| Reciprocal
links have really taken off and can be very
effective giving your website additional exposure.
It takes some
effort and time, but well worth it. Spending a
little time each day on some simple steps, you could
very easily have over 100 new links to your website
in 30-45 days.
Any idea how
many, and which websites are linking to you? Check
your popularity by using Marketleap's online Link
Popularity tool.
» Click
here to view.
.
Check
Out This Free Download:
Link
Popularity Software
Link Popularity Check is a freeware program that
checks the link popularity of your web site on
several search engines and compares it to other web
sites on the Internet. You can quickly find out how
many people link to your site, how many sites link
to your competitors and how you compare to other
sites.
.
As an
example,
let's say your website's focus is selling candles
and candle-making supplies. You want to quickly
build a steady visitor stream of people who are
interested in learning about how to make candles. So
- you ask - how to find sites that would be willing
to swap (meaningful) links. I say meaningful because
the free-for-all link pages just aren't well read
and generally do not provide the steady stream of
traffic you're looking for.
.
The best
place to start is to find all
of the sites that would be interested in telling
their visitors about Betty's Candles & Supplies.
This is known as a target rich environment.
So, where do
you start? Start with the search engines. They will
tell you most of the sites that link to any
"one site". Start by searching for the 5
top rated sites in your keyword categories. These
are probably the most linked to sites. Then lookup
all of the sites that link to each of those sites.
Set bookmarks for all of them, sort the bookmarks
alphabetically and eliminate duplicates. Now you've
got your target list of sites you want to swap links
with.
Keep in mind
that each search engine will return a completely
different set of references for you. If you
search again in 6 months and you know you're linked
to 500 other sites, the engines may only show 200 -
so it's prudent to periodically check your links,
make sure your link actually is on the reciprocal
linking page and redo this process if necessary.
Google
http://www.google.com
Enter your search as: link:bettyscandles.com
(remember we are using Betty's Candles as our
example - you submit your domain)
Excite
http://www.excite.com
Enter your search link as: +link:bettyscandles.com
After working a
bit with each search engine, you should have
assembled a list of sites to ask for a link. Visit
each target site and send an email to the webmaster
and ask for a reciprocal link. You may mention you
did visit their site and point out why a reciprocal
link would benefit both of you. Be sure to include
your URL so your prospect can take a peek at your
site.
You can use a
message something like:
My name is Betty, from Betty's Candles and have a
site at www.bettyscandles.com. We're in the business
of selling candles and candle-making supplies and I
noticed from your website you are interested in
helping your visitors find the kind of candles and
supplies we carry. We invite you to visit out
website and add us to your listing of resources. We
would be happy to exchange a reciprocal link with
you.
Use your own
variation and see what works best for you. Spend
time each day and you'll be surprised by how much
more traffic you receive.
Another very
good method of gathering potential linking sites is
to regularly visit newsgroups and discussion boards. Read
all the posts and cultivate a list of sites that may
be interested in linking with you.
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