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Increasing Your Link Popularity
By James Williams
Search engines
are the gateway to the Internet;
they are
the first tool that potential
customers use to find the
products and services they need.
This is why link
popularity is so imperative. If the
customers do not find
your website, you have no
possibilities of making any
sales.
You're probably wondering what the
blazes is popular about
a link! Well, in a word - plenty!
Link popularity refers to
the ranking assigned to your website
by the search engines,
and it determines the ranking your
page gets when keywords
are entered into a search engine.
So, you're probably
wondering, how do I make my link
popular?
Search engines are discretionary,
giving status and ranking
to sites that have links to their
pages from related,
quality sites. It's a simple
formula, but a very important
one. Google created the system, and
now virtually all the
most popular search engines employ
it to rank your web
pages in their indexes.
The more commonly used your keyword
is, the harder it will
be to achieve link popularity, but
without achieving this
step, it is almost certain your site
will never rank highly
on any search engine. But don't be
discouraged; there are
tried and true ways of achieving
link popularity using the
most competitive keywords.
There are a few things you should be
aware of. The first is
that just linking up with a large
number of other websites
will not achieve link popularity. In
fact, it may have
quite the opposite effect. This is
particularly true when
pertaining to websites that are
nothing more than "link
farms" - pages containing line after
line of indiscriminate
links. Search engines may
aggressively discriminate against
your website if you are associated
with a link farm, so
steer clear of them!
The next thing to bear in mind is
the quality of the site
you are linking to. Never link to a
page you have
reservations about your visitors
seeing. The last thing you
want your website to appear as is
indiscriminate and cheap.
Linking to sites of poor quality
will only lessen your link
popularity, if not completely
destroy it.
So let's get to what you need to do
to achieve supreme link
popularity and improve your rankings
to stellar status on
all the popular search engines.
The first step, and the fastest way
to get your foot in the
door, is to get a listing in a
popular directory, such as
Open Directory Project and Yahoo. If
your site is
business-related, you will want to
be listed on Yahoo, and
despite the fact that it will cost
you around $300 a year,
it will be money well spent. If your
site is
non-commercial, the listing will be
free, but it will take
time and follow-up to actually get
it listed. Open
Directory is gives you a free
listing whether you are
business-related or non-commercial,
but be prepared to make
a lot of follow-up inquiries before
you see your site
listed.
You are aiming to get listed in the
highest level of
appropriate category, and this just
takes some common
sense. For example, if your company
ships Alpaca wool from
an Alpaca farm located in the middle
of Nowhere, Tiny
State, do NOT submit your listing to
"Retailers from
Nowhere, Tiny State." BIG MISTAKE!
All you have to do is
look a little deeper - and submit
your listing to the "Fine
Alpaca Wool" category. You will not
only associate yourself
with culture and quality, but you
will be listed in a
national category.
The next step after you have
attained directory listings is
to locate other quality sites that
will increase your link
popularity. Try to find sites that
are in some way related
to yours, so not only will your link
popularity increase,
but your customer base may also be
expanded. You want to
avoid your competitors and look for
sites that are useful
to your site's visitors. Let's look
at the Alpaca Wool site
example. Linking up to a site that
sells knitting supplies
would be helpful to your visitors,
and the chances of the
knitting supply site wanting to link
up to your site are
also greater. By linking to a
related site that will be
relevant to your website's traffic,
you are increasing both
of your site's business prospects -
and both of your sites'
link popularity.
Not all sites want to link to other
sites, so you will have
to do some research when you are
looking for possible
linking partners. Google is an
excellent starting place for
your search. Make sure you enter
keywords that you think
quality customers will also enter to
find your own site.
Remember, your criteria are quality,
highly ranked,
non-competing websites that have a
links or resources page.
Go to these sites and objectively
assess them. Look at the
quality of the product, the
graphics, and the ease of use.
Then check out the other sites they
are linked to, and
determine if your own site would fit
in with the crowd.
When you decide you have found a
good prospect, you must
set out to woo them. The first thing
to do is to add a link
on your own links page to their
site. This is an essential
first step; it shows good faith, and
ups your chances
significantly of their reciprocity.
After you have added
their link, you must contact the
webmaster of their site.
Since this is almost always done by
email, you want to make
sure it is immediately clear that
your message is not junk
mail. This requires that you tell
them right off the bat
that you have added a link to their
page on your site. A
hook like this almost always insures
the reader will read
on.
Next, be sure to be flattering and
let them know how much
you appreciate their website. Make
sure you emphasize that
you have actually visited their
site, and that their site
is not just a random pick. Give them
the address of your
links page, and ask them to check
out the link for
themselves. It's a good idea to
mention that they will not
only benefit from the increased
traffic your website will
direct their way, but you will also
increase their link
popularity. Briefly, explain why
link popularity is so
essential, but do this in a sentence
or two so you don't
sound like a professor! Finally,
tell them you would
greatly appreciate if they would
reciprocally add a link on
their own links page to your
website.
Go through this process with as many
appropriate sites as
you can find, bearing in mind the
criteria of quality and
non-competitiveness. After you have
emailed all relevant
sites, be sure to check these
website frequently to see if
they have added a link to your page.
Give it about a month,
and if no link appears, try another
charming email. Then
give it another month, and if your
site is still absent
from their links page, it's time to
remove their link from
your own links page. The only time
you want to pursue a
link further than this is if you
believe a site is crucial
to your link popularity and your
business needs. Just
remember to keep all your
communications complimentary and
cordial.
Then set up a schedule to check your
ranking in search
engines frequently to see if your
link popularity has
improved. This is not achievable in
the blink of an eye. It
will take some time and a good deal
of work. There is no
way around the labor-intensive
quality of improving your
link popularity, which is why search
engines regard it with
such importance.
By the way - make sure you have a
beautiful, streamlined
site or you will never persuade
anyone to link up to you.
Be prepared to keep plugging away at
this process, as long
as it takes, until you achieve link
popularity stardom!
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