'Trading Links - Any Real Value?'
by Gail Hornback
If you manage a website,
then you know that trading links with other sites is said to
be a valuable method of promoting your website, and getting
more traffic. But the true value of it really depends on how
you go about it.
We receive at least one or more "form letter" emails every
day, telling us that one of our sites has been visited, and
our link has been added to their site, with a request to
return the link. These are from automated link trade
programs that list hundreds, even thousands of sites,
categorized in various ways.
My guess is that these pages of links are not perused very
often. I don't spend any time looking through them. Do you?
In fact, when I received the most recent "form letter", I
went to the page to check out my link. I found it after
scrolling to the bottom of the page. It was there, alright.
But the description was the first 3 or 4 lines of text off
of the main page of my site, which, in that context, used as
a description, did not really describe my site at all. Some
of the descriptions I saw there for other links made NO
sense whatsoever, as they had just been harvested off of the
site by the automated harvester.
So, do I trade with them? To tell you the truth, I won't
even consider a link exchange, unless the person requesting
the trade has called me by name. Then I know he, HIMSELF,
has REALLY visited my site. My name and contact information
are easily found there. Secondly, I wouldn't consider it a
"fair" trade, since the link trades placed on my site are of
a different nature. They are more valuable!!
If you are serious about promoting your site by trading
links with other sites, then take the time to do it right.
1. Find sites that complement your site, and that you would
feel confident in recommending to others. (Quite frankly, if
a site doesn't meet the criteria that I want my visitors to
look at, it won't stand a snowball's chance in the hot place
of getting on my site! )
2. Contact the webmaster with a personal email, telling them
about your site, and asking if they would be interested in
trading links.
3. Ask them to write their own description of their site, as
they would like it explained to your visitors.
3. Set up a page on your site for these links, and call it
something BESIDES "link trades". Call it "Recommended
sites", or anything creative that will tell your visitors
that it is worth looking through. Because it IS worth
looking through. You have chosen these sites specifically
for a trade with your site! You are recommending them to
your visitors!!!
4. List each site name and their short description. ( Yup,
you'll have to do this yourself, by hand, individually, one
at a time!)
5. Strive to trade YOUR link exclusively with sites that use
these same guidelines.
Your goal in every aspect of your Ebusiness and website
should be to give VALUE to your visitors. REAL VALUE! This
method of trading links creates a much greater value for
your visitors, not to mention the increased value of the
link you have traded on the other end.
It always comes down to the same basic idea. The best
results rarely come from the easiest method. Building a
successful Ebusiness will take work, which takes time.
Looking for an automated business? Time to get over it. And
get on with reality!
Author Gail Hornback is owner of
WebWorksAtHome.com,
and partners with Michael Smith in Coyote Marketing, (CM/YMTC),
where you can get Your Own 4-page customizable E-Business
Website For Pocket Change. Learn HOW to Launch Your Own
E-Business, NOT someone else's mirror site!
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