Awards as a link-builder

What happened to them? Do they work?

[suidas]

Way back when, in the Internet-olithic there were a lot of awards—amounting to a minor fad. I haven't seen too many around recently, although here and there people say they're a good way to build link backs. It strikes me as odd. Before PR there were awards, with PR there aren't many at all. What explains this?

Do we feel that Google discriminates against things that look like awards? For example, are links wrapped around images (with descriptive alt text) worth much less than links wrapped around descriptive text? Does the term "award" set off FFA alarm bells?

Anyone have success giving out awards?

[rfung]

I can only say that I wouldn't be motivated by that.

Unless it's a big deal from a authoritative website. (say, a Macromedia award for design). Anything else (and from what I've seen from back then) seems more like a poor attempt at getting backlinks to the awarding site.

[rogerd]

If you are a well-known authority site, you might get decent response. Even if you aren't, in the right market (unsophisticated site owners) you might have a bit of success.

[your_store]

seems more like a poor attempt at getting backlinks to the awarding site.

My thoughts exactly. A website emailed us a couple of weeks ago saying we'd "won" they're award. It seemed to be working for them though, they already had 2K backlinks.

[martinibuster]

It seemed to be working for them though, they already had 2K backlinks.

Not bad for a poor attempt.

[rfung]

Yeah :)

2k links really is nothing to be ashamed of. Although I can't see myself doing it strickly as an 'awards' program(just because it sounds so...lame) , there may be something to learn from it.

[ken_b]

I suspect it's really important to keep your target audience in mind when it comes to deciding if an awards program is worth the effort.

There are areas of interest where awards are very sought after in the real world. Can that translate to the web?

I suspect so with a well run, meaningful program.

A program basically designed to get links might not interest a lot of folks. But a real awards program that also happened to generate a ton of links might well be a different story.

[your_store]

Not bad for a poor attempt.

Yeah, definitely not. Guess I really meant to say that it was a poor attempt at trying to trick me into linking to them ;)

[nuevojefe]

Hasn't worked well at all for us. We got one bite in like 4 months and after a week they dropped it.

[digitalv]

You know who really takes the cake in the fakeness category? TrustE. Not only do they have ZERO enforcement capabilities, not only do you link back to them from your image, but you have to pay $15,000 - $100,000 to get it.

They're not really an "award" but they're basically doing the same thing... making themselves an authority in one area or another by getting people to link to them.

[martinibuster]

Receive a link AND get paid? That's the best link strategy I've heard all year.
;)

TRUSTe is a non-profit organization started around 1996 to foster trust in internet commerce. They performed a valuable service to helping establish the internet as a viable channel for commerce. Now that shopping online is routine, perhaps they've reached a point of obsolescence.

What they did had nothing to do with building link popularity, nor was it cynical. Yet it's still a good lesson in finding a need and filling it.

Awards can accomplish much towards building community in terms of recognizing excellence in pretty much any online activity. The awards process doesn't need to be cynical.

However, the awards strategy may not be appropriate for all websites. Nevertheless, it can be appropriate for businesses that sell leads from their website to list one of the paying members as the business of the week (without a link), with the understanding that the page will be maintained as long as they are a member and reciprocate with a link. Something like that is a win-win situation for everyone involved.

Any thoughts?