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Comparison of Linknet Promotional Programs
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Most webmasters receive a number of emails every day asking to exchange links
with other websites. These usually come from 3rd parties trying to do link
building for a client, and the default method they use is link exchange.
These people are building links
by using link exchange - a technique that has been used extensively for a number
of years, but is now considered very 2002. Lots of "experts" say link
exchange or "reciprocal linking" is worthless, has no value, a waste of time,
dead.
Even though this is not completely true, we quit doing link exchange back in about
2003. Why? Because "trading links" is a really inefficient
way to spend your time.
Why is it inefficient? First because most link pages - pages dedicated to having
just links on them - have no real value. If Link
building is like putting up election sign, putting links on link pages is
like putting election signs in special plots reserved just for
election signs.
We build links by placing client links in blog posts, articles, videos, and submissions to web 2.0 sites.
All of these are one-way links. No reciprocal links are involved.
Imagine how it would go. You knock on someone's door and you ask "Can I put up one of my signs in your yard? I'd really appreciate it." They answer, "Sure that would be fine. Come with me around back." And they lead you to their little fenced in area out behind the tool shed reserved for election signs.
Of course nobody except other sign pounders ever looks at these signs in the
special plot behind the shed. Just like nobody ever looks at the links on link
pages.
So why bother doing it?
Well, much of the blame has to be laid at the feet of Google, Yahoo, and MSN for
making links so important for determining search engine rankings. Especially
Google who started it all. The perception is that links are important because
Google says they are, and
people who lack imagination immediately think "link exchange".
But there are much better ways to get links. Ways that make much more sense.
Why spend your precious time (or your valuable money hiring someone to spend
their valuable time) asking people to exchange links when you could just be
creating
your own links? Yes, that's right. Creating links - actual "one way links" - the
kind that virtually all the experts says are so valuable?
So that brings me to my second point. Trading links is incredibly time consuming
and inefficient. There are many better and simpler ways to build links. Create
posts in blogs, author some
articles, or do some posting on relevant forums or sites like linkedin. Get your
links in these places and voila, you've got instant inbound links.
Well, maybe they're not "instant". You have to actually write stuff in your blogs, create and distribute your articles, visit the forums and make comments.
But how much more useful is that than spending your time trading links?
That's what building links is all about in these post Web 1.0 days. And that's
what we do with our link building programs.