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Tips on Marketing Your Own Site
Reciprocal Linking as a Effective Marketing Tool
Reciprocal linking is the art of getting other websites to link to yours. A major benefit of a reciprocal linking campaign is an improvement in your search engine ranking.
As more and more websites link to your website, your link popularity improves. When your link popularity improves, your rankings in many search engines
will also improve.
Reciprocal linking is largely an "I'll scratch your back if you'll scratch mine" activity.
The idea is to find sites related to yours and then send an e-mail asking them to link to you. In true quid pro quo fashion, you generally offer to
link back to them.
The following are suggested steps to help you implement a successful reciprocal linking program.
Identify your site's target audience. Next, visit the major search engines to look for prospective link partners. These link partners should serve the interests of the target audience of your site.
Each search engines lists sites differently so you should search several major search engines. Enter keywords into search engines that relate to your business product or service. Try to think of other sites that are NOT directly related to your product
or service but would be adding a valuable resource for their customers by providing a link to your site. Make a list of related web sites. When choosing related sites, be sure they complement what you do but don't directly compete with you. Don't try to link
to your competitors' websites as that would be counter-productive. Once you think your listing has covered all the desired links, you'll need to visit each site to request a reciprocal link through e-mail.
You will find that the response rate is close to 25%. Be persistent in your linking requests and you'll soon reap the benefits of increased traffic
and sales. Try to set aside a least an hour a day for promotion and by all means, be consistent in your endeavor. Browse through the prospective link partner's
site and find something that interests you and include it in your e-mail. That will increase the likelihood of a positive response. Remember
that one link in exactly the right place can make a BIG difference in your traffic. Set up a page on your site that will hold the link swaps you're going to arrange. Some people call these pages "links" or "fav links" or
sometimes "related links." Keep in mind when adding these sites to your webpage, set them up in such a way that they'll open in a new window. This way, your site will remain
open in the background, making it easy for your visitors to return to it. Be sure to save all the websites that agree to link to you in your bookmarks so you can visit them at a later date to ensure they have placed a link
to you and that they're living up to their end of the bargain.
You might want to take advantage of online programs and software that make
all of this work
a lot easier. These include packages include -- LinksManager and LinkageXpress.
Targeted reciprocal links allow you to reach out to your target audience by making your site visible on other sites your target market visits.
If implemented properly and aggressively you can expect a reasonable increase in traffic to your website.
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