Link Exchange & Articles
So you’ve done everything right. You have your site up, you’re constantly putting fresh optimized content on it, you’re registering with the search engines – but not too often! – and you’re even working on a regular newsletter.
But your site still pops up at #124 in the Google rankings. Seriously, who searches through thirteen pages of links to find your business? And since you’re doing everything right, why are all these other sites ranking higher than you?
It could be the lack of linking to your page. Search engines today are getting smarter. They look at keywords, but they also look at who considers a page important. Get yourself cited in the New York Times online? If there’s a link to your site, you will see a huge boost in your ranking.
But without committing some sort of massive SEC fraud or saving sixty-eight babies from a fire, how do you get people to link to you?
Link Exchanges
The easiest way to get linked is to scratch someone else’s back. Say you sell camping gear. You frequent a website that sells orienteering maps, and another that sells MREs. These people aren’t direct competitors, but their products are complementary to yours. You’d love to be associated with them.
So you put together a simple email, introducing yourself, citing a link to your website, and telling the webmasters of these other sites why you think linking to one another would be beneficial to both of you. Most of the time, the webmasters of the other sites will be happy to trade links with you. And now you have another link to your site.
Granted, a link from Land’s End is more valuable than a link from Joe’s Maps. But any link is going to help your ranking in the search engines.
You can find great sites to link to you by going to the search engines. The higher the site ranks on Google, the more attention Google will pay to your site when the other site links to you.
And the best way to link to someone else’s site is not to set up a links page. Instead, write some articles that include a link to their website. Even better, write or buy a group of private label articles that would be of interest to THEIR customers. Perhaps you want to do an article on long-distance hiking, and one of the tips you’re giving is how to carry ample supplies of food with you. MREs are one item you’re citing – and linking to Joe’s MREs gives Joe some traffic from you while also giving your customers an easy way to get the item they need. While you’re at it, offer Joe permission to quote or reprint your articles on his website with an author’s link back to your website. Now those articles you bought are doing double duty – they’re providing content for your website AND generating links that establish you and your site as an ‘authority’ in your field.
Making Money from Link Exchanges and Affiliate Linking
Consider this: when you send your customers to Joe’s for those MREs, he may have just had a sudden influx of traffic. He may even have had the best sales month ever, just because of your referrals.
Well, getting a commission wasn’t part of the deal, and even though Joe is happy for the business, he may not be happy with you if you ask for one after the link’s been exchanged!
If, however, you have a record of doing this, you may be able to make money from a type of link exchange called “affiliate linking.†Amazon.com pioneered this system with people who wanted to sell books relevant to their content. Instead of just sending people to Amazon to purchase these books, they used a special type of link that Amazon was able to track easily. When people clicked these links and purchased the books, Amazon was able to determine who had sent the customer there, and paid a commission to the website for the business.
Affiliate linking is generally not going to be available from Joe, so just make sure he links back to you. But if you look around, you can find affiliate linking systems that will not only raise your rankings in the search engines through reciprocal links, but also generate revenue for your site by paying you commissions for sales. While many websites simply put up a list of ‘our friends and affiliates’ on a separate page, there is a better way to do it – a way that’s proven to generate more sales – affiliate links within articles.
How does that work, you’re wondering? Suppose you’ve set up an affiliate agreement with Anita’s Fishing Gear, a site that sells handmade fishing lures. You could just add Anita to your ‘friends’ page and hope that people click through to her site. Or you could commission several private label articles on fishing and handmade fishing lures, and at the end of each article, drop in a ‘soft-sell’ paragraph saying that you’ve found a great source of handmade fishing lures and linking to Anita’s site. The articles establish you as an expert who is qualified to recommend Anita’s handmade fishing lures, making people far more likely to click through than a banner ad or a plain link.
The Internet is a goldmine of marketing opportunity, and not every profit venture out there is dependent on you making sales from your site. Keep your eyes and ears open, do your research, and be ready to seize new opportunities when they come available, and you’ll maximize your web presence as well as your income.
