Forum Moderators: martinibuster
Option A - Linking out to 200 relevant sites from your own "Resource" section and then contacting them to say;
"Hi, We've linked to your site. Can you link back to us?"
(We'll keep your link live for a week if we don't hear back from you)
Option B - Contact 200 relevant sites and say;
"Hi, We'd like to swop links. If you're interested, please enter your website description on <this page> and your URL which links to us.
Once we'ce checked it, we'll link back to you within 72 hours"
Which works best for you? Any tips / hints you care to share?
TIA
J
Getting links is largely about wasting time. Success ratio is low, but you can increase your success ratio by making human contact.
Buying an ad can get expensive depending on the market you are in but you may be surprised to find the cost may be justifiable if it generates some sales.
I am also interested in what Subject lines would make you as a webmaster want to open an email?
I always check out their site to see if my link is buried somewhere with 1000's of others or if it is a good link. I only reciprocate the good links.
I'll check the email address that it's coming from to see if it's relevevant to my business. If I sell widgets and the email address is someone@antfarm.com then I wouldn't open the email.
Do most webmasters actually know what PageRank is?
Last month I received an offer for a reciprocal link with a PR7 site, of course I jumped on it right away, especially because they were not requiring any minimum PR in exchange. Well, the site I was asked to link to had a very few backlinks last month, I checked today, and it shows close to 28000 - so I would say, lots of people took that PR7 offer immediately.
Last month I received an offer for a reciprocal link with a PR7 site, of course I jumped on it right away, especially because they were not requiring any minimum PR in exchange. Well, the site I was asked to link to had a very few backlinks last month, I checked today, and it shows close to 28000
28,000 links in a month - now that's a good link building campaign.
28,000 links in a month - now that's a good link building campaign.
I would say.
Maybe too good ;)
Something else is going on there... A huge number of internal links, some kind of link farm or related site arrangement, etc. I'd be kind of worried if a site of mine showed that kind of jump in a month - seems like a major red flag.
Back to the original topic, I look at most link requests, regardless of subject line. I respond most often to those from sites that are related and of decent quality (PR helps, but I'd avoid linking to a high PR site that looked spammy). It's most effective if the e-mail shows that the writer actually visited the site in question and understands why a link would be mutually beneficial. Seeing a link to my site in place is a plus, as I can evaluate the page and text and consummate the deal immediately if I like it.
The subject line shouldn't be cute, just something simple that mentions linkage and, perhaps, the site topic.
Most who are interesting in pursuing reciprocal linking campaigns probably do.
defanjos, did the email have "PR7" in the subject line
Yes, and it sure got my attention.
I agree that the 28k links were not all from the link campaign, but many were.
Let me add, this was not a reciprocal campaign. It was obvious the site in question hired a third party to do it for them
Which works best for you? Any tips / hints you care to share?
Personally I've found what works best for me is not to ask for a link. I just point them to the new website and let them decide what to do with that information.
An approach that has worked very well so far. I do personalise each and every e-mail though. And I refer in the email to a lot of things about their website, so it does take time. I do get a link 9/10 times though.
TJ
Speak of a waste of time!
Approx how many emails like this would you expect to send out in an 8 hour period?
That's really difficult to answer, as each one is completely unique. I look through their website first, then write around what I saw. I compliment them on the parts they did well, and I criticise the parts that I thought were not so good (in a positive way). Some are short, some are long.
Averaging it out, I would say if I were working a solid 8 hours doing that I guess I could push out maybe 60, including research time (finding the sites I want to link to me).
Out of that, 40 to 50 of them will usually link to me. I did have one run where I sent out 30 e-mails and every one had linked to me within a week. It varies a lot.
Some of them want to engage in email chat sometimes of course, but that's down to the nature of the way I do it.
I find it a much more interesting and rewarding experience than sending out 1,000 with a 5% hit rate.
I build niche sites, that's my market and I'm good at it. No doubt this wouldn't work for a gambling site.
TJ
1) "greater boost from page rank 3 links done properly" - - -
Please define: links done properly?
2) "do most webmasters know what page rank is?" - - -if you are using backlink checks from competitors and you see that these are recipricol than yes -- if it is just a resource / directory of industry links that I would say no they don't know what page rank is
3) "I just point them to the new website and let them decide what to do with that information." - - - If you don't ask / direct them for a link - and you are saying 9 out of 10 are posting a link --- how? if someone sent me an email I would say "nice site" but would not think to link to them unless asked?
So when I find a site which I feel is of interest to my visitors, I add it as a recommended resource with a little blurb as to what it's all about. I may (or may not) send an email to the webmaster informing him of the link. He can (and often does) add a link back, but I never even ask. It's simply not important. I am adding value for MY visitors by linking to the other resource.
To answer the original question: my email filters have been set to automaically delete link exchange requests. I simply don't care and get way too many of them to deal with (over a hundred a week). I don't even want to know, I don't care that you have a (gasp) pr2 page, I already know that linking helps search engine ranking, and I really don't want to link to 99% of the silly affiliate junk that comes in this way anyway. And, most of all, I don't want your stupid canned email message that you sent from that piece of c*p product zeus or link master or whatever.
Richard
That's really difficult to answer, as each one is completely unique. I look through their website first, then write around what I saw. I compliment them on the parts they did well, and I criticise the parts that I thought were not so good (in a positive way). Some are short, some are long.
Now, this I would welcome and it might even get a link if it were valuable for my visitors.
if someone sent me an email I would say "nice site" but would not think to link to them unless asked?
I would hazzard a guess that I wouldn't have emailed you in the first place.
RichLowe above, would have got an e-mail from me.
The attitude of the webmaster is always apparent from their product.
TJ
[edited by: trillianjedi at 5:15 pm (utc) on April 8, 2004]
