Would You Put Another Site's Link On Your Home Page?

What is the other website owner thinking?

[akogo]

Has anyone provided a reciprocal link directly on their homepage? If so, do you think it was a fair trade? Did you get any traffic from the other site? Did you receive more traffic from such a link than that from a link page? What are the disadvantages? I had someone ask for such a trade a couple of times but have not accepted. He claimed to have X number of unique visitors which was about 2 to 3 times greater than what I was getting per day.

Akogo

[startup]

Front page links can be gold mines for both of you. Check the other site out very carefully. Use whois data, IP addresses and other links on the site to find out who and what you are dealing with.

[akogo]

can be gold mines

Based on your own unique experience? If so, would you tell me a bit more about it?

Check ... whois data, IP addresses and other links on the site ...

After gathering such information, what am I suppose to do with it? How would you analyze it? What in this data will tell you to say "yes" or "no"?

Akogo

[jeremy goodrich]

My recommendation would be to read up (for the very paranoid only) on the 'hilltop algorithm' where some spam detection by 'artificial link pop inflation' measures were discussed, etc.

We have a thread about it here: [webmasterworld.com...]

[akogo]

jeremy_goodrich,

Thanks for the additional details of which I just read the thread but not sure if it applies to my question. I'm still wondering if anyone has been offered a link on someone else's homepage in exhange for the same arrangement? What is their actual experience with it?

Akogo

[topr8]

in reverse ... but i regularily offer a link in my directory in exchange for a link from their homepage,

if you have a high traffic site and they have a low traffic site it is a fair exchange... because although i may gain more pagerank they gain more traffic, i give far more referals (as a guess from the number of "exits" from my directory pages - i don't have a click through counter) than i get back from link exchanges.

[startup]

You need to know who or what you are dealing with.
Does the site have:
-dmoz.org listing
-yahoo.com listing
-good content

How is the site listed for it's targeted keywords. When checking determine if it is part of a network (whois data).

[AkanDian rain]

The way I look at it is, a link can be taken off just as fast as I put it up. Do some research, and if it looks OK go ahead and try it out.

[akogo]

topr8,

Thanks for mentioning your "reverse" idea. I would have never thought of it, but would consider it now if I have any situations similar to yours in the future. Good tip!

Akogo

[akogo]

startup,

So are you saying that the site should be listed in
dmoz.org, yahoo.com and have good content if you were approached by this website owner?

How is the site listed for it's targeted keywords.

Do you mean within the top ten or so in a search type of reasoning?

When checking determine if it is part of a network (whois data).

I'm not clear about what this means? What if it is? What if it isn't? A certain "network"?

Thanks,

Akogo

[ScottM]

The way I see it, you end up increasing your traffic. Your logs of both your sites will show increased hits.

It's like having another website to go to...after you read the latest at the first.

Hey, who spends 'hours and hours and hours' at one website?

OOOps..forgot this one. I'm so ashamed.

[akogo]

AkanDian_rain,

... a link can be taken off just as fast as I put it up ...

I hope this guy asking me is more ethical than that. But I still wanted to know of anyone who actually did a homepage for homepage link deal and what the result was. I'm getting the feeling no one has done one on this board. I imagine it would be a mess if I had to back out of the link exchange after the agreement was made and the links were up and running.

Akogo

[Black Knight]

Direct homepage links are like affiliating yourself with the other site. Is this a site (and company) that you want to associate your own integrity and reputation with?

Many of my clients provide links to other sites on the homepage (links that open in new windows of course). They generally want around £2,000 per month for it, or a barter to that kind of value.

Their link exchanges have been with companies such as eBay and Kelkoo, with whom they already had business arrangements.

On my own sites, and also on my clients, I am always prepared to link to other sites, provided that the link itself provides value where it counts - to the users, and to their perceptions of the integrity and usefulness of the site.

That's what counts. Never bother making a link just for link popularity benefits. Building link popularity is easy, repairing customer confidence is a lot harder. Your reputation is always worth more.

Ammon Johns

[startup]

Hi akogo,
The reasons for checking for directory listings(dmoz and yahoo) is to get some idea if this is a "estblished" site. Just because a site does not have any directory listing is not a good enough reason not to go ahead with the link exchange. You want to exchange links with good quality sites that will be around for along time.
A site that is in the top 10 for competetive keywords will indicate to you that someone knows what they are doing. Look for links to design and web promotion companies.
Networks? Pay very close attention to the other sites that are linked off this one. How many other front page links are they? Does this site own any of the sites they are linking to? Are all the sites of the same quality and calibre?
As you can see the list is fairly extensive and does take some time to check out. All sites that I exchange links have their whois data stored on a drive. Take you time and check out everything. Ask yourself why they have approached you for a frontpage exchange.

Include everything "Black_Knight" has said when it comes time to decide if you want to go ahead with the link proposal.

[Hobbyist]

Irrelevant probably, but most of the guys that link to me are small sites with 1-3 pages, they generally link to me from their homepages.
:)

I have a slightly bigger site, my index and mainpages link internally only, except for 5 external links which i feel are important.

Lousy page rank still hovers at 5...