Opportunistic question about linking...

also, site url on .signatures

[rfung]

If I add a link to my site on my profile here on WW, will that help me rank higher because I'm being linked from a high PR site? :)

What's the take on the idea that about putting domain names/urls on signature when I post on message boards/forums (maybe not on this one, but elsewhere where this is permissable)?

[Brett_Tabke]

Yes it would help if we would show it. You have to be above 100 posts for it to show.

[webmasterworld.com...]

[rfung]

holy smokes,
that's a huge thread.

Anyway my post was more curiousity than anything - I wouldn't want to let everyone know what my widget site is - specially here where all the smart people are ;)

The 100 post minimum is a great idea though.

[Teshka]

The problem with sig links is most forum threads don't get indexed or have 0 PR. I have a pr 5 ezboard, but the pages where users could actually post their links are not indexed. You might get a curious visitor or two, but it's probably not going to increase your PR.

Just incase you're curious, I have 2 history sites that I work on when I don't feel like working on the money sites. I submitted them to the dmoz but never bothered to link hunt for either site. The newer one has about 100 pages and is PR 0 (hasn't been added to dmoz). The other has about 25 pages and is PR 5 (from age + a dmoz link). It's the larger site with the non-existant rank that gets the majority of the traffic (from search engines).

All other things being equal, I think it's better to spend your time producing pages rather than hunting down links. Not that the two have to be mutually exclusive... but you can write a lot of content in the time it takes to find and spam enough boards and obscure directories to make a difference in PR.

[rfung]

What if your site isnt a content site?

I've developed an application - there's hardly any need for content or really any space for content. What I'm leaning towards to is to have sort of a smaller hidden link which will lead to some semi-related content...

Imagine Hotmail or yahoo Email - but more specialized - users couldn't care much to click through anything else besides their email functions.

anyone has any advice as far as optimizing these kinds of sites?

[percentages]

>The problem with sig links is most forum threads don't get indexed or have 0 PR.

That is not the case with WW. If Brett allowed sig links I would be employing someone full time just to post their heart out here, and so would many other folks......hence it is sensible WW doesn't allow sig links ;)

[Teshka]

Heh, WW of course being the exception rather than the rule =P

Rfung, if it was me I'd still write content =) Hundreds of related pages all pointing to that one thing you want people to check out... Pages wouldn't have to be about the product necessarily, maybe just loosely related to the industry. That's just me, though. I'd rather research and write than pay for advertising.

If it's something you download, you might try putting a trial version up at download.com and similar sites. If people have to come to your page to use said application, maybe try a combination of adwords to get a few bodies there, then run an affiliate program (if it is something people plunk down dollars for) for free advertising?

[rfung]

Teshka:

Yeah as I'm reading more and more of these threads, I'm leaning towards adding related content to my application. So to go back to my Yahoo/Hotmail app analogy, I wouldn't write about 'the benefits of email', but I'd talk about spam, how to avoid it, it etc. Sounds like a good way to provide a little bit more of information and get ranked higher.