Links

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How many websites are linked to your site?

How many websites are linked to your site? 100, 1000, 10,000? A recent check at link popularity.com showed that Yahoo has over one million links sprawled across the web. That's a lot of links.And while reaching that milestone at your site may seem impossible, it is important to at least grow your links regularly. The number will have a direct affect on your website traffic in many ways.

Here's an example...

Lately I've noticed a steady increase in visitors coming to my own site from search engines. But not just the ol' major "big 8" search engines. Many newer search engines are now directing fresh traffic to my site too.

New subscribers to my newsletter have reported finding my site through newer engines like google.com, iwon.com, and askjeeves.com.

But why? It's been a long time since I really put much effort into my search engine ranking.

Well after a little research, my findings pointed directly to one explanation... "Links."

At many search engines, new and old alike, the number of quality links you have into your site plays a key role in their relevancy algorithms. In a nutshell, the more sites you have linking to yours (preferably related sites) the higher your site will rank in their returns.  Thanks to my past and current linking efforts, my site now has thousands of other sites linked to it. And you should be striving for the same.

Why? Well actually it goes much deeper than the benefit you gain at the search engines...

• Your best quality visitors will always come from links at related sites. This is a fact of business online. And it is one that will stand the test of time. Consider quality links online, as the equivalent of "word of mouth referrals" in the real world. When customers come by referral, there is already a level of trust established, even before they get to your store. That goes a long way in making sales.
• And yes, as my own findings show, links help your search engine ranking more than you might imagine! It looks as though this will continue to grow as a measuring stick at most search engines. When link popularity plays a big role at a search engine, the quality of the sites returned tends to improve. Since that's a main goal of the search engines in the first place, more and more are increasingly relying on this as a measuring stick.

So what does all this mean for your website? It means you need to learn how to get more links into your site! But the plain truth is, getting good links ain't easy. Growing the number of links into your site takes time. I've been online since 1996 so time has been on my side. But even if you are new to this arena, there are ways to speed up the process. Here are three techniques you should consider implementing as soon as possible...

1. Just Ask.

You can always just ask webmasters of related sites for a link!

But before you do, be sure to visit the sites you plan to contact and get the owner or webmaster's first name. Also make sure they actually have a section of their site dedicated to links. Then, send them a personal message explaining why you feel a link swap would be mutually beneficial.

If you see no links section at their site, investigate further and see if a joint venture may be in order. That's taking link swapping to the next level!

2. Use a Link Trading service.

I have never been a big fan of link swap services since the few I've joined in the past have had too many drawbacks including...

• unrelated and untargeted links in and out of my site
• banners that were too big, unsightly or slow-loading
• a swap credit system that rewarded the swap site first
• unproductive results

However, my outlook on link swap services improved this week with the introduction of a new service from an old friend of mine, Brian Welch of bizbot.net.

What I like best about his new, free link trading service is that I can control what sites I link to, what my link looks like and how many links I earn. The interface is slick and attractive. But whether it works remains to be seen. (We have posted our Link-Box at the index page of these articles so take a peek at our Link Box. If you like it, you can join for free).

If Link-Box isn't for you, check out the directory at http://search.yahoo.com/bin/search?p=link+exchange and you're bound to find a link swap service to your liking.

3. Pre-license your proprietary content to related sites.

This is about the best way I've been able to grow links into my site. I recommend it highly for any webmaster who creates content of their own, such as articles, industry tips and the like.

Pre-licensing your content simply means allowing other webmasters to use it for free. Their only obligation is to include a link to your site. In the best case scenario, you determine what the link looks like.

I do this at http://www.bizweb2000.com/articles.htm and at every single article I've posted at my site. Webmasters interested in solid content for their related site or ezine can simply copy and paste my articles at will. All I ask is that they keep my short footer with each article. In the footer is a link to my site.

Pre-licensing your content creates a win-win situation. The webmaster gets an informative article for their internet marketing site and you get a relevant link into your site.

I hope the tips here help you grow the number of links into your site. If you have proven methods that have been growing your links, come on by the CyberMarketing InfoBoard and share them!

Who knows, you may just pick up some new links in the process...

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Article by Jim Daniels of JDD Publishing

Jim is a founder of  the Internet Marketing Challenge

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