Increasing Link Popularity
Part 1

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 part one of this topic, we are going to discuss some of the right ways to get other sites to link to your site. In part two we will discuss managing your efforts.

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...

1. Do they have a page where a link to your site would be appropriate? If not, move on. Don't waste time approaching them.
2. 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.

I think 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."

Next month we'll talk about managing your reciprocal link program.