Lots of people get confounded when attempting to exchange
links, you’re not alone. The people who have the spot you want
are competitors. The people who don't aren't worth exchanging
links with. What to do?
It's not necessarily the method you're using, it may be the
approach.
If you know anything about SEO, you know you need relevant
links to your site, preferably more in than you have out. And
whether you actively pursue search engine listings or not,
you’ll find that many surfers travel the web through the links
they find, often without realizing it.
So how do you achieve this without linking to the sites you
are competing with?
Think Parallel Markets.
When most people think of this term, they are speaking from an
investment standpoint. In this discussion, I'm simply
referring to groups of products and services which cater to
people with similiar needs.
If your market is delivery or carry-out pizza, your market is
fast food. But your parallel market might be frozen pizzas,
Italian food store chains, or cheese, maybe even films.
Pizza delivery chains offer free DVDs with a delivery order
because they figure that people who eat pizza at home watch
films while they eat - ordering in and watching a movie is
(sadly) the new third date.
To discover your parallel market, think of things that your
customers have in common that brings them to your site, then
eliminate things that compete.
So now you know *who* to ask to link to you. But *how* do you
get them to link back?
Especially as a new webmaster, it helps if you think from the
opposing end of your desires.
Meaning that, before you ask for something, think of what you
can give in return. What are the other person's needs? If you
don’t know, you can probably find out by subscribing to their
newsletter or feed.
That way, when you write to them, instead of sending the
standard cookie-cutter email, you can add personalized
information that lets them know that you have been to their
site repeatedly, list specific issues they have stated before,
and use this information to make it worth their while.
Which email would you answer? The one that is obviously a
copy, personalized only with your email address? Or the one
that states your name and shows that the other person has
actually been to your site before?
So take a look at your site. Why should anyone link to you?
What will they get out of the deal? Is your site a great
resource? Do you have a higher Google PR? Do you do site
reviews? Or maybe you’ll just use whatever text they ask for?
When you first start out, with no links back to your site,
find other people in your parallel markets who need links too.
You're both in the same boat. Help each other.
Then as you see your traffic rising, you can start going after
bigger and bigger fish. But again, make it worth their while.
Here are some ways in which you can make a link trade a little
more attractive.
Method One: The Recommendation Exchange
When I know of a site that sells inexpensive tools for new
marketers that are ready to advance to the next level, I refer
a lot of my more advanced crowd to them, and they send me
their beginners.
So in approaching them, I might tell them that not only have I
already linked to them, but if they link back I’ll also write
about them in my blog and my newsletter. Costs me nothing but
an extra five minutes, and I’m more likely to get a little bit
more than the link trade.
Method Two: The Bribe
This can also increase your reputation as an expert in your
field.
Pick five people who are a bit more knowledgeable than you.
Ask them if they’d like to be interviewed, for a collection,
and offer to distribute the resulting resource for free to
their audience, if they’ll link to your home page, where the
free ebook can be downloaded.
You've got their link, they've got free publicity in a book
they can - and probably will - distribute for you.
Method Three: Use That Feed
There are the sites that want to carry a relevant, frequently
updated feed in order to get more search engine visits. So, if
you have a feed, you could send that webmaster a link to your
feed, and tell them how they can use tools like CARP, RSS
Equalizer or RSS Digest to display your feed on their site.
If you update daily, and you're willing to take the bandwidth
hit, you might find that they don't even mind a one way link.
Method Four: The Barter
Give them a free copy of your book if they’d link to you.
Offer to link back to them if they’ll write a testimonial
about the book.
Method Five: The Testimonial
This is a slight variation on the recommendation, because it
sometimes ends up as more of a one-way trade.
If you sincerely enjoy a service or product that you bought,
go back and pull up the sales page. If the links on the page
for the testimonials are live, offer your testimonial.
Caution: Only offer testimonials on products you really used
and benefitted from. It’s fine to put your name on something
controversial if you really believe in it, but if you give a
testimonial just for a link back to your site, you’re messing
with your good name.
You should also know that they may not use your testimonial on
their site, unless it’s really good - so and try to be as
specific as possible about how their product helped you.
The point is, if you think creatively, you can solve your
linking problem.
Tinu carries on various internet marketing related
discussions in her blog at
http://FreeTrafficTip.com .
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