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Before Trading Links, Pick the Right Partners
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Dan Thies Why Be Selective?
There are literally millions of web sites. You can't trade
links with everyone. Even if you wanted to, your site's content and mission will
dictate how many off-site links you can really put in place. Unless your site
is the next Yahoo! or Open Directory, you'll probably only have a page or two
of links at most. So, how do you decide which web sites to target in your reciprocal
linking campaign? A Five-Point Strategy
We've developed a simple strategy, which involves ranking the sites you're considering
on a few factors. These factors can be broken down into finer and finer details,
but when you're talking strategy, it's best to get the long view first. Other
articles on our site describe each of these in much greater detail - feel free
to suggest an article if you find something we haven't covered well enough.
- Quality. You don't want to trade links with sites that don't offer
something valuable to their visitors. For one thing, most of their visitors will
never make it as far as the links page. For another, your listing of the site
on your links page represents an implied endorsement of the other site. Would
you recommend the site to someone? If not, don't ask for or agree to any reciprocal
linking relationship.
- Traffic. Let's be honest about it - the whole
point of trading links is to get more traffic to your site. The higher the other
traffic's site is, the more attractive they should be as a partner. It may be
difficult to determine what their traffic is, but you can sometimes get lucky
and find a hit counter or other info (like a media kit) that will tell you more.
Obviously, a site getting thousands (or millions) more visitors a month than yours
is less likely to be interested, but it doesn't hurt to ask.
- Visibility.
Try searching the major search engines for the keyword or phrase that best describes
your site. You know, the keywords that you wish your site ranked higher on. Whatever
sites actually do pop up on the top of that list should be prime targets for reciprocal
links, if they meet the other criteria. Don't forget to check Yahoo! and Open
Directory - in fact, check them first.
- Compatibility. Sites that don't
have any off-site links are less likely to be interested. Those whose site is
in direct competition with yours, of course, aren't likely to be compatible. A
good example of compatibility is between a site that sells doggie doors and a
site with advice for dog owners.
- Synergy. If the site for dog owners
has a FAQ with a question about doggie doors, or an article on the pros and cons
of doggie doors, that's where you want them to link to your site. If they don't
have appropriate content, offer to provide it. See our how-to article on asking
for reciprocal links for another example. Any time you can offer more than
a simple exchange of links, your chances for success (meaning that both parties
benefit) are dramatically improved.
We've given you
our criteria for evaluating reciprocal links. Remember, the person on the other
end is making the same kind of evaluation about you. Do whatever you can to address
any concerns the other party may have about your site's quality, traffic, or visibility.
The real tiebreakers, if the decision is in doubt, will be compatibility and synergy.
If you can offer something that's truly of value to the other party, that goes
beyond a simple exchange of links, you are well on your way to developing a great
network of partnerships.
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