2. Link trading is the task of getting links to your site on
other sites by trading.. umm.. links. This is done to get
more traffic to you web site. Link trading creates more
traffic in two main ways, increased search engine
rankings and also from the traffic the links themselves
generate from people clicking on them.
4. Trading links helps search engine rankings because the
algorithms that determine rankings factor in the number
of sites that link back to the site to be ranked. The logic
is that sites that have many links pointing back to it must
be relevant and good in some sense, and are therefore
ranked higher in the engines.
6. Now that we know what link trading is, how is it done?
There are many methodologies. Since link trading can
involve many contacts, requests and link categorizations,
it is best to use software to handle your link trading
campaign.
8. The software you choose should allow you to create a
link directory, ad links to that directory, send requests to
have your link posted on other sites and a method for
keeping track of responses.
10. The general process begins when the site owner
identifies a site which he or she would like to trade links
with. Generally, these sites should be relevant to the
topic of your site, or at least have a section dedicated to
the topic of your site. Trading links with huge numbers
of unrelated sites will actually hurt your search engine
rankings in most cases. Also, usually it is a good idea to
look for well-ranked sites to trade links with. The
importance of a well-ranked site's link to your site in
search engine algorithms will be greater than those of
not so well ranked sites.
11. After the site to trade links with is located, a link to that
site is posted on your site. Sometimes the link would be
posted on a different site than the site wishing to get a
link back. This produces non-reciprocal links, which
weigh heavier in search engines.
12. After the link is posted, a request is sent that a link back
be posted, explaining that if a link back is not created,
the original link to the prospects site is likely to be
removed.
13. If a link is returned, then the trade is marked as
successful and each of the link traders has one more site
linking to it. Other wise a follow up is sent. If the follow
up still does not result in a link back, often the link
would be removed.
15. Asking to trade links without posting a link to the site
you are wishing to trade with is bad form. The prospect
is likely to think "If this person has not already posted a
link to my site, what will motivate them to do so when I
post a link to their site?" Many people will not even
respond to a link request whereas the link has not yet
been posted.
16. This is of course only a brief introduction to link trading.
In short, effective link trading requires organization,
persistence and time, yet is often well worth the effort.