By Vishal P.
Rao
Exchanging links has been an important part of generating
traffic since the concept of Internet marketing was first
established, but at least 90% of people looking to trade
links don't understand the real benefits and, therefore,
fail to make the most of them.
The vast majority of web site owners think that exchanging
links is only helpful because it can boost their rankings in
search engines such as Google.com. They are however, useful
for this purpose since the number of links back to a site is
figured into ranking calculations. But according to
WebSideStory's StatMarket Web site optimization service,
search engines account for only little more than 13% of an
average web site's traffic.
The most important benefit of a link exchange is the traffic
resulting directly from these links. That same StatMarket
research found that 21% of site visitors get there via links
which means the links themselves are more useful than the
search engine listings!
Search engines can be unpredictable. Their algorithms change
on an ongoing basis. Your site can be in the top 10 results
today, but may not be tomorrow.
I'm not saying you should neglect the search engines.
However, your main concern should be getting traffic from
direct links. Search engine ranking should be your secondary
concern.
Furthermore, your links page can serve as an excellent
resource for your visitors. As any Internet marketer will
tell you, it's the content that makes a successful site.
When you provide useful links for your visitors, your site
becomes more credible, more helpful, and more likely to be
bookmarked for future visits - all of which adds up to a
steady stream of traffic.
So how do you identify sites that can send you more of
direct traffic? Here are some pointers to consider while
exchanging links:
1) Look out for sites that have good content
Content is the #1 reason people go online. If a site has
good content, more number of repeat visitors it'll have.
2) Look out for sites that display a prominent link to
their links page on their home page as well as on rest of
the pages
When I say prominent, I don't mean a link with h1 font size!
What I mean is that the link should not be less prominent
than the rest of links on the site.
Many web masters, particularly those who want links to help
only their search engine ranking, will hide their links page
or place it only on their home page, some where at the
bottom with a -1 font size. The most common reason for doing
this is a fear of losing visitors, but that fear is
absolutely unfounded when you really understand how the
Internet works.
Say your web site has a 1% conversion ratio. That means for
every 100 visitors that visit your site, you make one sale.
Now what about the rest 99. They are looking for something
else, isn't it? So what do they do? They have 3 options:
a) Go back to the previous site.
b) Visit your links page (if you have one), hoping that they
would find the information on sites listed there.
c) End their browsing session.
So which do you think is the best option? I would definitely
want my visitors to go to my links page and visit my link
partners rather than go back. Why? Because I know that my
link partners will send a percentage of their visitors back
to my site, thus offsetting any visitor loss.
A visitor exchange of this kind works best when all link
partners have a prominent link to their links page on all
the pages of their web sites. Visitors are then much more
likely to move between the linked sites.
-----Side Bar-----
There are some sites that have their links page designed for
link partners rather than for their visitors!
They'll use the following texts to link to their links page:
"Let's Trade Links", "Trade Links" and so on... Such sites
are more interested in finding link partners than providing
information to their visitors. The end result is link
partners visiting each other's site.
-----Side Bar-----
3) Look out for sites that have tightly themed and
categorized links page
Sites that trade links solely for search engine rankings
have random collections of links to hundreds of sites with
almost every imaginable theme. These links pages are never
going to be visited by people looking for additional
information. On the other hand, sites that have their links
categorized are more user friendly and are more likely to
attract visitors.
Conclusion
It is essential to keep your visitors' interests in mind
when designing your links page. Looking for, and adding,
quality links, without this goal in mind is pointless. You
need to start thinking of your links page as a service to
your visitors rather than just a means to achieving a higher
search engine ranking. Only with this perspective will you
be able to make the most of your reciprocal links.
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Vishal P. Rao is the owner of
Home Based Business Opportunities
- One of Internet's leading website dedicated to starting,
managing and marketing a home based business.
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