Keeping Track of my Reciprocal Links

does anybody know of a simple way of keeping track of all the links?

[Village Idiot]

Please HELP..!!! I have been establishing my reciprocal links page starting here about 3 weeks ago. Well, everything is going fine and Dandy, however now that I am starting to amass quite a few links,I am now beginning to become concerned about WHO I have already solicited and WHO I have NOT already solicited etc. And the larger my list grows the more chances are that I may either (A) Solicit someone for the second time whom I may have already traded a link with (which has already happened) or (B) That I may inadvertently solicit somebody for a link the second + time that I have already asked a link from but had never gotten a response .....This doesn't look very professional, nor would it settle too well for the ones that may be getting a repeat solicitation from me, let alone pissing them off (and I don't blame them) Is there a better or easier way to keep track of all my solicitations, accepted or denied or otherwise..??? Everytime I solicit somebody for an exchange I have to spend ages going up and down my entire list of links trying to sort out if I have already sent them anything yet, or if I have, have they replied or not, etc. etc. I admit most of the ones I have already sent solicitations to in the beginning and never heard anything from I went ahead and deleted from outlook express, cause if I hadn't I would be literally trying to look thru 1,000`s of my previously sent emails everytime I go to send each request out trying to figure out if I had already sent them something or not.... Can you see my dilemma here, this is quickly becoming a nightmare to say the least...!!! I must say that I have been fairly aggressive in pursuing these links and the numbers are growing at a fairly fast rate, around a hundred a day + and I am simply beginning to loose track of the classic, who, what, where, and when... Anybody have ANY ideas concerning this issue....???? Thanks VERY much in advance, for I am a Newbie who needs some enlightenment here.!!!

P.S. I have looked into various programs like LinktoLink etc. and from what I have been able to see so far........ NONE of them are really hitting the nail on the head regarding this problem either..... or am I missing something.????
Thanks again...!!!! The Village_Idiot

[rogerd]

I have a couple of thoughts, VI. Zeus software is designed for reciprocal link location and contact management, as well as maintaining a categorized reciprocal links directory.

Another thought is to use a straight contact manager, like ACT! This kind of software handles things like keeping track of your last e-mail, sending out form e-mails, setting tickler notices, etc. Most contact manager have user-definable fields, which you could use for things like link URL, etc.

[paynt]

I feel odd saying it but, welcome to Webmaster World Village_Idiot,

I do lots of linking and what’s worked best for me in the long run is an old-fashioned spreadsheet. I make a few starting columns and add more as needed. I open one spreadsheet for each page I am requesting links for. This also is terrific for vortal and portal submissions.

Date submitted ¦ [exact] url or email ¦ Date accepted ¦ Follow up

This is then reversed so to speak for pages I add links to.

Date requested¦ url request ¦code request ¦date accepted

What I do which saves lots of time is on the top of the page I have the title, url, email, description and keywords, also my name, address, phone, fax, each on a separate row, to copy/paste.

Using canonicals and wanting links for them as well as internal pages that are theme specific it works great to set up this way. Spreadsheets are endless too. You can go as far to the right, add pages to the left, copy and move things around. It’s terrific when you’re going link hunting, especially for vortals and directories where you can collect one day and submit and email another. I get a good 25 links to work on one day and process them another day.

[rogerd]

Good point, Paynt. I guess I should have pointed out that spreadsheets and databases work fine, too, instead of going straight to the more expensive solution. I use Excel for simpler link tracking. I like contact managers because they automate housekeeping and have built-in features for mail-merge into e-mails, etc. Nothing you can't duplicate, though, with Excel or Access & enough time.

[Village Idiot]

Ahhhhhhh Ok, now its becoming clear....... what you guys are really trying to tell me is work work work work ......... Ok I can do that, I already sit here on the average of 12-14 + hours a day doing all this so I cant complain about a few more...!!!!!! Hey thanks guys for all your input... :o) As you can see as of today Im NEW to the group and thank you all for welcoming me to Webmaster World, I think Im going to love it here....!!! Actually one of the people I was requesting a link from turned me on this, she thought it would do me some good, and so far it has.....!!!!! Again, thank you all VERY much for all your support an help, and you`ll be seeing me hanging around tons more in the future........ What a Righteous and VALUABLE RESOURCE... :o)...!!!!!!!!
And thank you all for the valuable tips ......!!!!!!

Thanks Again .......!!!!!! The Village_Idiot

[rogerd]

You catch on quick, VI! Getting reciprocal links IS a lot of work. Even with an automation tool like Zeus, it still takes a major time commitment.

On the plus side, though, these links tend to be much more sticky and less volatile than SE rankings, and the better ones will actually send you traffic. Not only that, but a large and relevant link base will keep the spiders coming and help your rankings in some SEs. I feel that recip linkage time I've put in on some sites has been the best investment I could have made.

[Macguru]

Not to mention that some good outbound link page(s) get you repeat visitors that find good resources on a subject they like at your place. If you refresh the site with good content, you will increase "stickyness".