Attention
Linking partners*:
link to us and empower
your site's positioning
on the search engines.
Simply add the following
information to your
site using the following
instructions:
1.
Have your webmaster
copy the code inside
the block to your
website Link exchange
page. This code will
open a new window
to our site so that
visitors will not
entirely leave your
site:
The code above will
look like this on
your website:
Fishing Carolinas " Guide to Marine Related Products and Services."
2. Send an
email
to the webmaster
or simply fill in
form below including
your site
title, your
site description,
your url,
the url where
yourdomain.com's Link
is located
on your site. Make
sure the Link is on
a page that is accessible
from your website's
home page and that
it is no deeper than
2 clicks from your
home page with no
hidden Linkings (no
frames, javascript,
etc.).
Your Link will be
placed usually within
24 to 48 hours after
our review at which
time you will be notified.
Thanks
and we wish you success
on the Internet.
Sincerely,
Rick Romero
Fishing Carolinas.
webmaster
*
Note: Fishing Carolinas.com
reserves the right
to decline Linking
requests from our
web site based on
our sole discretion.
Get high quality
animated flags for
your site:
Free
Gifs and Animations
- Everything needed
to build or enhance
your website.
  
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The
first question you
have to ask and answer
about whether to embark
on a Linking
program for
your website is "why".
After all, it's work,
time and money.
It has to stand up
to business analysis.
I've been doing reciprocal
Linking for websites
since 1996. In that
time, I've seen
this work evolve from
one that was primarily
a way for niche interest,
hobbyist-oriented
sites to reach out
to each other, to
one that is now a
business function,
often driven by the
need for quality traffic
exchange, and good
search engine results.
Web
Promotion Before Google
Before Google
came along and put
the focus on Link
popularity, only the
savviest businesses
were running Link
directories and pursuing
Linkings with other
relevant sites.
Most businesses ignored
reciprocal Linking.
The prevailing wisdom
was that a business
website should not
Link out to anyone
else, if they could
help it. The
concept was that you
should capture visitors,
hold them hostage,
and never, ever cooperate
with anybody else.
This has been proven
wrong.
What's interesting,
though, is that the
purpose and Linking
methods that worked
well for those niche
sites in the pre-Google
days still work well
today. It is important
to keep this in focus,
as there are now a
lot of people out
there who are trying
to do this work using
misguided methods,
for misguided reasons.
Why Link?
First and foremost,
Linking should be
pursued as a branding
function of your business.
If other websites
that are relevant
to your business are
running Link directories,
and offering to Link
yours for free, then
it makes sense to
get your site Linked.
In as many of them
as possible.
That is just basic
Common Sense 101.
In order to get these
Linkings, the accepted
protocol is to first
Link the other site
on your site, then
make the request for
a Link, using the
proper method of submission
(via email or online
form, if one is provided).
This work is specifically
termed "directory-to-directory
reciprocal Linking".
Before people started
playing games with
Page Rank and Alexa
rankings, and other
tangential matters
related to Linking,
most Linking took
place between sites
within relevant realms
of interest. Asking
for Linkings outside
of your realm was
not only rude, but
it was almost always
a waste of time. Relevancy
was the primary criteria,
and as long as there
was some sound reason
for the exchange,
and each webmaster
approved of the other's
site, it was done.
It's a private exchange
between two willing
parties, and it should
not be judged by others.
The Linking Challenge
The challenge
here is that there
is a lot of data management
work involved in managing
directory-to-directory
reciprocal Link exchanges.
So when search engines
started to reward
sites that had Linkings,
the search engine
optimization (SEO)
crowd, which had largely
ignored Linking, suddenly
needed them in order
to succeed.
The SEO crowd began
to devise all manner
of strategies that
were designed to allow
them to get the results
they wanted, but with
as little Linking
work as possible.
We've seen theories
that only Linkings
from pages with Page
Rank (PR) 4 and higher
were "worthwhile".
People claimed that
un-reciprocated Linkings
were "hurting"
your rankings through
"PR-leakage",
a concept that has
been proven to have
no merit. There's
even more bizarre
stuff out there, but
you get the idea.
Over time, it is becoming
clear that the websites
that have ignored
all of these complex
theories and still
treat Linking as a
branding function
of the business, whereby
they simply continue
to pursue relevant
Linkings with quality
sites, are still doing
the best with the
search engines.
I see this all the
time. Traditional
Linking with quality
relevant sites works.
Sites that Link with
quality sites relevant
to the same industry
get the double benefit
of having their sites
Linked in as many
relevant locations
as possible, thus
getting quality traffic
directly from the
Linkings, while enjoying
considerable search
engine benefits.
The
Long Term Commitment
and Payoff
Treat this work as
a branding function
of your business.
One that never ends.
Commit to it, with
tools, a budget, and
dedicated human resources
that will do it properly.
Look at it as a long
term necessity that
really does pay
dividends.
It may not be the
easiest thing to manage,
but many website owners
consider reciprocal
Linking to be the
single most cost-effective
marketing investment
that they have made
in their sites. There
are other ways to
get Linkings to your
site, such as the
outright purchase
of Linkings, or the
pursuit of content
citations back to
your site. But on
a cost per Link basis,
directory-to-directory
reciprocal Linking
is a very favorable
investment, when done
properly.
Google has risen to
the top of the search
engine world, in a
large part because
their algorithm that
takes Linking into
account. It is highly
unlikely that they
will turn their back
on it, and recent
indexing changes at
Google have only further
supported traditional,
honest Linking practices.
On a more fundamental
level, Linking is
the very foundation
of HTML. Which stands
for Hypertext Markup
Language. The term
Hypertext specifically
refers to text that
is Linked and "active".
That is, you can click
on it in an HTML browser,
and the browser will
take you to that location
on the World Wide
Web. The attraction
of text-based Linking
was the founding reason
behind HTML and the
World Wide Web. Prior
to that, people using
the Internet had to
enter their destinations
manually using arcane
codes. HTML and browsers
made it easy to navigate
the Web.
It's very basic, really.
The World Wide Web
is a new and unique
medium. It is a computer
network, based entirely
on Linkings between
pages. The more Linkings
you have, the more
opportunities you
have for people to
visit your website.
Linkings are literally
the currency of the
World Wide Web.
All of this comes
down to choices. As
it stands right now,
those who make no
effort to Link their
sites in some way
will only continue
to fall further behind
their competitors.
Since directory-to-directory
reciprocal Linking
is the most cost effective
way to get this done,
then it should be
very high on your
Link of necessary
tasks, if you are
serious about promoting
a commercial website.
It goes with the territory.
Article
by Dirk Johnson
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