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What
is link trading or reciprocal linking?
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Link
trading, sometimes called reciprocal linking is a web
promotion strategy used by webmasters and site owners to
increase qualified traffic to their sites.
Webmasters search the Internet for other websites that
have the same type of visitors and contact those site
owners by email requesting a link trade. If a
site owner agrees to the trade, they then link to each
other's websites in order to share traffic.
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How
Search engines work:
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Search
Engines Don't Actually Search the Web:
Most
search engines create
a date base by examining only the web sites submitted to
them. They search each submitted web site and
add data to their own computer files based on what they find on
the submitted sites. (Some search engines, such as
Google use a slightly different
approach) Technically, the process is
called spidering. So
when you go to a web directory and type in a word such as
"Yoni Dance" and then click search, the search
engines don't actually go out onto the web looking for
anything. They merely search their own data
base. So,
if you have not submitted your web site to that search
engine and your web site has not been spidered, no resultant
data is in their data base. You can search all
day and you'll never be found. You
can have the world's greatest web site, but unless
you have some connection to other web sites or are listed
in some search engine data bases, your presence on the
Internet is invisible. |
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Some
(Not Very) Technical Stuff:
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1)
When you actually
do create your links,
use an HTML text link (say it in
words) rather that using a graphics
link (images such as your logo).
Why? Because the search engines
simply do not recognize text
contained in graphics. They
read HTML text, so if you want to be
noticed, speak in HTML language.
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2)
Because the intention is to play win/win, we
suggest that you set
up a special links page and have a clear
link on your homepage directing viewers to
your links page. Ask that those
with whom you exchange links to do
likewise.
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For
most businesses on the web, there
is actually no shortage of customers.
The problem is usually that too few
potential customers are viewing your web
site. So playing win/win via
reciprocal links can be a big financial
boost to everyone involved.
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3)
On
your own web site, create add an Invitation
to Links with Us, page such
as the page you are now viewing, and invite
others to exchange links. Be
sure to add a link on your home page to your
invitation page.
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4)
Promote your specific Reciprocal Links Page
URL address in all the major search engines.
Add Title, Description and Keywords to
your links page, then when the search
engines spider your web site, your interest
in exchanging links will be part of the data
in the search engine files. In
your browser (such as Microsoft Internet
Explorer) look in the View menu and
click on Source. This
will show you the html formatting for the
page you are viewing. At the top
of the page, you can see the Title,
Description, and Keywords used by the
creator of that page. Use these
as examples of what you can also do.
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Priority
listings:
One of the factors
that places a web site higher up in some of the search
engine lists is the number of links it has to and from
other web sites. Every
major search engine uses link analysis as part of their
ranking algorithms. So setting
up a reciprocal links page and linking with other web
sites will help you to get a better
listing position in the search engines. The
more relevant links you have, the more traffic you have, so the
more relevant links the better. |
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Appropriate
links:
Be sure that the
sites you link to are appropriate for your website. Search
engine link analysis is not about getting lots of links
from just anywhere. It's about
getting links from good web pages that are related to the
topics for which you want to be found.
For example linking a fishing gear web site to a knitting
circle web site would not be appropriate. Be particularly
sensitive if you are dealing in adults
products. For example, on our web site
offering The Yoni Dance
Books we direct our attention to a
specific audience. See the list below. |
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Compare
Link Exchanging with Search Engines:
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Speed:
Search
Engines take
weeks or months to get your web site data into place where
web surfers can find you.
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Link
exchanges can be completely set up and
functional within a single day.
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Cost:
Search
engines range
from free to about $200 per year.
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Link
exchanges are completely free.
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Making
Changes:
If you make any significant changes in your web site
description, title, key words, or to the site itself, you have to
re-submit your site to all the search engines and then
your looking at another wait of weeks or months before
they reflect those changes.
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Changes
and updating within your site have no affect
on how your reciprocal links function.
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Time
Involved:
There are literally dozens of search engines, so you
can spend hours submitting and re-submitting your
site. ( And
if your not technically minded, you could be
measuring the time in days, not hours.) Then
in a couple of months you need to do the whole thing all
over again. Some
site submissions will trigger responses that require
technical answers. This can be a stone wall
between you and your customers -- no technical
answer equals no listing equals no site
viewers equals no sales equals no
profits.
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After
you have you links page set up, link
exchanges can be done in a matter of
minutes. Minimum technical knowledge
is involved, AND YOU ONLY
DO EACH LINK ONCE !
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Who's
in Charge:
With a search engine, a mainframe computer somewhere or
some unknown technician is in control.
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With
Link exchanges, you and one other
person communicate via e-mail and the two of
you decide what you want to do and how to do
it.
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The
Benefits of Reciprocal Linking:
(What will link trading do for me?)
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First,
it generates real, qualified unique
visitors to your site. A visitor will see your
link on the site of a reciprocal link partner, and click
on it to come to your site.
Second,
reciprocal linking increases link
popularity in some major search engines such as Google.
So having reciprocal links helps your listing in these
search engines to be listed higher in their list of search
results. This obviously increases the chances of
others finding your web site.
Third,
it's free for both of
us.
Fourth,
the
net result is more paying customers which equals more profits. |
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