Reciprocal link exchange directory

Having a web site is all well and good but if you are like most people starting out, just like I was, then you are thinking "build it and they will come". Unfortunately this is far from the truth. The real story is "if they can find you they might come".

You can bring visitors to your site using many different methods but they all pale in comparison to visitors coming from the search engines. There are 2 powerful reasons:

Being in the search engines isn't enough. You must be on the first page to really benefit, that means in the first 10 to 20 listings because few people look beyond the first page.

This is where having a reciprocal link exchange directory is very valuable. A reciprocal link exchange is the act of linking to another site and they reciprocate by linking back to you. The search engines believe that if other sites are linking to you then you must have value and if you have value then they want to rank you higher in their listings. Therefore the more reciprocal links coming to your site the better, right?

You must keep the sites you swap links with tightly themed. That is, only swap links with web sites that are related to the theme of your web site. For example it would not be a good idea for me to link this site to a site about dog breeding, it is completely unrelated and the search engines would penalize me for it (or certainly not reward me). But it would be a good idea to exchange reciprocal links to a site about working from home or Internet marketing.

A sometimes overlooked bonus of being listed in the reciprocal link exchange directory of another site is some of the other sites visitors will come to your site through the link. Multiply that by 100's of links and it will add up.

The 2 best information resources that I have read on using links to increase your search engine popularity and subsequently make more money are:

TIP 1: don't use link farms. A link farm is a web site that will give you 100's or even thousands of links if you link back to them. Search engines hate these and will punish you for using them.

TIP 2: when you are searching for web sites to exchange links with, look for ones with a higher Google page rank than your own. If you don't know what I'm talking about download the Google toolbar

TIP 3: there are a lot of online search directories. Do a search for "directories", visit the ones you like and add your web site URL. By doing that you have just created a link back to yourself. The most powerful directory link you can have is from Yahoo! but it will cost you $299/year. Another very important directory is The Open Directory Project which everyone should be in because sites like Google get their results from there (I think this may have changed but it is still very important).

TIP 4: join some online forums similar in theme to your site and post some messages. The trick is to put your web site address in the sig file (signature file) which will automatically be attached to every message you post and thereby create a link back to you every time you post a message.

Signature file example:
Kind Regards,

Murray Hughes
http://www.007WorkFromHome.com
Licensed To Make Money - - Learn FREE. Savage The Internet And Explode The Bank.

It's a good idea to include similar sig files at the end of all your email messages. Read my article How To Get Visitors Through Signature (Sig) Files, to learn more.

TIP 5: Your "Links" page should be reachable from the navigation. On your "Links" page have instructions describing how someone can post a link and the link you would like them to posted on their site. I prefer to view links before I post them in case they are not appropriate.

TIP 6: Make sure every external link in your site opens in a new window, this way you will keep your visitors longer instead of sending them away the first time they click on a link. To do this all you need to do is add a tiny little bit of code to your link HTML.

Example: 007WorkFromHome.com - If you click on this link it will open my site again in a new window. Look at the code I have highlighted below, that's what makes it open in a new page.

<a href="http://www.007workfromhome.com" target="_blank">007WorkFromHome.com</a>

Recommended Resource 1:

SiteBuildIt! - Perfect if you are just starting out
SBI! is a product of Ken Evoy's SiteSell empire. It is an all in one package and what some people say represents the future of web hosting. SiteBuildIt is an excellent tool (combination of many tools really) for beginners. There are heaps of features:

SBI! is an online service that provides you with an easy point and click interface for creating your own attractive and professional web site
SBI! includes brainstorming tools for choosing your theme and keywords
SBI! incorporates tools for search engine optimization
SBI! auto submits your web site to the search engines and tracks search engine spiders and provides ranking reports
SBI! includes domain registration
SBI! includes web hosting of unlimited pages
SBI!! permits unlimited bandwidth
SBI includes unlimited autoresponders (a tool for sending email automatically when someone subscribes to your ezine, newsletter, tips etc)
SBI! includes ad-campaign management
SBI! includes click through analysis
SBI! provides you with a linking service (very important for search engine rankings)

Written by Murray Hughes
007 Work From Home
Licensed To Make Money! - Learn FREE. Savage The Internet And Explode The Bank.

Reciprocal Link Exchange Directory