Reciprocal Link Exchanges – Where Site A links to Site B and vice versa.
This is one of the most widely practiced linking strategies, but most
Webmasters go about it incorrectly: sending SPAM emails to irrelevant sites and gaining garbage because very little or no PageRank and qualified traffic is passed. Think about it… the only Webmasters who will respond are those with new or struggling sites. Not good.
To find potential reciprocal link partners, use the following methods:
Search for your targeted keyword phrases in Google. Review the results. Don’t waste time and energy on the first 100. They are most likely to be your largest competitors and least likely wanting to link to you. Go deeper to the 300-500 ranges. This is where sites not in direct competition with you can be found. There are many tools available that can help automate this process, and one I highly recommend is SEO Elite.
Review the Google Directory and Yahoo! Directory to find sites related to yours. Go to the category that best fits your business and start reviewing the sites that are related to yours, have good PageRank and preferably not in direct competition with you.
Again, you can use Yahoo! Site Explorer, Search Status, or SEO Elite to find out who is linking to your competitors. Hit all the quality sites that are linking to the top ten sites.
In your business journal, write down the URLs for the ones that are potential link partners. They may be those who are in the same general market but don’t necessarily compete with you or those who link to your competition and could link to you as well.
Paid Links – Some options for Paid/Sponsored links are:
Be Your Own Link Broker - Find sites to buy from by using the following searches:
“advertise with us” keyword -cpm
“rate card” keyword -cpm
“advertising” keyword –cpm
Purchasing Links in Newsletters - Before you think about purchasing links in a newsletter, check to see if the newsletters are archived on the site and if the links are “clickable” and pass link popularity. To find opportunities, search:
newsletter “keyword” advertise
newsletter “keyword” sponsor
newsletter “keyword” advertising rates
Because paid links can be found and discounted in Google, you should follow these guidelines when paying for links:
Stay in Control - When you find a site to purchase from, find the text on the page, preferably in the body text, and request it be your link. Links in the body text generally have solid click through rates.
Avoid Penalties – You can use paid links as a way to successfully compete for ‘money phrases’, you just need to be smart about it. To avoid possible penalties, follow these rules:
Only buy single page links, not ROS (Run of Site) links.
Vary your anchor text.
Ensure the anchor text you are targeting either matches, or is in the same ‘theme’ as your Title Tag.
Verify the body text of the page you are buying incoming links for is themed towards the anchor text.
Go Natural Too – Work to get natural links as well as paid links. If you have a lot of natural links it is easier to sneak in a few paid links.
Follow the 60/40 Split – Send paid links to your sub pages too.
According to testing, doing a 60/40 split (sub page – home page) with 5-7 variations of anchor text (including the business name, site URL) gives a strong boost.
When you boil it down, it isn’t that you are buying links, but what types of links are you buying? Focus on quality for you and your customers.
Look for sites that compliment or supplement your site and provide a potential of referral traffic. PageRank should be a bonus if it occurs.
Step Five: Contacting Your Potential Partners. Now that you have your list of potential link partners, you are ready to begin contacting the site owners to request a link exchange.
Call the Webmaster. It is more personal and allows you to form a better relationship. You may even get a one-way link instead. Ask for what you want in a way that is perceived as non-threatening and does not sound like a “sales call”.
If you must email, send it to the right person. Usually this is the Webmaster or the online marketing director. Make it personal and try to address the person by name. Review their site thoroughly and make factual comments about it in your message.
Whether you call or email, briefly describe why it will benefit them.
Don’t promise anything you can’t deliver – including higher rankings.
In the initial email or follow-up email, include the link code you want them to utilize. Make it easier for them to cut and paste the code to their page. NEVER pre-format the text. How the link is displayed and in what font and/or color is their decision, not yours.
If it is a reciprocal link exchange, tell them exactly where you will place their link and ask for the code or wording they would like you to use.
Let them know if they find the exchange agreeable that you are willing to link to them first as a sign of good faith. Add the link within 24 hours of receiving the OK. If for some reason they don’t get your link up in a timely manner, leave the link up until the next time you do an audit.
Step Six: Other Linking Possibilities. Look for unknown directories,
press release areas, forum postings, articles distribution areas, “hidden gems”, etc. These can all be valuable links to your site.
Directories – Aside from the major directories like DMOZ, Yahoo!, and Best of the Web, very few get any real pedestrian traffic today.
I have seen a HUGE drop off in the quality of directories that are currently available. Many directories are being sold to marketing firms and the current listings are either being dropped or the links are “nofollowed”. Refer to my Definitive Directory Submission List in the member’s area for my recommendations.
Tips when Submitting Your Site:
Follow all guidelines and terms put forth by the directory.
Your site should be professionally designed.
Submit to a relevant category, if you don’t you may be rejected.
Be honest and thorough in the description and category choice.
Be sure you can deliver what you promise. If something changes in your business, update your description.
Do not make up a name to get to the top of their directory (i.e. A1 Hobby Shop). It doesn’t work anymore.
Use keywords as naturally as possible. Keyword stuffed or hyped up titles and descriptions often get a rejection.
Your Privacy Policy, Terms of Use, Return Policy, Shipping
Information, Guarantee, etc. should be linked on your home page.
All images should load. Test your site to verify that there are no broken images anywhere on your site.
Verify all of your links. Any bad links may get your site disqualified.
Provide a current copyright notice at the bottom of at least your main page – preferably on every page.
Regional submissions have the best acceptance ratio. If your site fits into a region, submit it there.
Press Releases – Press releases are probably the fastest way to gain quality one-way links and volume traffic for your site. The strength of Press Release Marketing comes from those who pick up on the release.
A quick way to create a press release is to take an existing article from your site and re-author it to make it sound “newsworthy”.
Write in third person and with an unbiased point of view. A human editor reviews almost all press releases, and advertisements or editorial type releases will not pass by them.
Direct the reader to you as the main contact and your site for more information. Include your full contact details, as other opportunities may arise.
Submit your release. Be careful with free services, because they will often times not allow links in the article or will “nofollow” the link. Meaning no link popularity will be passed, which defeats half the reason you submitted the release in the first place. Two good paid resources for distributing your press releases are PRWeb and PRLeap.
Forums –It is a great method to get referral traffic. The forum would have to allow links. There are many that don’t. For example, Webmaster World does not allow links to be posted. Yahoo! Answers and YouTube allow links, but they designate the “nofollow” tag. I have been testing this and the traffic flow is, in a word, killer.
Article Exchanges – Articles, used as link bait or submitted to article directories, are excellent sources for one-way text links to your site.
Also because your anchor text remains intact in the author box, it is a great way to specifically target the keywords you want to rank for – be sure not to use the dreaded “click here” as anchor text.
