that the
link to their site from your site stays active and points to the appropriate place. With a
little work this type of self-promotion can be very successful, target the
audience that you want and best of all, is free.
You can also review these resources:
First Stop Shops Online Shopping Mall our very own online
shopping mall that offers link exchange.
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