Prompting sites to reciprocate links

the all-important follow-up letter

[stavs]

I have recently wrote to 20 related - but non-competing - websites requesting a reciprocal link arrangement. I had taken the liberty of linking to them first as a good will gesture, and had took the trouble to explore their sites and comment upon their content in my emails. The letters were individually tailored to each recipient.

How do I deal with those sites that do not reply - i.e. those sites that have gained a free incoming link and can't be bothered to reciprocate. They might not know the value of a good incoming link but I sure do!

I want to write to them and prompt them to reciprocate but of course in a way which doesn't suggest an ultimatum i.e. I don't want to say, 'if you don't link to us, we shall remove our link to you!'.

BUT, I do want the letter to be effective. I really don't know how to approach this and I'm amazed at the general reluctance to play ball. Our site has a PR of 5 which should be regarded as a good link.

Any ideas, friends?

[paynt]

Welcome Nitewing2,

We're happy to have you a-board and posting. Just let us know if you need any help with the board.

Everyone, great posts and good topic. Thanks Liane for your well thought out explainations. There's some good meat here.

One thing I add that I didn't see mentioned here is the exact code, in cut/paste form, for my title/description. I let the link partner know this is just a suggestion and as I know how busy it gets keeping an active site going, I only hope this helps ease their work. I've noticed the code is almost always used as I've provided it. This really helps me get the keywords I want in the anchor text.

[fonzerelli 79]

Stavs,

I understand where your coming from, after you putting so much work into the emails.

But instead of following up with another email, i'd cut my losses.

True you won't have another link to you but the content of your site will have been improved with there being more content.

The thing is though, do you really want to link to the people who don't have the dignity to reply back. Which brings you back to square one.

I think the best thing to do is leave things for a week. If you haven't heard a reply by then, remove the link and get back to your dinner.

Kev

[Nitewing2]

Personally, I would give them at least a week if not longer, as I said, even I don't have that much time to answer requests and other emails. Being a staff of one who builds web sites, fills Astrology and Numerology chart orders, update my sites nightly, not to mention trying to have a life :) and keep updated my sons sites and keep an eye on his server while he and wife are on vacation, have less time than anybody I personally know.

I also live alone so have no help with housework, shopping, cooking, etc.

See how it can take some longer than others? :)

Nitewing2

[adi_gallia]

hi!

i'm a long-time lurker,
first-time poster.

hope this is the right place to ask, but if someone copies your image links directly (instead of creating a copy of the image on their server),
will that increase link relevancy because your url is brought up every time that page loads?

thanks.

[netcommr]

Hi adi_gallia,

That is a good question, but unfortunately the answer in no. It will just slow down your own site.

[Macguru]

Hi adi_gallia,

Welcome to WebmasterWorld. It is always a pleasure to see a long time lurker becoming a member. I remembered some similar topic was discussed a while back. So I used the 'site search' tool to try to find the tread back. People "stealing" your art can improve your link popularity. Google seem to like it.

Here it is.

[webmasterworld.com...]

Enjoy!

[rogerd]

One additional thought, stavs - be sure to make it super-easy for someone to link to you. Have a page of linkage info, with suggested text links, HTML that can be copied and pasted, banners & graphics, etc.

Some webmasters (using the term loosely) are very non-technical, and the more idiot-proof you can make it, the better your chances of getting a working link are.

I usually check every inbound link when I'm notified that it is up. I've found non-loading graphics, non-working URLs, etc. that I've had to point out to the other site.

[ggrot]

Rogerd, you brought up another interesting idea in my head. Some people like to link to the other website first, then request a link back. I think that this is fair, and that it is also fair to remove the link after some time of no response(I mean, you have nothing to lose).

What you might consider doing is making a small error in the original link, for example link to www,domain.com instead of www.domain.com. Or even better, make it actually load a 404 error in their logs: www.domain.com/index.htmk

Its a tad immoral, but can look like an honest mistake. If you've offered to exchange links via an email, they can't really send you a message back asking you to fix the html without addressing the link exchange invitation. Of course, they might ask you to simply remove the link as it is burning bandwidth - which you should do immediately. Or they might get smart and actually generate index.htmk as a server redirect.

[mranchovy]

Hey guys... new here as well...

One technique in marketing to improve response rate is to make sure & make a call for immediate action.

If you are giving links to these sites before your email goes out, try something along the lines of "we understand that not everyone is interested or capable of swapping links... so, if you aren't interested simply disregard this email and after a week we'll remove your link on our page"

My example sounds kinda harsh, but ya get the idea... your message isn't directed at the ones not interested (they're gonna ignore it anyways), but to the ones that are lazy/borderline... you just told them that after a week, their link will come down, which prompts them to hit the reply button & let you know they are interested.

Now for the ppl who only link after a reply is recieved... lil bit harder, but still make a call for immediate action.... "We are planning on linking to your site, but we understand that not everyone is interested in trading links, so we ask for your permission beforehand. IF you aren't interested, simply ignore this email, otherwise, fire us an email & we'll get your link up today"

Sounds kinda sale-pitchish, but once again... ya get the idea.

"For some reason, a few have requested that we take the link ot their site down... while we really don't understand why, we're friendly people. So, we're cleaning our link list, if you are still interested in us linking to you, drop us a line" - This could be used to your no replies a couple of weeks afterward, for the ones you've already given the link to... they assume its just a friendly email going out to everyone on your link list.

Guess Im rambling.... make a call for immediate action.

Mr. Anchovy

[paynt]

Welcome to webmaster World mranchovy, thanks for posting.