europeforvisitors - 2:54 am on Dec 1, 2001 (gmt 0)

itrainu:

If you're talking about editorial links (as opposed to "Sprinks" PPC links), here are a few things to keep in mind:

1) About.com is on an e-commerce kick these days, and many of the "guides" (as the freelance editors of the sites are known) are spending less time on their links directories and more time on product reviews, MySimon.com links, and so on. Others have cut back on their time commitments because pay has been cut drastically for higher-traffic guides (85% or more in some cases).

2) Many sites are now unguided. If you see a site with an "Apply Now" sign instead of a guide name and photo, that means the site isn't being maintained. My former goeurope.about.com site is a case in point: The content hasn't been updated since September. Another site, Women's Investing, has been without a guide for more than a year. If you were to submit a URL to those sites, you'd be wasting your time.

If you find a site that seems to have fresh editorial content (not just e-commerce pages) and still has a guide name and photo on it, click on the guide photo to see a short biography. If that page doesn't have an e-mail address on it, try typing:

[(sitename).about.com...]

On many sites, this will take you to a page of contact information that includes an e-mail address.

P.S.: About.com links are definitely worth having if you can get them, since About.com pages have decent Google pageranks and are spidered regularly by Google.