Widget links - best anchor text?

[wheel]

If you are getting a lot of links on websites as the result of a widget, how best to mix up the links in terms of anchor text, or anything else?

I had a widget service I used to offer to others in my niche, for a fee. I've ceased offering it, but now others are asking for my admin panel code to control multiple widget accounts (i.e. for resellers). I'm reluctant to give away my code. However what I thought I could do is cut a copy of the code over to a subdomain on my server and let them administer their own mini-service....in exchange for a link to my site from every account they set up. I might get 30-100 links a year from this, all from sites in my niche.

[robzilla]

If these links will be automatically generated (embedded within the widget code), you could give either the reseller or the end-user the option from within the control panel to select one type of link from a list of links with varying anchor text (e.g. "Powered by Wheel's Widgets," "Widget by Wheel," "Thanks to Wheel, Manufacturer of Triangular Widgets"), and the default setting could perhaps be determined randomly for each account.

If the links need to be set up manually (and you'd have to check every now and then to see if they're still there) then, depending on your involvement in the process, I would suggest you determine the 'ideal' anchor text for your link based on the specific relevancy of the niche site or reseller (either of which might lean more towards "blue-red widgets" than "blue-pink widgets," for example, assuming your site offers information on both).

This reminds a bit of the hit counter services of yore; you might have a look at those for inspiration.

[linkbuildr]

I'd be, personally, more inclined to not target a specific anchor text and just go with the site name.

[CainIV]

I would agree with sitename. There has been a ton of scrutiny around widgets and linkback badges of late.

I would suspect that using the website name or url might influence the way that Google views those links if your website is ever in front of a manual reviewer.