Making Reciprocal Links

(To repeat what we said earlier: We consider this function to be so important that we offer link set-up services for free!)

Do a link: study on those other sites. Now you are starting to create a two-tier system... sites which are similar to yours, and sites which link to them. While you are doing this, also collect email addresses for those sites. Discard those sites which do not provide links -- right now they are a waste of your time and effort.

Now put yourself in the position of the Webmaster of each of those sites. If some stranger were to ask you to link to their site, how would you respond? Assume that you open that email and don't simply delete it as spam -- ever notice how 95% of the spam you receive all seems to be written by the same 13-year-old?. You've read the email, and understood the request. Who is this person, and what is the site about?

Isn't this the way you'd like to be perceived? It means, of course, that you'll have to have your own ducks lined up in order in advance of your campaign.

Now it's time to put your years of sales letter writing experience to work. Write a brief, concise, and clear letter to the Webmaster/owner of the other site. Do no huckstering. No high pressure sales pitch. No special promises And no brags, either. This is a business letter.

At the same time, it doesn't hurt to massage his ego a bit. Point out something about the site that you especially liked. Not only is it pleasing, but it makes clear that this is not a spam form letter... you really did visit the site.

(By the way, when you first visit the site, if you see something broken, make a note of it, but don't say anything at this point. You don't want to sound like someone selling a fix. In fact, you don't want to sound like someone selling anything.)

Cordially point the reader to his listing on your site. Explain briefly what your own site is all about, and why this makes his link on your site important (don't say "valuable"). Suggest that you would like to share reciprocal links, and would he be so kind as to include on his site a link to your own operation. Include suggested html coding, so all he has to do is cut-and-paste.

As to format -- the watchword is "clean." That means simple and, again, no pitch. Your email signature should include full information, including URL, street address and phone number. If you are not up-front with him, he will not be up-front with you, either.

Now for the toughest part of all. How many emails do you receive which get deleted as spam without even being opened? Why? It's because of the subject headline, right? None of your beautiful words will even be read if you can't get beyond this hurdle. So... guess where you should be spend a good half of your creative time? Yep!

Another hint: Your message should be sent in plain, unformatted text. No background color, no special lettering, and ... most especially ... no html format. The reason? It's so that any good email filtering software won't automatically mark it to be handled as spam.

Finally, keep good records so that you do not end up spamming the person.

Go to next column