Link Exchange

Want more people to visit your website? A link-building campaigncould be just the thing to help you draw in visitors. Link exchangerequests require minimal effort from you, but they can absolutelyexplode your traffic numbers overnight. How? If your site’s afeatured link on a major site in your industry–one that receives aton of attention–your site immediately benefits from all theexposure their site receives.

• Do a Google search for your standard keywords–the ones thatpeople generally use to find your site.
• Make detailed notes about the sites that appear regularly inthe top ten listings for your major keywords.
• Use the AlexaToolbar, LinkPopularity or Technorati to find out what other sites thesesites are linking to, whose linking to them and how much trafficthey’re receiving, then look up their contact information.
• Before making contact, make sure you know the correct URL forthe site, the URL of the sub-page on which you want your link toappear, the name of the site owner or webmaster, the date you lastvisited their site, and a brief description of the contents of thesite.
• When you’re ready to contact the owners of these website andrequest a link, write a personal e-mail–don’t use form letters. Besure to include some positive comments about their site,information about you and your site (along with your URL), anexplanation of why a link to you would benefit them, andinstructions for contacting you to get started.

You want your request to be thorough and professional. If youcan present a persuasive argument for why the link request benefitsboth of you, you stand a better chance of forging a connection. Andif you’re really eager to get your link on their site, be preparedto up the ante by offering them a commission or a link on your sitein return. The investment could be well worth the extra exposureyour marketing message receives.