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| The Axandra newsletter archive - 8 July 2003 |
| How to optimize your linking campaign
How can your site obtain high search engine rankings and get targeted traffic? You probably already know the answer: reciprocal links.
Getting many incoming links from reputable sites to your web site will bring you high search engine rankings. On top of that, those links will bring you targeted traffic.
To get incoming links to your site, you must write to webmasters and ask for reciprocal links. However, after writing hundreds of those link request messages, you start to notice that you've never received a positive response.
Why is this so and what can you do to optimize your linking campaign? Just take a look at successful linking campaigns. They all have several strategies in common:
- Before asking someone to place a link to your web site, link to that person first. If you give potential link partners something in advance, they're much more likely to link back.
- Tell potential link partners in your link request messages where they can find the reciprocal link to their site.
- Your link directory pages should be easy to find on your site. Don't bury reciprocal links deep in your site but give them a prominent listing.
If people cannot find your link directory when they surf your web site, a link in your link directory won't mean much to potential link partners so they won't link back to you.
Contrary to popular belief, you won't lose visitors by a good link directory. If your link directory is worthwhile to your visitors, they'll come back to your site.
If you're still not convinced, you can also open the links to your link partners in an extra window so that your site remains opened.
- Make sure that your link pages look good. It's very important that your link directory pages have a nice design and appeal to the eye of your visitor.
If your link partners see a link to their web site on an attractive web page, they'll give that link a higher value than a link from a generic page.
- Offer your link partners an incentive to link back to you. For example, you could move web sites that link back to you to the top of your link pages and mark them with a special "Recommended!" picture.
- Be polite and personal in your link request email messages. If there's a single important factor to the success of your link request messages, then this is it: don't make your email messages look like spam.
It's crucial that your link request message contains personal words about the site of your link partner. Add 2-3 sentences about unique things of the potential link partner's web site. Then they'll be sure that you've actually visited their site.
This is the reason why mass email messages don't work when requesting link request messages.
- Include full contact information and a phone number in your link request messages. It adds a personal touch to your emails and it lets webmasters easily contact you to discuss the link partnership.
If you take these tips to heart, you'll certainly get a good response rate to your email messages.
Further information about writing good link exchange messages and improving the effectiveness of your linking campaign can be found in the "Tips and Tricks" chapter of our free eBook.
If following the tips above look like a lot of work, then you don't know our specialized linking campaign tool ARELIS.
ARELIS helps you with all of the aspects mentioned above, for example it helps you to create attractive link pages in the design of your web site quickly and easily.
In addition, it can automatically insert the URL of the reciprocal link in your link exchange messages, it helps you to keep track of your link partners, it can mark web sites that link back to you with a special image, it can automatically move them to the top of the list and much more. You can download a free demonstration copy of ARELIS here.
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| 2. Search engine news of the week |
Google AdWords ads begin matching misspellings
According to postings in the WebmasterWorld.com forum, Google AdWords ads are showing up for incorrectly spelt words. For example, if you paid for the keyword "hotel", your ad may now be displayed for "htls".
Many webmasters are upset of this change because they think that Google should have notified them in advance. In addition, they fear that they now have to pay for false keyword matches and that the quality of the ad traffic might be diluted.
Freeserve drops Google in favor of Overture
"Freeserve, the UK's largest ISP, is dropping Google as its search provider in favor of new deal with Overture. The deal will not only impact on Freeserve but the entire Wannadoo Group - Freeserve's parents."
Overture broadens MSN deal
"Overture Services said Monday that it lengthened its distribution deals with Microsoft's Web portal MSN in several international territories [...] Under its expanded deal with MSN, Overture will distribute its listings to MSN Search in the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Japan and South Korea through December 2004."
About.com adopts blog technology for all 450 guide sites
"About.com has announced that they have changed their entire site of guide driven informational sites into, well, the world's largest BLOG!
About.com is now using blog technology to keep their information updated and fresh. They have moved all 450 home pages to a blog format."
Search engine newslets
"Search engines' display of miniature images is fair use under copyright law, a federal appeals court ruled Monday, but the legality of presenting full-size renditions of visual works is yet to be determined."
"The city of Chicago will use Fast Search & Transfer's (FAST) technology to help residents find information through its government portal."
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Interview with Google's Sergey Brin and Larry Page
Larry Page: "We had this big leap of faith and we said we're going to sell text ads. The business people looked at us like we were crazy founders. Which we were of course. And it turned out that it was a really good bet. It wasn't very obvious at the time. We were very lucky."
Consumers don't trust paid-for search
"Consumers lose faith in search results when they are informed that some of the results are paid for. Says who? Says Consumer WebWatch, an arm of America's Consumer Union."
Googlelashing
"But if Google's critics are misguided, it has to be said that Google itself bears a large part of the blame for the moral opprobrium it receives, because it insists upon being judged in moral terms. [...] When such moral terms are introduced by Google into the harsh reality of commercial transactions, this can only result in arbitrary decisions -- such as the search engine's policy of accepting advertising for pornography, but rejecting advertising for alcohol or tobacco products."
Google and weapons of mass destruction
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