Negotiate Reciprocal Link Exchanges

If you have a web site, a fundamental goal should be to get more visitors. Although you should promote your site offline as well as online, it is often far easier to get someone to your site if they are already sitting in front of their computer and browsing the Internet. If you can make it easy for people to click over to your site without having to type in your web site address, you’re a step ahead of the game.

One way to do this is by developing a series of reciprocal links. Take a good look at other web sites frequented by your ideal prospect. In return for a link to your site, offer to provide one to theirs.

When other site owners create links to your site, they create opportunities for more visitors to find their way to your site. It’s really that simple. The more links that exist, the more ways there are for visitors to find you. Think of your web site as you would a physical store. You wouldn’t want to be the only business down a dead-end street, would you? Neither should you want to have only one way into your online store.

There are other reasons to seek out link exchanges. Some search engines - notably Google, the 800-pound gorilla - base their decisions about how high to rank sites on link popularity. In essence, the more links that exist to your site, the more likely it is to out-rank competitive sites that the search engines believe are not as popular.

Be judicious in your choice of partners, though. Just getting traffic isn’t enough. The key is to get links from sites that are visited by the people you would most like to have visit your site. Ask prospective partners for the nitty-gritty details on who visits their site, how often, where they come from and whether or not they buy. Only then will you be informed enough to make the best decisions you can for your unique site and situation.