Is Your Website's Link Directory Even Worth Having?
By Derek Arnold
Let’s face it, getting
(and keeping) a good Google page rank is no easy task and
requires constant attention. Not just in getting reciprocal
links, but honing your Meta tags, and keeping your content
fresh. But we are here to discuss only one part of the
pagerank dilemma. In fact this article will focus more on
other, and in some cases, more important benefits of a proper
links directory.
Directory Structure
Categorize your
directory well- Meaning the more categories you have the
better organized your directory is. More categories means
your visitors can locate particular links a lot faster.
Minimize the depth of
your categories- You should not make your directory more
than three category levels deep, for instance if you are a
travel site and have a category for Jamaica, then the
structure example would be Travel>>Caribbean>>Jamaica. Easy
navigation for your site visitors is the main reason for
this.
Reason two for
minimizing your directory depth- Search engines will spider
each page of your website, they will determine the pagerank
of each page based on its content, and distance away from
your homepage. Use this as a rule of thumb; each level down
from your homepage will cost that page “one” pagerank point.
Using the example above, this is what is meant here,
Travel>>Caribbean>>Jamaica: the Travel” page would have the
highest pagerank being closest to your homepage, let’s say
it has been give a Google rank of 4, the next level
“Caribbean” in all likelihood would have a rank of 3, and so
on.
No more than 20 links
per page- There is not a link partner in the world that
wants his/her site to be on your link page as link number
100. I would rather be link number 3 on page number three
than link number 100 on page one. This is clutter, and
useless to all involved, you, your link partner and
especially your site visitor. Keep this in mind as well,
when the search engines spider your site they will also
notice more pages on your site thus determining that you
offer more content. Your link partners will also appreciate
it.
Relevant Links
Do your visitors
really care if you own a travel site and have links to
recipe sites? Of course not. Although locating good quality
link partners for your site will take more time, it will be
well worth it in the long run. If you have a travel site,
seek out rental cars, vacation spots, travel accessories,
and the like. Your visitors are on your site because they
(at that moment in time) are interested in what your site
has to offer, do not change the visitor’s train of thought
into anything other than what you want them to think about,
in this example, traveling and things associated with
traveling.
Make Money from your
links?
Of course! Reciprocal
linking is a great way to help your website’s search engine
ranking, but making immediate cash from your links is a
whole level up from that.
Join affiliate
programs like Commission Junction and add some affiliate
links to your directory. For our travel site example, you
can get offers like travel accessories, rental cars and the
like.
Have a good mix of
links to other sites and affiliate links- You do not want a
directory full of affiliate links, this is a major turn-off
to your visitors. As a matter of fact, you should have at
least a 10 to 1 ratio of regular links vs affiliate links.
Advertise in your
directory
Since you now have a
well organized directory with an excellent structure,
limited to 20 links per page, and a lot of pages with good
advertising space, it’s time to place some banners.
You can advertise some
of those good sites that you are affiliated with and place a
banner or two on every page.
Keep it neat- You
should have quality space on the left or right side of your
directory add a Skyscraper banner to either side (only one
per page though), it is well known that the bigger the
banner the more clicks on that banner you should receive. A
skyscraper is usually 120 x 600 in size. Add a single banner
at the top center of each page as well; make it a different
ad, offer something different than your skyscraper. This is
the most valuable banner location on any page, use it for
banners.
Sell banner spots- Now
that you have a well categorized directory, you can sell ad
space to vendors whose products or services appeal to that
particular category. You can even offer the top spot on a
particular page for sale or as a trade for the same kind of
link for your site in someone else’s directory.
Exceptions to the
rule
There are those sites
that do not fit into any category of your site that have that
HUGE Google page rank, and you want them to link with your
site. Here is a tip for you to keep those sites happy and get
that top rank. In addition to you’re regular links directory,
create a separate smaller reciprocal links directory. This may
be only 1-3 pages in size. This directory must have a direct
link from your homepage (most top rank sites require that),
and title it something like “Special Link Partners” or
“Recommended Links”. Add only page ranks of say 6-7 or higher
to this special directory. This will ensure your most
important link partners that you will not be burying their
link inside your link directory.
We have quite a large
selection of software in our downloads directory at
http://www.bullmarketer.com
that can help you automate the process of managing your own
links directory. One program in particular is
Arelis by Axandra.
This software is not only VERY user friendly but offers tons
of features. There is a free lite version available for
download.
Derek Arnold
Derek Arnold is the
President of BullMarketer.com, a webmaster resource site
offering many tools for webmasters, marketers, and designers.
Also has over 18 years of experience in the marketing and
advertising fields. Homepage:
http://www.bullmarketer.com
.gif)
