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?

[paynt]

Welcome to Webmaster World consul,

Thank you for your contribution.

If you are curious about the url snip please see your sticky mail at the top of the screen.

[ChrisXenon]

I followed pretty much the advice detailed here, which was much appreciated.

I thought I'd inject some recent real-world stats into the scenery, which may be useful to some readers.

Of 33 emails sent, I will shortly have 3 links.
Another 2 look like possibles - dialogue in progress.
3 responded, but we (they or me) rejected the idea.
The rest - 25 - totally ignored me.

- so maybe 10% success rate is par?

Cheers,
Chris

[paynt]

Thanks for the update Chris and this is a great thread to bump back up.

How are the rest of you doing with you're linking campaigns?

[dcallan]

liane wrote this letter to propects

Dear Webmaster,

I found your site while surfing the internet. Its great by the way and I particularly liked (fill in the blank)! I would love for our site to be added to your links page for (whatever you sell) at [yourlinkspage.com....]

We provide what I think is one of the most detailed and informative sites for (whatever you sell) on the internet ... but then again, as author and webmaster, I have admit to being slightly biased. If you would be so kind as to consider our site for inclusion on your links page, I would be very grateful.

I have already added your link to our site at [myaddresshere.com....] I wrote the description for your site based on the information I found on your index page, please feel free to suggest a change to the description and category.

Our site information is:

Title: Name of Site

Description: 25 or 30 words.

URL: [myaddresshere.com...]

Sincerely,
Whomever

Company Name
e:mail address

<snip> link exchange request Charter [webmasterworld.com]: This is not a forum to trade or ask for links with people.

[edited by: paynt at 1:52 pm (utc) on July 27, 2002]

[paynt]

Dcallan,

Thanks for your post and a big welcome to Webmaster World. I hope you’ll take the time to read my welcome letter [webmasterworld.com].

I’m glad you bumped this discussion. It still has valuable information and your contribution fits right in.

[vitaplease]

Anyone thought about the best time to ask for links?

Lets say thursday/friday afternoon 3 pm their local time?

- end of the week people tend to be more relaxed.
- same goes for end of the day
- they will have gone through the normal pile of emails already.
- some webmasters do their adjustments in the weekend

any thoughts?

[consul]

well, it depends. some take a rest during the weekends. hey, they do have a life. :)

at any rate, if I am to be given such letter, the best day would be Thursday (our time).
Friday, I usually plan out what to do for the next week.

Take care everyone!

Original posted:

"...Anyone thought about the best time to ask for links?
Lets say thursday/friday afternoon 3 pm their local time? ..."

[Hobbyist]

Probably off topic, but anyway..

Recently I registered my domain and moved, I thought that I would have a lot of trouble getting sites that have linked to me to change their links. Suprising it was not much of a problem.

It took me 2 nights (basically made off a template, with some personal touches) but so far response has being very quick..."Major" (by my standards anyway) sites that update daily,weekly have responded almost immediately which is no big surprise, but even smaller sites that update maybe once a year, have also responded quite well.. I'm very pleasantly suprised.

I suppose it much harder to get them to link, but once they have linked, it's so much easier.

Still waiting for one of my ODP listing to be changed though :(

[Visit Thailand]

I want to add my two Baht's worth.

I must receive daily between 5/10 link requests, some are generic some are humanised generic (like most of above). All of them though go into the trash, without me even looking at their sites, and all of them all say pretty much the same thing.

I suggest being honest - YOU WANT A LINK FROM ME - that is it. This does not mean you want to link to me, nor does it mean that you like my site (please!), or anything else it only means you want ME to link to YOU.

So what I suggest is being simple and stop giving all this amateur (****) and very bad sales talk, and just be honest.

1) A you want a link
2) You would like a free one - is this possible?
3) If not how much does it cost? Hey for all you know he might say a dollar a year! You have no idea but ask.
4) Do not ever tell me you have linked to me and now you want a link (unless you happen to be CNN or the BBC).

But before you do any of this check that they have a links page. One of our sites does not but I still receive these emails!

[Dante_Maure]

Do not ever tell me you have linked to me and now you want a link

Demands can be a bit obnoxious, but if it's just a request coming from a site that has already linked... why do you find that offensive?