| I have been using the services of
a wonderful facility, which has taken almost all of
the work out of my ‘Linking Program’ (if
you have a website that relies on Search Engine traffic,
I really do hope you have one!). The facility is named
Linkmarket.com.
Don’t worry, I am not affiliated in any way and
I don’t get any type of reward for referrals,
but I do refer people because it is really such a wonderful
facility and it’s free, unless you choose to ‘upgrade’
to paid membership, which I am seriously considering
doing, in light of the behavior I have observed recently.
I know there have been a fair number of articles on
the Internet and on this particular website regarding
‘linking’, it’s importance, how to
do it and what not to do. This article is kind of a
plea. I’m pleading with people who don’t
realize that linking to every single website that’s
willing to link back, can be a DISADVANTAGE rather than
do them any good at all.
Firstly, the way Linkmarket.com works is simple but,
as I said, wonderful. You join (free at first, with
some minor limitations). You supply your website details,
including your category, site name and description and
you are listed in their directory. You then have the
ability to peruse their directory and select websites
with which you would like to arrange a reciprocal link
(if you’re a paid member, the Google PR and Alexa
ranking are displayed – very handy!). It works
like this:
- Your ‘request’ is popped off to them
and they can respond with a YES or a NO (again, if
they’re paid members, your PR and Alexa ranking
are displayed in the request – very handy!).
If it’s NO, nothing more occurs.
- If it’s YES, you get a reply asking you to
place their link on your website (all supplied in
a neat little box to copy & paste) and supply
the URL location of the link. Linkmarket.com software
confirms the link is in place and…
- Advises them and they, in turn, are given your
link in the same format as you received theirs. They
place your link and also advise the URL, which the
software confirms.
Easy as one, two, three. In fact, that’s what
the process steps are called (1,2 3). No emails, no
keeping track of with whom you’ve linked (that’s
kept track of for you) and no feeling like a nuisance
for sending emails to complete strangers because everyone
is there for the same purpose, to exchange links.
What’s not so nifty or wonderful, and it has
nothing to do with Linkmarket.com, is the type of websites
that you get requests to link with. I really think some
of these people need to link with reality before they
try linking with other websites.
Of course, one of the features you get as a 'paid'
member, is you can nominate the types of website that
you wish to receive requests from.
In addition to my Home Based Business websites, for
which I have separate ‘accounts’, I have
a website called ‘R.A.I.S.E’ (Rheumatoid
Arthritis Information Support and Education). A non-profit
website devoted to all things to do with this particular
disease (from which I suffer). I cannot understand why
I continually get multiple requests per day from totally
unrelated websites, especially those dealing with gaming,
travel and satellite dishes. I know that the majority
of these websites are ‘affiliate’ type websites,
in very competitive areas trying to expand their web
presence and obtain a better search engine ranking.
However, don’t these people realize that a link
from a website dealing with Rheumatoid Arthritis will
not help them one iota. Nada, Zip, Zilch, Bupcus. In
fact, they’ll be very lucky not to be penalized
by the SE’s for such a ridiculous practice.
Please people, understand that a link is only of any
use to you if it is from a website with related subject
matter. I will link with any website that has the same
type of content and is in the same category, even those
with low or no PR, as I feel that they won’t harm
my ranking and I don’t mind helping a new website.
But what makes this behavior more perplexing is that
I recently changed my domain and have no PR, so these
people must be linking to virtually everything in the
directory!
We all know that the practice of reciprocal linking
has gotten way out of hand, what with people now actually
asking for money to link to your lower PR website, but
this indicates it has gone beyond the sublime and into
the realm of the ridiculous. I'll say it again - some
webmasters really do need a ‘link with reality’
rather than any more websites.
About the Author
Stephen Brennan is the author of ‘The Affiliate
Guide Book’ – The Definitive guide to becoming
a successful Internet Affiliate (at little or no cost)
– available at http://www.online-plus.biz.
He is also Webmaster at R.A.I.S.E – http://www.ra.online-plus.biz |
