finding the free link

just keeps getting harder

[too much information]

Has anyone else noticed this? it seems like everyone is charging for links now. And their sites are not looking good with Google PR or Alexa rank.

Has the whole world gone to a pay for link system? Not to mention that most require a recip. link even though you paid for yours.

very strange...

[troels nybo nielsen]

Maybe you search for links the wrong places. Do you only search link partners in your own industry?

[too much information]

well I try to stick to the topic, but I have found (in life and on the internet) that you don't find customers by talking to your competition.

Funny that just today I have found a ton of new (free) links and a new way to market my site. I guess it's all in the way you search.

[trillianjedi]

I guess it's all in the way you search.

Too true. Bit of lateral thinking and you've found a whole new avenue....

TJ

[onedumbear]

How about letting the links come to you.
Not long ago I decided to take a different approach to getting links. I created a seperate site just for this purpose. I know that many people who are looking for places to add their link are searching on things like "widget websites" or "widget links" etc. etc. So i target these keywords on the site. So instead of targetting "widget and widgets" or "widget and widget red", i target "widget and widget links" or "widget and widget websites".
So now people that are searching for places to add their links find me, and in return for me placing their link on this site, they place one to one of mine.
No one has yet had a problem with placing a link to a different site than the one i am placing theirs on, and i would bet that most of them want their link on the page they found while searching anyway.
I created the site on a free hosting deal like tripod or geocities so it cost me nothing.

If you want me to sticky you the address to give you some ideas, i'd be happy to.

[cyberair]

I own a site that used to provide free links, but after this pagerank "gold rush" everyone wants me to add their free link. My website is a PR7, so thousands of people want a free link, and it is very time consuming. Therefore I decided to charge a 19.95 fee for revision. I think that's fair, and people should be aware that it is a lot of work for us to go to all the sites, verify their content, and approve them.

[troels nybo nielsen]

> it is very time consuming. Therefore I decided to charge a 19.95 fee for revision. I think that's fair

I think so too, cyberair

> and people should be aware that it is a lot of work for us to go to all the sites, verify their content, and approve them.

I hope that you write that somewhere on your website. I am sure that any sensible webmaster will be able to understand that.

And welcome to WebmasterWorld.

[sajjid]

i have a site and page rank varies from pr5 on link to pr7 on rest of the pages i only have one out going link on my links page i just put it there even though i didnt have, my question is should i add more links there because its a links page and will it effect me in any way

[nakulgoyal]

I agree cyberair. But selling PR is BAD and you might get into a trouble like this. What do others say?

When I work to get links for myself or for clients, I never bother about PR. I just insist on getting Links.

[mrwhy2k]

If selling PR is "BAD" then Yahoo! is bad, JoeAnt is bad, and DMOZ is the only Angel left.

If you have a directory and it cost money to be listed in the directory, I don't see any problem with that. However, if you pay a monthly fee to be listed in the footer of a PR7 website, then that is spam issue.

[sem4u]

Looking for links is time consuming by the benefits can be huge in terms of PR, traffic and even new business relationships.

You need to think laterally about hunting links down. Of course it is even better and more satisfying if you look in your logs and see people visiting your site from a link that other site owners / forum visitors put up. :)

[clearvision]

>...If you have a directory and it cost money to be listed in the directory, I don't see any problem with that. However, if you pay a monthly fee to be listed in the footer of a PR7 website, then that is spam issue.>

Confused...Why would this be a spam issue? The PR7 page is probably also very visible to most of its sites visitors. The company that is listing you on their PR7 site has worked to get that site to that position ( as we all can relate:).

We have an information based website, source of income - advertising and affiliate commissions. We are well indexed because of our content, and people buy ad space for that reason. Directory space is also considered real estate, real estate should cost something. Just like homes...if we want to live on a "link" farm, expect to pay nothing...if we want to live near a country club...it may cost you!

[jdancing]

Acquire one or two high ranked links and the Link Beggars will come to you. Set up an automated "add link for review" button and once a week weed out the 90% garbage sites that apply. Send those that send you Link Begging emails to the Link for Review button (most link beggars have never seen your site) Accept only links that add value to your site by clicking a button and automatically adding their link to a separate link page.

Also, make sure you have a good automated reciprocal link checker. When your checker can't find the link chances are neither can the search engines. Hit the Delete button.

Sure this costs money, maybe a 1-2k to set up. But your time is worth $50 - $100 per hour and begging for links 4 or 5 hours per day brings in little ROI and only junks up the web with more useless link pages built only for the SE spiders.

Don't spend more than 15 minutes per day on links. Links you accept should add value to your site. Instead, spend time building content that brings 1,000s of customers, that brings 100s of advertisers willing to spend lots of money to advertise your site. Then when you get this whole thing rolling those 2 links you bought at start will no longer needed. Ask that they start paying you for advertising on your site.

[Bompa]

"...Also, make sure you have a good automated reciprocal link checker. When your checker can't find the link chances are neither can the search engines. Hit the Delete button..."

What is everyone using for automated link checking?

Bompa

[pgsbs]

A question for Cyberair:
By charging a fee for a link you might scare off the webmasters that build websites for fun in their freetime. In my experience those websites are likely to have the best content because their heart is in it... By charging a fee you might ending up linking to commercial websites only. Isn't that bothering you?

[MsRach]

I'm one of the few people who bases a link's merit on:

1) If the site is related to my own
2) If the site has "real" content
3) If I think my website visitors will find the site useful

I don't ask for reciprocation, unless you believe the same three things above in regards to my site. I approve links each day for listing on my site for the sole reason being the site is a quality resource, related to my own site.

I could care less what a site's PageRank or Alexa rank is.

[cyberair]

Answer to pgsbs:

Our website is a very specific directory, it isn't one of those dmoz clone's or other general theme directory. All sites in this directory were evaluated and added, therefore making it very theme specific and of high quality to the visitors. Furthermore, it ranks in the top three on most search engines for our main theme. With over 5k websites manually approved, and thousands more that weren't, this job becomes very time consuming to our evaluation team. The fee being charged is not a large one like Yahoo's, but a mere 19.95 evaluation fee that we agreed would weed out the tons of irrelevant submissions.

This fee, we have seen, is of no impediment for small website owners. People who take pride in their website will understand this fee. I have also considered and agreed many times to do a free link exchange when their site is of extreme quality.