Link Exchange

There's a good reason we call this the World Wide Web: links. Links (short for "hyperlinks") between sites create a web of information, full of willy-nilly connections back and forth. To make sense of the potentially messy concept, search engines were created in an attempt to help you find what you need.

Of course you know all this, but here's the rub: Both links and search engines are very important in making sure your site gets the attention it deserves. But links are really the key factor. The more links to your site, logically, the more visitors will come from other web sites to yours.

But most people actually come from search engines, not other sites (theoretically). So why be so concerned about links from other sites, especially since you can't control who puts them there?

Today's search engines, bogged down with trying to index the entire web (an impossible task), have settled with trying to help us find the best information out there, rather than all of it. That makes sense. One way they determine the "best" sites, is link popularity. The more sites in their index that link to yours, the higher your ranking will be for the keywords on your site. It's that simple.

So you can submit your site to all the search engines in the world (although only ten or so really matter), wait for people to come, and be sadly disappointed. On the other hand, you can resign yourself to building up your web presence one site at a time, and eventually your perseverance will pay off with very high rankings on the search engines (not to mention many hits from other sites).

There's no guarantee that someone else will add a link to your site. But you can stack the odds in your favor. First, make sure you have helpful, well-organized information on your web site. You'll never succeed without it. Second, find the sites you would like to have link back to yours (a reciprocal link). Then follow this process:

How to get reciprocal links

Add a link to their site first. Other people are much more likely to link to you if they see that you've done something for them. Next, find something about their site that you like (you've probably already found it--otherwise you wouldn't have chosen them). Then send an e-mail with a very short message stating:

• You have added a link to their site on yours (they'll be happy to see that)
• Tell them what you like about their site
• Ask them to add a link back to your site

That's it! Not everyone will return the favor, but a good percentage will. This will result in your web site gaining an ever-stronger presence on the web, meaning sales, sales, sales!

We at Bright Outlook recommend adding at least ten links a week to other sites (and negotiating reciprocal links) for the first few months and then ten a month thereafter, at least until you've reached the level of visibility you want. (On the other hand, why stop then, when you can grow even bigger!)

We would be glad to assist you in this process (see our maintenance page).