how long do you wait after sending proposal?

To exchange links... week? month? months?

[silverbytes]

Once you sent the link exchange proposal to some sites: how long do you wait before removing the links in your site to those?

Some sites answered me in 1 - 3 days.
I guess that was some 4% aprox of the total amount of contacts sent. Of course I want to remove as soon as possible all non answered and reciprocated links to make room to other interested sites.

What about your link campaigns? Did you have success waiting long? or is it better to keep those that are actively looking for exchange.
Since my page need to be under 100. I think sending 100 request and picking some 10 would be great if I can do that in a week.

But I'd like to hear about your experiences, please.
Thank you!

[elklabone]

After giving them a link, I email them and inform them of the link's location and ask for a link in exchange. I also offer them a freebie in exchange for a return link (an ebook)... this does help. Use your imagination. I'm sure you can think of a freebie to offer... This will usually net 10-15% reciprocal links right away.

If I don't hear a response within a week, I drop them another email and explain that I'm going to be cleaning up my links page and that I will have to remove their link if they don't link back. This will net another 10% or so.

It's important to remember that link exchanges are a "numbers game". You're going to fail 80% of the time, so you have to keep at it. Work on building a quality resource and it makes things easier.

Good luck.

Mark

[graywolf]

Depends on who your sending your requests to. If it's a 'hustler' who does his own webwork you may a response back in few days. A 'mom & pop' place who has to pay someone else to change the page may not get back to you for a month or more. Since the mom & pop place will probably have fewer outbounds that would make your link worth more and worth the wait. Sometimes if you find a REALLY good mom and pop place I have had better response by giving them an in$entive. ;-)

[rogerd]

A 10% success rate is a reasonable goal, though rates will vary depending on the kind of sites you contact.

I think a couple of followups are a good idea, maybe after a week or two and then at a month. I'd keep the tone in these positive and helpful, not "Link Deletion Scheduled for Tomorrow". ;) Then again, you could test the strongly-worded approach and see how it works.

[silverbytes]

Good points all. So no one goes beyond 1 month and the freebie gift is a cool idea. I've seen a really amazing strategie practiced for a competitor: a contest. He notifies how many clicks they get from other related sites linking to them and he mention those in a chart.

I don't know if that works but is it very original...

[fidibidabah]

Simple, just tell them the order of their link will depend on how quick they get back to you. Works for me, webmasters want to response ASAP to get the top position, especially if they like your site and believe that other sites you have linking to you are useful, and that you'll be pulling traffic.

[mil2k]

I'd keep the tone in these positive and helpful, not "Link Deletion Scheduled for Tomorrow".

At the same time dont come across as a person with let go attitude. For my link requests although humble and positive, I make sure the opposing party knows that his link will be deleted if he does not respond.

I say something along the lines of "we check our directory regularly for non reciprocating links". It works for me. Not sure about others though :)

Hope that helps.

[alika]

We are one of those who respond negatively to "Link Deletion Scheduled for Tomorrow" -- we send an email back telling them to go ahead and delete our link as we do not care about them. Afterall, they approached us, not us approaching them.

One thing to consider is to make sure to review the site's policy of sending requests for link. Some want it to be emailed, while some prefer those seeking for a link to use their Add URL form. The page of the form usually contains the list of guidelines of the site for accepting reciprocal links.

In our case, we prefer the Add URL form, and any requests done by email are referred back to the form. Why? So the party can read first what is acceptable to us or not, and not waste each other's time if the site falls outside the guidelines.

[neuron]

30 days, then KO. 10 days and no response gets a 2nd notice. 10 more days and no response a 3rd notice. These are very polite, and are often augmented with more information about their site, to show that we do visit their site.

I usually include that this is only one domain out of many where I can post thier links and once they are deleted from our link-friendly list their chance of being added to any of our other sites in the future is dramatically reduced.

What I would like to do in the future is develop a way to track if there is any outbound traffic on those links, because then I can say "you received 47 visitors last month from the links we posted to your site, please check your logs to verify," I think this would be a very powerful messege, to let them know that our link brings real effect to their site, real targeted visitors, and they are at risk of losing it.

[atlrus]

3 days is the maximum I would give them. IF they do not reciprocate within 3 days - the website is poorly maintained, and there is no reason for me to exchange links.
A good website is maintained daily, and a good webmaster knows the importance of link exchange.
And the best way to exchange links is first to ask if you could, something like this (you can "color" it to your taste):

Dear Webmaster,

We at (your url here) would like to exchange links with you. Please, visit our website, and if link exchange sound like a good idea - email me back with your link info, and after I place it on our website, I will email you back with ours.

Thanks

This is the best way, because you don't have to have their link on your website for a month and sit and wait for exchange (if they ever respond to you).

[sit2510]

>>> 30 days, then KO. 10 days and no response gets a 2nd notice. 10 more days and no response a 3rd notice.

I think that is "good" time frame...3 days generally is too short - IMHO. In many cases, people will link back after a day or two, but often, the real good ones may take a week or two OR after one or two reminders. Going low tone and humble also is a "key". Remember that webmasters, especially the ones with well-established sites, have their own ego. I always feel funny when someone with PR0 says that my link has been deleted because I don't reciprocate - A very humerous e-mail notification.

Instead of telling your potential link partners about link deletion, it is more gentle and friendly if you approach something like: "this is our 2nd attempt"; and then "this is our final attempt". With final attempt, everyone knows you are serious!

[alika]

I cannot overemphasize the need to be courteous and professional when requesting for links.

We've encountered folks requesting for links -- and demanding, even threatening -- when their links are denied. Why? Because they don't read the guidelines. It's funny to find people who do not know how to read, yet have the temerity to curse out when their sites (which do not meet the guidelines) are not accepted for reciprocal link.