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Linking, Link Trades And Reciprocating Links Tutorial
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Tutorial and free tips on trading links, building reciprocating links, cross linking ideas.
How to build yourself a powerful linking network.
Return To Get Links Page
Linking Help - Cross Linking, Reciprocating Links, Backlinks And Linking Suggestions
The Internet is linking. Without links, there is no Internet. There are only 4 ways you can
acquire links to your web site: Create a links page/resource page and/or cross linking strategy;
buy links; create a website with offers something valuable to online users which entices
other site owners link to you (usually this involves providing something very entertaining free or giving away something free);
create some form of free content (generally an article on a popular topic that is spread around the web with links
to your site). A quality links page or a site cross linking within the content, or a site offering something free or
high value, are by far the cheapest, easiest and safest way to gain targeted traffic both through
the links themselves and search engines.
Buying links is a controversial and difficult subject. After all, when you
run a PPC (pay-per-click) ad campaign on a search engine you are buying links.
The search engine's may say you are buying visitors or traffic, but really, what
you are buying is a link on a particular page in a particular spot. What makes buying
links so risky is that search engines DO NOT want you purchasing links at other
web site's in order to elevate yourself in THEIR search engines. Most search engines
consider this type of activity "spamming the index". In other words, you
did not achieve your high rating based on the merits of your site (other web sites willingly
linking to you based on the value of your site). But rather, you brought your way to the
top and the real merit of your site is that you have a lot of money to spend on a risky
venture to be #1 in your chosen keyword(s).
Well, let's face it. If you want to spend money on being one of the top search results
within a search engine, then the search engines want that money. You want to buy being
on the top ten page, then just buy it from them. Also, search engines return search
results that list (what they consider) the most valuable sites for any given search request.
If you mess with THEIR method of returning good search results, you are messing with THEIR
business of being a search engine. You crossed the line. It is possible you could be
dropped from the search engine for a period of time, or banned.
It is THEIR search engine, they make the rules. So, think long and
carefully about buying links. Purchasing a link in a human evaluated directory is one thing.
Buying a thousand keyword related links from a "links broker" or supposed SEO expert
could end up getting your entire web site, your entire domain, banned. Some people are willing to
take the risk considering the reward. But make no mistake, there is a risk in buying links.
Unfortunately, too many web designers and marketing advisors perpetuate the myth that having
a links page or resource page on your website is some how "uncool". Wow. Talk about the Emperor having
no clothes. The Internet is linking. All search engines are is a compilation of links. If being fashionable means
not linking with others, maybe fashionable people should rethink being part of the Internet. Especially since
being highly rated on search engines heavily depends on people linking to you. Links pages and resource
pages are valuable. Setting links within your content to others as a method of reciprocating links
is helpful. Trying to buy your way to the top because you think you are too fashionable to link with
others, THAT can result in you being seen as uncool my the search engines. Celebrate the Web. Get better a ranking with search engines. Make some online friends.
Set up a links page/resource page or a reciprocating links strategy on your site.
O.K., below are our ten recommend linking, cross linking and reciprocating links suggestions
Linking Tip One: Get started. Build a linking strategy into your website/web design. You
can either create a links or resource page and invite others to exchange links pending review.
You can also invite people to cross link with you by adding their link to your content. Example:
Maybe you have a page about dogs. You take a sentence like, " People enjoy chatting online
about dogs!". Create a link to your new linking partner like, "people enjoy
chatting online about dogs.
Your new linking partner now either adds a link back to you in their content or adds you to their
links or resources page. However you do it, building a linking strategy into you site.
Tip: Due to links pages being abused by some, certain search engines may devalue
all link pages. The links page may be devalued but NOT necessarily the
links that appear on that page. However, consider titling your links page a "resource page" and name that
page resources.html or friends.html.
Linking Tip Two: Evaluate all sites you link with. Link to those sites you appreciate or enjoy.
If a site does not appeal to you,
don't agree to exchange links. Often, we here at 1NetCentral get link requests that say they want to
exchange links with us if "you can provide a PR 2 page link or better". (If you
are unsure of what PR ranking is, visit our
Web Site Ranking Help page). Those requests go in
the trash. For one, PR rankings can be faked. Two, every website starts out with a ZERO ranking.
It is a matter if the website is appealing and offers something worth sending people to see. Three:
some very valuable sites may not have high rankings due to site design. Some people (believe it or not)
actually build artful, content rich sites to please the visitors instead of building a boring site that is more designed to
appeal to search engines. We like to reward creative, innovative, quality sites. In time, such sites, with
good linking partners, will become popular. In any event, do not link blindly to other websites.
Tip: Many search engines take into account if links on a page all relate to a similar topic.
It can help your site's indexing if your link appears on a web page with similar content to your own.
Never take offense if someone declines to link you with or does not respond to your link request. Just move on.
Make sure YOUR web site is as attractive and valuable as possible, but do not worry others do not want to cross link.
There are BILLIONS of web sites out there. TRILLIONS of web pages. Just keep seeking out quality link partners.
Rejection means very little in the vastness of possibilities. As mentioned above, some sites are snobs who only
want to link with other sites with high rankings (never mind if they list junk sites) while others may want only
a certain type of content within there link exchange pages. Other times, webmasters are just too busy at that
time to consider your request. Perhaps try requesting a link at another time.
Linking Tip Three: Check ALL your web site links over the course of a year. You will be surprised
how many bad links you have accumulated AND discover the occasional malformed
or malfunctioning links you will discover. This cannot be overstated. A web page
with good content and with ALL links working properly will get indexed well, in time.
Tip: Visit our
Web Tune Up page where you will find online tools that will automatically check all the links at your site.
And, you can do your yearly web site tune-up, too.
Linking Tip Four: Monitor your traffic. If you find someone has
linked to you, and you like their site, consider finding a place on your site to link back to them.
Tip: If you are not tracking your website's traffic and watching your stats, you should think
about doing so. Visit our
Web Site Tracking Help page for some tips and free resources to track your traffic.
Linking Tip Five: Text links carry more weight with most search engines than graphic banners.
IN FACT, the text used in the link is very important. Example: If you are linking to a website
about "cats", a text link with the
word "cats" in the link helps your linking partner achieve a higher indexing in the
search engines for the word "cats". People often think they want a big ol' banner on
someone else's links page. Of course, you may get a lot of attention on THAT links page, but
a text link would do you so much more good with the search engine. Especially if that text link
contains your chosen keyword(s) for your site. Also, creating a links page of nothing but banners
is fast and easy, but remember, the more banners, the slower the page loads. Too many banners,
no one will stick around to even see the page because the page loads too slowly.
Linking Tip Six: Nowadays, EVERYONE wants to exchange links on the front page.
Yes, it is true that a front page link carries more weight with the search engines, so
exchanging front page links can be a valuable exchange. It can also distract visitors
from your prime mission of selling your product/service or getting your message across.
Really make sure a front page link exchange is what you to do. Creating link exchanges
with several other, related sites within a links or resource directory can achieve the
same effect with search engine indexing, ie, a better ranked site. A front page link
exchange with several related sites can have a powerful effect in getting your website
elevated in search engines, but ONLY if your site has also been fully optimized for search
engines ... you might end up helping others far more than yourself. Front page link exchanges
are only a good idea if you really for that powerful of an exchange. If exchanging front page
links adds to the value of your front page in some way (like adding a chat directory link to
your chat log-in front page), then, a front page link is a definite "do it".
Linking Tip Seven: Once you have established a link or resource directory, and you
begin to get to know other webmasters/web site administrators, consider working out some
"three-way linking". This means that site A links to site B. Site B links back to
site A and then links to site C. But site C DOES NOT link to site B, they instead link only to site A.
There are some variations to this style of linking, but the idea is that not everybody links
to everybody else. This style works very well for those who own/manage several domains on
similar topics. Some search engines find this type of linking configuration more "organic"
or interesting and therefore may elevate all linking partners within the search engine.
Linking Tip Eight: When you really begin to develop a links or resource page,
do not be afraid to "deep link" with other web sites. "Deep linking"
means to link to a page deep within another web site. Often, a web domain will have
a page(s) that you want your visitors to visit directly. Why? Because that page has
the content you wish to direct them towards. A number of deep links to important information
on your resource page MAKES your links/resource page a real resource. Search engines often
notice this sort of content related linking and reward you for it. Unfortunately, some
webmasters object to this type of linking (a very unenlightened attitude). They may request
that you remove the link and link only to their front page. If that happens to you, we recommend you
just do not link to them at all. They do not deserve the traffic or attention. Conversely, if
you find people deep linking into your site, welcome them. Maybe set up some additional linking.
In fact, you many want to create content/information rich pages within your web site to attract deep linking.
Once you develop a good links/resource page, you may soon discover that you are getting numerous
repeat visitors.
Linking Tip Nine: There is no such thing as strictly personal or business web site. The idea that there are two,
distinct categories of web sites on the Internet (personal and commercial) is a concept that
goes WAY back to the mystical beginnings of the Internet. Let's face it:
ALL web sites across the entire Web WILL eventually be a mixture of personal and
commercial. A business site on the Internet that is impersonal is like hanging up a sign saying, "We are jerks".
ALL personal web sites will, sooner or later, work with commercial sites to generate revenue. People who run
"personal" web sites have to pay for web hosting and so forth just like business sites. You can already
see that community sites like Facebook or Myspace are going commercial ... and so is the cyber community who inhabit
those social sites. It is best we just forget the whole idea that some sites are just commercial and others just
personal. When working on link exchanges, do not worry about commercial or personal. Only worry if the
the cross linking works well for both sites.
Linking Tip Ten: Filling your links or resource page with affiliate links is tacky. Do it if you must,
but it does little for you or your linking partners. A few, well placed affiliate links that are related to your topic or content
usually is acceptable to most visitors. But, creating a resource page of all sorts of affiliate links, especially
if they are unrelated to your resource topic, will only downgrade your site.
Linking Tip Eleven: You might find setting up a linking partners page a good deal of work. You may want to check out
Backlink Beast. It will save you a lot of work and the service comes with LOTS of information on setting up links and backlinks.
Finally, be prepared to disregard everything we have suggested. The Internet
is an ever evolving cyber world where what worked on day may not work the next. What is important
is to figure out what works best for you. If the above tips were rules, you could say we have
violated every rule at one time or another. We do know that following our own advice can
produce positive results. It is just, being human, we do not always follow our own advice.
Our effort here is to help you get started by giving you some sound advice about linking, crosslinking
and reciprocating linking because all of us want more web traffic. Being experimental and creative
is the life blood of the Internet. Figure out what works for you.
Back in 1998 when 1NetCentral.com was just starting out, numerous webmasters and online promoters (most of whom we never
met) created web sites and resource pages that helped us get on the Web and stay here. We thought it a good
idea to create this linking help page to pass that helpful spirit along. If you get some good from this page,
when you can, produce and share something with everyone on the web. Contribute. Keep that sharing spirit alive.
And, yes, this tutorial is copyrighted to 1 NetCentral.Com. All rights reserved. You are, however, welcome to link
to this page, if you'd like.
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Copyright by 1 NetCentral.Com. All rights reserved.
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Linking, Link Trades And Reciprocating Links Tutorial Page!
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