Forum Moderators: martinibuster
Powerlinking is a relatively new term. When you pick and choose who you link to and who links to you, you'll reap the benefits and have a steady flow of traffic. The beauty about it is all these visitors are pre-qualified. They already know what to expect when they visit you.
Two important features that will help you retain visitors and also spread the word are: a) Bookmark this site and (b) E-Mail this site to a friend. I can't tell you how those two features are invaluable to any Web site. So next time you do a search, list down the sites in the top ten that have themes similar to yours, then request for a link exchange. Most sites have a "Links" section, or some refer to it as a "Resources" section. Exchange links with those heavyweights and you'll be surprised as to how fast you'll start climbing the charts. Any ethical Webmaster wouldn't charge you for a link exchange, all they'll require is that you link to them before making the request. Remember if you link to a Web site and they don't link back to you, remove that link and find one that will return the favor.
Does this really work? Can anybody tell me of the ups and downs of having this feature on one's site?
I've considered using it, but (a) don't want to be associated with spam in any way, and (b) am concerned about the security implications (for example the sendmail routine being identified and hacked, or the page being hit by a robot).
E-Mail this site to a friend
Work well with newsworthy items "info"... not so good for the specific purpose of developing links.
Can anybody tell me of the ups and downs of having this feature on one's site?
I implemented this with a twist.
I use CDONTS mail from our server, I do not rely on the browser being configured for email (a lot of work enviorments use non browser based email). I have a CC sent to an email address that I created just for this. I sell hard goods but also have a good amount of content. I see about 75% being product recomends and 25% being content recomends. I tracked this for around three months. I use this to my advantage. If a specific piece of content is recomended heavily I add more content on the subject. If a product is heavily recomended I add more products that are simular.
Brian
Agreed. And I'm afraid "EMAIL TO A FRIEND" is far too vulnerable to abuse for most sites out there. Plus, effectiveness lies heavily with Page Rank, and I seriously doubt that very high PR sites would respond to recommendations. We've had some discussions regarding this topic in the past and there was a mixed bag of opinions. It might work with highly valuable information sites in terms of viral traffic, but for the average ecommerce site the risks of abuse far outweigh any possible advantage, which would probably be minimal at best, unless the webmaster knows how to adequately protect their site.
Again, bookmarking isn't something most people would necessarily do for a commercial site. Information sites, the ones most likely, are generally bookmarked voluntarily.
>When you pick and choose who you link to
Most of us already routinely do that as a matter of course, and use a number of criteria in choosing who we link to, as well.
We won't find either here [webmasterworld.com] or here [webmasterworld.com]. We'll find a capability on individual pages, but my guess is that those would be used for those that are of extreme value or newsworthy and is just an added convenience.
I personally have a site that's purely a fun hobby thing, even though it has a lot of Page Rank and traffic potential, that's very likely to be bookmarked and recommended eventually. But I wouldn't takie a chance on anything for recommending other than recommend-it. I figure if that's how Danny Sullivan is doing it, he's been around longer and I have and knows, and I'll take my cue from him if I decide to do it.
