One Good Link Deserves Another
One
Good Link Deserves Another
by Jack Humphrey
There is nothing on the web that compares to a good link when you
are talking about building steady streams of traffic to your site.
Did you know that one good link can bring you more daily traffic
than a #1 position on a search engine? It’s true!
Did you also know that there are sites out there, thousands of them,
who rely solely on the traffic they get from reciprocal links with
other webmasters? There are! I call the webmasters of these sites
Link Minded people!
No webmaster in their right mind would argue that links aren’t the
lifeblood of the internet. A search engine is only a directory of
links. A link directory on your domain is also a search engine when
you use the proper technique of creating a “themed category listing.
I think the biggest problem on the net today is that so many
webmasters are looking for a Magic Pill that will solve their
traffic problems with The Click of a Button. How many times have you
seen an ad with those exact words in it? 50? 100 times or more?
Well, I am sorry to tell you, there is no magic pill. That I can
absolutely positively guarantee. There is no substitute for plain,
old fashioned hard work and dedication to your website and the
business you would like to succeed in. The internet offers tons of
automation solutions, and even reciprocal linking has had a couple
of valiant attempts and even successes at a certain degree of
automation.
But exchanging meaningful, traffic-driving links with other
webmasters is and always will be a personal, one-on-one thing. It is
like a mini joint venture with other webmasters and you have to
address them without bulk mail or spamming in order to even have a
chance at getting the mother of all links someday!
When you look at reciprocal linking (the oldest original form of
advertising since the web began) it is really surprising how few
marketing experts deal with the topic. I wrote a book about the
whole phenomenon simply because there were so few people looking
into the science of link swapping!
And there is a science to it! There are pitfalls. There are plain
NO-NOs. There are myriad ways to waste your time chasing after
useless links, or worse, links that will get you banned from some
search engines! Reciprocal linking is not link farming or posting to
400,000 Free-for-All links pages. (A most detestable practice used
for awhile by all newbies, then abandoned after the damage is done.)
In short, you really have few choices on the net better than
starting a link directory and asking webmasters with relevant
content to your site for a link swap. Unless you have a huge budget
and can afford to pay someone to get your site optimized and ranked
in the top ten on all the big engines, there aren’t other
alternatives.
Banner exchanges suck visitors from your site. Traffic exchanges
bring you hits, but totally uninterested visitors. Ezine ads are an
important linking strategy, but that is an ongoing process you do to
get quick spurts of traffic, not ongoing, steady streams of it. Plus
it is hard to know where to get the best ads and usually the best
ads are pretty expensive on a small budget.
My recommendation for people who really want their site to be
noticed to the tune of 1000 hits a day or more, who are on a budget
and are just starting: start a link directory on your site and have
clear instructions on how to swap links with you.
Then, search the net for your link partners (relevancy is SO key
here, don’t swap links with Victoria’s Secret if you sell fishing
line!) send them personalized emails asking for swaps, set up top
listings for those willing to be “link partners and keep going until
you have at least 100 links to your site! (Verifiable at
altavista.com by typing in “Link:yourdomain.com)
Then, stop and take a break and start again. It’s work. Even with
automation software. Nothing good comes on the net without work. Did
you EVER in your life see a successful business owner who said “It
really was easy, no real work at all to get where I am today!?
But the payoff here is guaranteed: Reciprocal links will bring you
traffic and increase your site’s link popularity and ranking on the
search engines. Any webmaster willing to do what it takes to succeed
should be willing to work their fingers to the bone to get a huge
amount of traffic through link swapping!
