Black Belt Web Marketing.pdf - Costa del Sol

Exercise 5-5 – Requesting Links at Complementary Sites
Chances are the Super Directories you found have links to sites that complement yours.
They may be established on the net longer and have a larger following. They may be more
successful in targeting the same audience you want to reach. These sites could be an
excellent source of traffic. It doesn’t hurt to ask if they will add your link. Often the
Webmaster wants to have a list of valuable resources for visitors and your site qualifies as a
welcome addition.
Generally, phrase your request much as you did to the Super Directories in the last exercise.
The difference is you are noting how the two sites complement each other and how relevant
your site is to the other site’s audience.
If you get a negative response, that isn’t necessarily the end of it. Don’t give up. Suggest
that the link be to the page with important content thereby bypassing your home page.
Perhaps you could add meaningful content that would make your site more interesting to
other sites. If the content is important to the site’s visitors, the Webmaster should grant your
request, or at least counter with a reciprocal link offer. The additional content should also
make other Webmasters be more receptive to your link request. Each time you add content,
you may be creating new opportunities to place links with sites whose visitors are interested
in your new content. In the final analysis, the more valuable your site’s content is, the more
favorable responses you should receive to link requests.
Reciprocal Links
Many sites won’t consider adding your link unless you add theirs. This is called "reciprocal
linking". It’s only fair. It should also be your response if you get asked to add somebody’s
link to your site.
Before agreeing to add a link to your site, create a page specifically for reciprocal links: a
"Hot Links", "Important Resources", or "Selected Links" page. You have a place for
reciprocal links and another page with worthwhile content. Visitors spend more time at your
site and the number of "hits" or page requests increases.
Caution: avoid linking with a direct competitor. Learn from them (Exercise 6-2) but don’t
link to them. For one thing, you don’t want them monitoring your activities as closely as
you are going to monitor theirs.
The same as in the last exercise, have the text link, a graphic logo, and a short promotional
statement ready to go in the event your request is approved. You’ll settle for a simple text
link but your preference would be to have all three components. Together they will generate
significantly more traffic than just a simple text link.
Lesson 5 Pg. 14