2. Web site promotion is a complex process, and one of the
oldest ways to promote a web site is by the exchange of
Links. Link exchange is the original web site traffic
generation system. In the "old days" before the rise of
search engines like Google, Yahoo, MSN ( and all the
others that have followed since ) the only way to find a
web site that you hadn't already been to was to follow a
link from another web site. Therefor if your site didn't
have many links pointing to it, it didn't get much traffic.
3. Search engines still use links to find new sites and to help
with the calculation of a web sites importance or value. So
the exchanging of links is still a very usefull way to
promote your site and increase its importance to the
search engines.
4. There are three main types of link exchange. The first type
is the reciprocal link, where you literally exchange a link
with another web site. They put a link to you on their web
site, you place one to them on yours.
5. The second type of link exchange is not really an exchange
at all. A visitor to your site simply decides that they will
put a link to your site on their site. Maybe they like the
information that is presented on your site or they like your
product etc. These one way links are considered to be
more important by the search engines than reciprocal
links are.
6. This leads us to the third type of link exchange. This
method of link exchanging is an "artificial" type two link
exchange. How can that be? Aren't type two links
voluntary links placed by a visitor? Yes they are, but that
effect can be simulated by doing the following. Basically
the idea is to create a "triangle" of links - and it requires at
least three web sites for it to work. Picture( or draw ) a
triangle with a web site at each of the three points of the
triangle. The web sites are any three sites, and they each
only link to one of the other sites. So if the sites were to
exchange links in a clockwise direction around the triangle
they form an "artificial" set of one way, voluntary links.
7. So thats the three main link exchange types, now how do
you go about the actual process of link exchanging? Well
its really quite simple. The best way to exchange links is to
ask the other web site if they are interested in do so.
Usually the request is sent via email or a form on the site
you wish to exchange links with. Regardless of how you
contact the webmaster of the other site, remember to be
polite and to give them all the information they may need
to complete the exchange. For example, briefly introduce
yourself and your site, with a link back to your site so they
can have a look at it. It is good practise to have their link
on your site before you contact them for an exchange.
Once you start exchanging links you will soon work out
what to say and how to say it. Unfortunately many sites
are very slow to respond to link exchange requests, so it
8. There are "rules" for creating a link directory that should
be followed if you want to get the most benefit from it.
The rules are very simple and they go something like this.
9. 1. Only exchange links with sites that are relevant to your
site. Why? Isn't any link a good one? Yes, to an extent all
links are good - but some are better than others. If you
concentrate your link exchange efforts to sites that are
relevant to yours, then your site will be seen by the search
engines as more important to your topic than if your links
went all over the place. It is also better for your visitors to
have a link directory relevant to the topic of the site they
are currently on.
10. 2. Don't make your directory pages too long. In other
words, if your directory pages scroll for more than 2 or 3
screens they are too long. Why? Because very few people
will scroll further than 2 or 3 screens. So if your link is at
the bottom it will rarely be found and that doesn't
encourage a webmaster to exchange links with your site. A
common limit is 25 links per page of the directory. If you
have more links than 25 for any particular catagory a
numbered "sub" page is the best way take the extra links.
For exanple if you have a directory page called
"Software.html", then once you fill that page with 25
links, the new page could be called "Software-2.html" etc.
Remember to include easy navigation within the link
directory - its not there just for the search engine spiders..
11. Thats about all there is to it, other than using link
exchange sites and finding some link exchange software to
make the job a bit easier. Happy Linking!
