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Just a note to let you know that you have a great industry related website.
Therefore, I had created a link to your website under :
[link here] (it is basically a directory-style page with tons of links to tons of companies in alphabetical order)
as "Company Name"
CompanyExample.com has over 20,000 unique vistors per day, as well as being links with over 5000 other websites and over 76,000
total links from major search engines.
Please kindly return the favor by creating a link back to us. For linking options please visit [link here]
Let me know if you would like to be added to any additional section.
Thanks,
Staff
CompanyExample.COM"
i have some thoughts and a ton of questons:
ok - our company designs and manufactures widgets, but who would be looking for us on a web site that isn't related? that seems to be the biggest question i am asking myself.
right now they have a link to us on that page, but i guess it will be removed if we do not reply or reply saying that we would not like to participate. there are also links to our major competitors' sites as well on that page right now. of course, those links might be on that page at the same status as our - i.e. i am not sure if our competitors decided to participate in this thing or if their links will eventually disappear fom that page.
also, since our web site has nothing to do with their business, where are we supposed to stick a link to them anyway?
when i searched google for "their business", they did not come up on the first 15 pages of teh results (i ddi not go any further). when searched on "their business directory", they come up as #3, which i guess is pretty good.
could you guys give me the feedback on this? is it really worth doing?
[edited by: agerhart at 4:23 pm (utc) on Nov. 12, 2002]
[edited by: valeria_vi at 4:31 pm (utc) on Nov. 12, 2002]
2) Do not link back to them unless you feel their site will be of value to your visitors.
3) If you are going to link back, use a redirect or JavaScript link if they do.
4) Linking back may eventually cause you problems, if they become viewed as a link farm or a PageRank manipulation site.
5) As they have approached you via spam email, be very cautious.
The amount of business that they will send you is questionable. If the link is legitimate, then it can help in the link popularity area. You may have to be creative about reciprocal linking.
If you feel that linking to them will be of benefit to your visitors, then give it some consideration. Forget about PR, forget about redirects, look at the possible exposure and value that link might bring.
I probably get at least 5 of these a week. The auto generated ones I'll trash immediately, they have a unique footprint. The ones that get my attention are those that possibly start off with my first name or my username since that is how most know me. Plus it shows me that someone is manually searching for link partners. I'm not a fan of automation when it comes to exchanging links. Never was and probably never will be.
If the page where your link is to be placed is full of companies listed alphabetically, then I'd probably pass unless of course your company starts with a number or the letter a. Even then, you can tell right away what the purpose of the link exchange is. I just don't see much value sitting on a page with 100+ others. Many will say that its worth the PR boost. Why bother? Find another site that you feel is of value to your visitors and do a link exchange. Why not get some PR and possibly quality traffic at the same time.
Bottom line... If you feel the link exchange is in your best interest, then by all means do it. Just keep a tab on those outbound links and make sure that those properties you are linking to don't end up in the PR0 zone.
Now, before you make that decision, sit back and carefully look at that page where the link is to be placed. Is it worth it? You say all of your competitors are on that page too and that your site has nothing to do with their business. It's a Link Farm. Its the newest trend in Internet Marketing. By a piece of software that scours the net for possible link partners, generate a canned email message, throw a link up on a page and hope for the best. I'd be willing to bet that hundreds of others received the same email.
The first stage of your linking campaign should be concentrating on the major directories, regionally specific directories and then any topic specific directories. After that, you can start working on similar site link exchanges. As agerhart wrote, you'll need to be creative in your linking strategies.
Good luck and Welcome to WebmasterWorld!
