Increasing
Link Popularity
MAY 2003
Anyone who
has tried to get a site ranked high on the Internet knows about
the importance of link popularity - the number of other sites
that have links to your site. Google has brought this part of
the ranking equation to the forefront with their PageRank meter
available on the Google toolbar. However, there is a right way
and a wrong way to increase your site's link popularity. In this article, we are going to discuss some of the right ways
to get other sites to link to your site.
You may or
may not be aware that there is software available to automate
the task of requesting reciprocal links to your site. Whether
you know of the software or not, my advice to you is to save your
money. Often these software programs simply send out "canned"
requests that are obvious and ignored by site owners. I have not
found any real value in the cost of any of these programs.
So how do
you get started requesting links to your site? Here are a few
tried and true techniques.
Incentives
By this we mean, why not consider an award of some sort that a
site owner would be proud to display? If you're a manufacturer,
you could have an "approved vendor" award or "recommended
by..." award. Other awards to consider... "partnered
with", "Top Distributor of...", "Excellence
in Service", etc. You get the picture. Naturally, this type
of incentive would be directed to your distributors, vendors,
resellers, etc. But isn't that the best place to start? Naturally,
these awards need a reciprocal link from your site to the awarded
sites, so that would mean a link page or two at your site for
those carrying these award links.
Resources
Resources are other sites that have information that would be
useful to your site visitor. For instance, if you sold web design
templates, you might have a page of "resources" for
hosting companies, HTML tutorials, JavaScript tutorials, etc.
This type of information adds value to your site, making it a
useful resource for site visitors interested in web design.
Consider the
type of resource you would like. Again, let's say you do Spanish
translation - what type of sites might consider a link to your
site a useful resource for their site visitors? How about a copy
writer's site, web designer's site, etc. for those who wish to
have copy available in more than one language.
Next step
is to go to Google (or whatever your favorite search engine happens
to be) and enter in the search term for the type of site you're
looking for. If you enter "copy writers", for instance,
a list of sites selling copy writing services will come up. Click
on the top sites to determine a couple of things...
- Do they
have a page where a link to your site would be appropriate?
If not, move on. Don't waste time approaching them.
- Is their
site professional looking and appear to be a resource that you
wouldn't mind sending some of your site visitors to? Again,
if the answer is "no" move on. Just as you wouldn't
refer a friend to a con-artist, you don't want to refer your
site visitors to a substandard site that offers no useful information.
If the answer
to both questions is "yes" then approach them via Email
or fax. Make sure your message is designed specifically for their
site, requesting the exact page you'd like to have your link listed
on and why you think they would be a good match. Also, make sure
you include the URL for your site so that they can check it out
to determine if it meets their standards as well and assure them
that you will place a reciprocal link at your site once they list
your site. (This means they need to let you know that they have
added the link and you MUST reciprocate.)
Press
The power of the press is just as strong in Cyberspace as everywhere
else. Send out press releases to as many online trade publications
as you can and be sure to include your web address in the press
release. Naturally, you will want to approach only those publications
that have relevance to your business. If you sell shoes, you don't
want to send press releases to SMT Online (SMT stands for Surface
Mount Technology).
Most trade
publications today have some kind of an online presence. You may
need to go to their web site or contact them via their editorial
offices to find out the best way to submit press releases to them.
In addition
to sending the press releases to specific trade publications,
set up a "press" section at your web site and post your
press releases there for other publications to locate. There may
be publications in other countries or ones that you didn't think
of that may want to publish your press information. If a publication
prints your press release online, link to it from your site. You
may also want to include an "In the Press" section which
lists the magazines that carry your press information.
Forums
Using your web address as part of your signature in trade related
forums can also help produce some additional, targeted links.
Naturally this requires that you take part in an online forum
discussion about your market.
How many
links are enough?
That's a good question. The answer generally depends on the size
of your market. If you have a specialty market with only a handful
of sites that would even be considered competitors or market-related,
you're certainly not going to get thousands of quality links.
What you have to concentrate on is not so much "how many"
but rather "how good." The links should be topnotch
sites that will send you targeted traffic (and, naturally you
want to be able to send them quality traffic as well). The links
should add value to your site and draw in targeted traffic. That's
what this is really all about - not getting top position at one
or two search engines on some obscure keyword phrase. You want
buyers to come to your web site regardless if they come via the
search engine or a reciprocal partner site.
That's where
most "link farms" make their mistake. They create thousands
of links to sites with no real relevance. They don't send those
sites any traffic, they are designed only to get top ranking on
some keyword phrase at some search engines. The tactic may or
may not work as far as getting top rankings, but the site owner
is missing out on the real objective, "getting quality site
visitors."
