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Reciprocal linking means forming
partnerships with other sites who place a link from their
Web pages to yours. You then give them a similar link in
return.
When you look for people to swap links with, make sure
that you don't reduce the quality or content of your own
site. You don't want users to click straight through
without reading your content; you want them to take action
on your own site rather than have them leave empty handed.
One way to stop them from running away too quickly is to
create a "Webmasters Resource Page" and link to
that page from your homepage. This doesn't take away from
the content on your homepage and the links are just one
click away rather than being buried deep within the site,
giving value to your partners.
In any case, you want to be sure that your site is more
than just a page full of links. If your site contains more
links than content, it will look like a link farm and it
will certainly not be attractive to webmasters, search
engines or users.
Picking your partner
Your link partners should be sites your target market will
visit. Think about your product and its subject area and
brainstorm to determine where people interested in your
product might be looking online.
For example, if you're trying to shift your book about
blackjack strategy, it makes sense that the people
visiting online casinos would make great customers. Online
casinos then could be good partners. Identify top-ranked,
high quality casino sites and find the email address,
telephone number and snail mail address of their
webmasters.
You can also identify your competitors and see where they
trade links. After all why reinvent the wheel when you can
use your competitors hard work!
Seven Top Tips For Requesting reciprocal Links...
1. Before you contact webmasters, place a link to their
site on your resource page to assure them that you will
actually provide a quality link.
2. Create a subject line that will encourage them to read
your message rather than deleting it - you don't want them
to think you're spamming them. (Something about their site
or product is sure to capture their attention; they will
open it, thinking you're a potential customer.) Hint -
subscribe to their ezine and then reply using the ezine
subject line as the subject of your reply.
3. Begin your message by talking about your visit to their
site and what you found interesting about it. Detail your
product or service in one line and ask them to exchange
links with you.
4. Tell them in detail where you have placed their link,
include the precise URL, tell them where to find their
link on the page and emphasize that it is only one click
away from your homepage.
5. Tell them that if you don't hear back from them in a
specific number of days, you will consider that to a
negative response and that you will remove their link from
your site. Give them enough time to respond but don't
leave it open ended.
6. Sending a reciprocal link request by email is becoming
less and less effective due to Spam filters and the high
volume of email traffic received by webmasters of busy
sites. Try sending your request on a postcard or better
still make a phone call.
7. Tell the webmaster how they will benefit from the
reciprocal linking arrangement - explain what's in it for
them and use your selling and persuasion skills!
Copyright John Taylor PhD August 2005 - All rights
reserved.
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