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Search Engine Management : Anatomy Of A Reciprocal Linking Campaign

Reciprocal linking means forming partnerships with other sites for the purpose of link exchange. Each site hopes to benefit from the link exchange by building link popularity. Link popularity, in turn, is a solid method of to gain or improve search engine ranking.

When you look for link exchange partners, make sure that you don't reduce the quality or content of your own site. You don't want users to click straight through without reading your content; you want them to take action on your own site rather than leave empty handed.

One way to stop them from running away too quickly is to create a "Webmasters Resource Page" and link to it from your homepage. This doesn't take away from the content on your homepage, and the links are just one click away rather than buried deep within the site, giving value to your partners.

In any case, you want to be sure that your site is more than just a page full of links. If there are more links than content, the site will be considered a link farm, making it unattractive to webmasters, search engines and users.

Picking Link Exchange Partners

Your link partners should be sites your target market will visit. Think about your product and its subject area and brainstorm to determine where people interested in your product might look online.

For example, if you're trying to shift your book about blackjack strategy, it makes sense that the people visiting online casinos would make great customers. Online casinos could then be good partners. Identify top-ranked, high quality casino sites and find the email address, telephone number and snail mail address of their webmasters.

You can also identify your competitors and see where they trade links. After all why reinvent the wheel when you can use your competitor's hard work!

Seven Top Tips For Requesting Reciprocal Link Exchanges...

1. Before you contact webmasters, place a link to their site on your resource page to assure them that you will actually provide a quality link.
2. Create a subject line that will encourage them to read your message rather than deleting it - you don't want them to think you're spamming them. (Something about their site or product is sure to capture their attention; they will open it, thinking you're a potential customer.) Hint - subscribe to their ezine and reply using the ezine subject line as the subject of your reply.
3. Open your message by mentioning your visit to their site, and what you found interesting about it. Detail your product or service in one line, and ask for a link exchange.
4. Tell them in detail where you have placed their link, including the precise URL. Include directions where to find the link on the page, emphasizing that it is only one click away from your homepage.
5. Tell them that if you don't hear back in a specific number of days, you will consider it a negative response and you will remove their link from your site. Give them enough time to respond, but don't leave it open ended.
6. Sending a reciprocal link request by email is becoming less and less effective due to spam filters and the high volume of email traffic received by webmasters of busy sites. Try sending your request on a postcard, or better still make a phone call.
7. Tell the webmaster how they will benefit from the reciprocal linking arrangement - explain what's in it for them.

Copyright John Taylor PhD August 2005 - All rights reserved.

About The Author: For more information on reciprocal linking by John Taylor PhD, visit http://www.Link-Advantage.com

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