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Not
All Links
Are
Created Equal
by Sunil Tanna
Every wise webmaster knows the more links you have
to your site, the more traffic you'll get - so
increasing the
number of links to his site, really is a webmaster's
number one
promotional priority. However a lot of webmasters
get so sucked
in to building up the number of links to their
sites, that
they forget all links are not created equal - some
links are far
more valuable than others.
It is absolutely essential to your success that you
not only build up the number of links to your site,
but also be
fully aware of how to evaluate the worth of each
link.
This lets you can concentrate your efforts on
getting the most
effective links to your site, and guarantees that
you are getting
a
fair deal in any reciprocal linking
arrangements.
Here's a list of factors you should consider when
assessing
the value of a particular link:
* Permanent. A permanent link to your site is far
more valuable than one that is removed after a few
days (or even
hours, in the case of some automated Free-For-All
links
pages).
* Placement. A link to your site from the front page
(or even one of the internal pages) from a high
traffic site,
especially one of the top few thousand web sites, is far
more
valuable than a zillion links from people's personal
home
pages.
* Relevance. Ideally the link to you should be on a
page (or better yet a whole site) devoted to the
same or a
closely related topic to your own. For example, all
things being
equal, a link to your golfing store from a golf tips
site is much
more likely to produce results than from an auto,
finance or
games site.
* Descriptive. A link that explains your site and
entices a person to click, will get far more traffic
(and
better quality, more interested visitors) than a
non-descriptive
link. Compare for example: "Joe's Golf Store"
versus
"Joe's Golf Store - Tour quality golf clubs at
discount
prices, complete
guide to every golf course in the USA and Canada,
and free pro
golfing tips"
* Low Competition. A link that is buried among 500 others
on
the same page will not get many clicks. A
listing on a
page which also lists 10 or 20 direct competitors
(example:
other golf stores selling to the same market), is
less valuable
than being "exclusive" in your particular
category
(example: being the only golf store on a list of
resources for
golfers).
* Context. Links usually work better if place in
some kind of related context like an article for
example. Be
prepared to help out people placing your links in a
context that
works by providing free articles, which explain your
topic
(not the same as blatant self-promotional!) or
simply being
prepared to answer questions.
So the next question is how to build up the number
of high quality links to your site - here's a few
ideas to
get you started:
* Swap links with others sites. Every link swap you
set up will eat up a slice of your time - so
concentrate on
finding sites where it's clear the link will be valuable to
you.
Be polite, add your link to them before you approach
them, and
don't be too picky if it's you who is doing the
approaching (just
don't ask for a link if you're going to make a bunch
of
rules).
* Evaluate link requests. If you have a links page
(and probably if you don't) and a reasonable amount
of traffic -
you will undoubtedly get link swap requests from
other
webmasters. Take a moment to look at their site and
their links
page
before deciding if it's a good deal for
you.
* Add a "link to us page". Create a page
on your site, which includes information on how
(detailed
instructions),
and why, to link to your site. Make it easy, make it
valuable to
other webmasters (by for example giving them free
content), and over time the number of links to you
will
grow.
* Pay for links. Start your own affiliate program
and pay other sites to link to you. You can pay them
a percentage
of the sales they generate for you, or for each
visitor they
send. The nice thing about this is if you make your
program
reasonably flexible and the commissions in line with
your goals,
then
affiliates will figure out ways to send you the kind
of traffic
you
want.
* Create your own free downloadable information product
(like E-Books or software for example). Make
sure it ties
in with the main theme of your site - is valuable to
users - and
then list it at every shareware and freeware
directory you can
find (there are literally hundreds of these). Most
will link
directly to the downloadable file - but many will
also add a free
permanent link to your home page (or your page about
the product).
It's worth knowing that some shareware and freeware
sites
like http://www.zdnet.com/downl
oads/
and http://download.cnet.com/&nb
sp;
have quite incredible amounts of traffic.
Whichever strategies you use to build up links to
your site, always be sure that the time you put into
establishing
each link is in balance with the value of
that link. Keep
things in proportion, use your knowledge of
"link
value" to your advantage, and get linked for
mega
traffic!
Copyright, June 2000 S. Tanna - webmaster and publisher
of EBookCompiler.com: Create your own
E-Books that you
can give away free to drive traffic to your web
site, or sell for profit. Visit today: http://www.ebookcompiler.com<
/a>
Not All
Links Are Created Equal
by Sunil Tanna
ebookcompiler.com<
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