Prompting sites to reciprocate links

the all-important follow-up letter

[stavs]

I have recently wrote to 20 related - but non-competing - websites requesting a reciprocal link arrangement. I had taken the liberty of linking to them first as a good will gesture, and had took the trouble to explore their sites and comment upon their content in my emails. The letters were individually tailored to each recipient.

How do I deal with those sites that do not reply - i.e. those sites that have gained a free incoming link and can't be bothered to reciprocate. They might not know the value of a good incoming link but I sure do!

I want to write to them and prompt them to reciprocate but of course in a way which doesn't suggest an ultimatum i.e. I don't want to say, 'if you don't link to us, we shall remove our link to you!'.

BUT, I do want the letter to be effective. I really don't know how to approach this and I'm amazed at the general reluctance to play ball. Our site has a PR of 5 which should be regarded as a good link.

Any ideas, friends?

[Macguru]

Nice work Liane, thank you! (I will have some corrections to do...)

I just want to add some little grain of salt. I include a link to some on site page that describes the benefits of mutual likage, with charts and graphs of traffic gain and position report.

I also want to add to the list Drastic gave us for reasons why we dont get replies: Static Web sites. For some surprisingly high amount of companies, Web sites were purchased and forgotten there. They have no one in house that can modify anything to the site.

Another line to the page mentionned above stating that you can do it for them for free can get you extra links. (not to mention I got 2 new clients this way... )

[GWJ]

Wow, nice thread. Great pointers.

Brian

[shuffler]

stavs
As with emails, using the phone works with some people and not others - getting hold of the right person can be issue with big companies, but these are possibly the least likely to help out anyway. It's best to use a combination of emails and phone calls - always following up wherever possible until you get an answer. IMO a 'no' is better than a 'maybe' as it allows you to get on with looking for the next good 'yes'.

As Liane said, you're trying to close a sale.
Think about what's in it for them - tell them about the types of visitors you get, not just the volume.

[netcommr]

Great thread everyone!!!

Liane, you covered the topic very well, thanks.

[Liane]

Marketing and advertising is what I do ... and I am happy to help where I can (which isn't very often at WmW) but I was kind of hoping some others who have had a better than 50% response on their attempts to get quality links would be promted to share some of their tricks as well.

Shuffler's phone idea is brilliant and something I never would have though of simply due to cost ... but its a great idea for those of you who are able.

Macguru's point that some websites have (for all intents and purposes) been abandoned because nobody in house knows how to do links is a really good point. Offering to do it for them for free might work well if you are in the biz!

Anyone else have any really good secrets to share?

[billy fullerton]

>I have already added your link to our site at [myaddresshere.com....]

I personally don't do this as it sometimes make webmasters feel that you're trying to put the pressure on, this is also the reason that so many emails go unanswered.

I'll send a personal email requesting a link, giving the url of the page I want my link on etc. I also include the description of our site and logo in HTML format.

I will give a link in return when I'm asked but it isn't always so.

This way works and I've got a very high conversion rate for my clients.

[tigger]

great posting Liane, I will be changing the way I do this from now on :)

Thank you

[Nitewing2]

Hi,

I am new to this forum but thought I would try to add my 2 cents in here.

I have an add your url script that visitors can use and I visit each site before adding the link. I also have a banner page that I do manually and it is this one that I request links for.

I have to agree that a lot of these "link partner" request did go unanswered until I wrote a form reply that stated I did not do Link partner but would be willing to link on a last in, first up basis...each site gets their time at the head of the list.

I also don't have a lot of time to add links and give out my awards...I am slow but eventually get there.

I am speaking here from the other side of the coin :) but I was once out there actively searching for links and will be again now that my new Numerology site is up and listed in DMOZ and you guys gave me some wonderful ideas.

I think I am going to like it here. I found out about this board over at Doug's Ihelpyou forums. Which is down for some reason this morning. :(

Cheers, gang, nice to meetcha!

Nitewing2

[chiyo]

some great pointers here..

Important to recognize too that some sites just dont really need to link to others. For example on two of our developing sites we welcome this, but in another which has good page rank etc. we dont feel further links are useful for readers of the site or ranking, and there are many links from gov, edu sites etc that happen automatically. A few good external links from very high page ranked and relevant sites, in that case, to us is enough..

We receive around 20 to 30 requests weekly for reciprocal links from commercial sites, and used to reply explaining why not, only to get back a rude response So to save time and hassle, the best policy is just not to reply. Maybe different if we had lots of staff but with one or two, its just too much time.

So just to underline dont waste too much time on sites who dont provide reciprocals. They probably legitimnately dont need them, or feel they are useful for their readers.

[Liane]

Very good advice!