4 Indispensable Elements of Link Exchanges
Commanding Influence: Build A Strong Online Presence
As we continue our efforts in creating exciting, dynamic sites, we as webmasters and bloggers find ourselves looking for ways to enhance our sites and grow our visitor base. In other words, we want to make our sites better and get more people to view our websites.
The problem with not having many readers or site visitors isn’t caused by the fact that we don’t want people to read our material. Usually it is simply caused by a lack of knowledge on the subject of web design and marketing…And that is where this article comes in.
One of the most effective means of getting people to visit your website or blog is also one of the most simple: the link exchange.
A link exchange is simply an agreement between two websites wherein they mutually agree to display a link to the other site. In other words, I will link to your site if you will link to mine. Quite often you will see a section of a site with one of the following titles: link exchange, links that like us, blogrolling, blogs I read, or something like that.
Although this is one of the most simple means to get people to your site, don’t be fooled into thinking that all link exchanges are the same. There are many different factors to consider when initiating a link exchange including the following: type, position, size, and page rank.
The Type of the Link Exchange
There are two methods used to link between sites: text and banner. The most popular method of this arrangement is to simply create text links in the sidebar of a blog or website. Using this method, webmasters simply type out the name of the other website and use it to link to the site. Although this is the most popular method of link exchange, it is not the most effective.
The second and most effective method of link exchange is the banner exchange. In other words, you display my banner on your site, and I will display your banner on mine. People’s eyes have begun to build up an immunity to the text advertising on the internet. As a result, we need to become more creative in our attempts to generate visitors at our sites. We have to create links that will find their way past our users blinders and into their line of site.
The Position of the Link Exchange
At the top right of the sidebar on each page at Site Sketch 101, you will notice four banner images. Those banners are considered prime real estate for two main reasons. First, that area of the site is located ‘above the fold‘ of the web page. Above the fold is the portion of the page that is visible to the user without scrolling down the page at all. It is immediately visible upon the loading of the page. This is considered the most effective area of the website to place advertisements because it is on this portion of the page that your banners and links will get the most clicks.
The Size of the Link Exchange
The second reason for the high value of those banners at the top of this screen are their size: 125 pixels by 125 pixels. Being large graphics located above the fold of the page, it easily attracts the users eyes. The larger the banner, the greater the chance that it will get clicked.
Since the internet is filled with advertisements and text links, it becomes necessary to make your link exchange stand out from the rest of the world. The size and creativity of your banner will help you accomplish just that.
Now be careful on this point. If you make the banner too large, nobody is going to want to place it on their website as it will take away from their content. The graphic sizes that I recommend are the following (measured in pixels): 468×60 (large banner), 200×60 (small banner), 250×250 (large square), 200×200 (medium square), or 125×125 (small square). Although these are the sizes that I recommend, it is important to note that you are limited only by the possibilities of your creative mind. Experiment. Find what sizes work for you and what sizes those around you are using.
The Page Rank of the Link Exchange
Google has developed a system whereby they rank the pages in their search engine index. Their formula is based in a large part on how many links are pointing in toward a particular page. A page that has a whole bunch of links pointing at it will have a higher page rank and will display higher in Google’s search results. Understand that their formula is a lot more complicated than just the number of links, but that is a great way to begin understanding how it works.
Generally speaking, the higher the page rank, the higher the number of visitors. As a marketer, it should always be your goal to exchange links with someone who is no more than one rank below you or higher. In other words, if my page rank were a three, I should want to link with 2 or better. The higher the page rank the more effective the link.
However, as bloggers and webmasters, we should be searching for link exchanges between other sites that are closely related in content. Users who click over to your blog from a similar site are much more likely to be interested in your content than those who come from and unrelated site.
How do I ask a blogger for a link exchange?
It’s important that you don’t ask someone for a link exchange who you have never communicated with before. If you do that, most people will view you as a spammer and will likely delete your request immediately.
Take the time to comment on their blog. Then email them simply to let them know what you appreciate about their site. In your third contact, if they’ve been responsive toward your first two, then it may be appropriate to suggest a link exchange.
The purpose of a link exchange is to bring a positive flow of traffic and page rank to two friendly websites so don’t beg and don’t get upset if they decline the offer. They may have reasons that you don’t know about.
Nicholas Cardot
Nick uses his blog Site Sketch 101 to express his passion for helping bloggers and webmasters connect with real people through brilliant designs, unique content, and genuine creativity. Nicholas Cardot has 199 post(s) at Site Sketch 101
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34 Vibrant Comments
I would love to hear yours!
Joel A Levy said:
Thanks for the straight, direct, and simple to understand information. This is very helpful to those of us not raised in the tech world.
Nicholas Cardot said:
Joel A Levy –> That’s the goal. I want to help everyone, even those who are incredibly new to all of this to be able to become the best that they can be. If you do have questions about anything, don’t hesitate to let me know.
chandan said:
Thank you Nick for sharing the emphasis overview of link exchange, I think link exchange is now old method of increase backlink.
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Nicholas Cardot said:
chandan –> It is an old method but it’s still incredibly useful because instead of having a link to your site from one article on another site, you get a link back from every single page on the site. If a site has a 1,000 pages you now have 1,000 links to your site.
Don Gilbert said:
We were able to build 180,000+ backlinks to a clients site by getting a link in their sidebar on every page of their site.
I love Content Management Systems for this very reason!
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Nicholas Cardot said:
Don Gilbert » That’s true. Content management systems are amazing for that very reason. A link on one site can result in thousands of back links. Very true.
Eric B. said:
Thanks for the tips. I haven’t done a link exchange before, but I might do it sometime in the future.
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Nicholas Cardot said:
Eric B. –> It’s a good idea if you’re working on building backlinks.
scheng1 said:
comment link is still better than just link exchange. After all, comments add to the value of the blog posts, and benefit both parties more than just a simple text link by the side of the blog.
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Nicholas Cardot said:
scheng1 –> Yes and no. It’s true about the value issue but you have to remember that a link exchange provides a link on every page of a site. If a site has 1,000 pages that means that a link exchange results in 1,000 links to your site versus just one comment link.
Gabe | freebloghelp.com said:
You’re right, bloggers must build the relationship first before asking for any exchanges.
I already get all kinds of requests from “strangers”. I can’t imagine how much solicitation more popular sites are getting.
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Nicholas Cardot said:
Gabe | freebloghelp.com –> Exactly. Link exchanges should definitely not be offered from complete strangers. Those are generally worthless. But exchanges between friends can be great resources.
Glen said:
I’m confused..
I don’t see any links on your page at the top right. Or left for that matter.
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Nicholas Cardot said:
Glen –> You’re right. I no longer user link exchanges because I no longer need two way incoming links. Instead, I link to those bloggers who comment the most on my site. If you notice the section that says “Comment Leaderboard” then you’ll see that each of those links will take you to the site belonging to those users. That’s my link exchange.
Deepika said:
these tips are really useful.I have lot of confusion in link exchange. But this post cleared my doubts absolutely. Thanks Nick.
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Nicholas Cardot said:
Deepika –> You’re welcome. I hope that it helps you as you continue to develop your website.
Gonzo the Great said:
Hi Nick,
great article (again!). I’ve been struggeling with the link-exhange (the banner-method) for a while now.
Too Flashy banners isn’t good too, because they distract the readers attention, … so I’ve heard?
You’ve got some constructive remarks here, so I think I’ll give it a try (again).
Keep up the good work, Cheers & Ciao …
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Nicholas Cardot said:
Gonzo the Great –> Great. You’re right that flashy banners can be distracting or overbearing and they can take away from the quality of your user’s experience if they’re not developed into your site’s theme well.
David | ilcantone.com said:
Interesting post. I’ve never asked for a link exchange. Maybe in a near future but not yet.
See you Nick.
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Ron Leyba said:
Nice article about link exchanges. Until now, I do personally believe that link exchange is still, one way of acquiring positive results.
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Davor Gasparevic @ Cheap internet marketing ebooks blog said:
I should definitely do a lot more link exchanges…
It’s an aspect that I haven’t ignored, but haven’t paid enough attention to, too!
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Nicholas Cardot said:
Davor Gasparevic @ Cheap internet marketing ebooks blog –> It can definitely be helpful for developing traffic and for building page rank at your website. Have you ever had a link exchange set up before now? Did it work out well for you then?
Kok Siong Chen said:
I’m new blogger. I have tried to get some link exchange at the beginning of my blog life. However, it is not work at all. Maybe this is because of my low page rank and low traffic. Thanks for sharing! I learnt a lot of link exchange here.
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Nicholas Cardot said:
Kok Siong Chen –> Hopefully this guide provides you with some knowledge that you can use as you drive forward and work to take your site to the next level. What did you do to work on it as you were starting out?
Lee Ka Hoong said:
Very interesting post Nicholas. I’ve seen many people is doing link exchange but not much banner exchange. As I know, Google doesn’t put too much weight on link exchange so it doesn’t help in improving search engine ranking as well as pagerank.
As for banner exchange, I have not much opinion on it, am going to give it a try.
Cheers,
Lee
Web Design in Florida said:
Now the only problem is making all of those links look pretty on your site. Not always easy to do.
Footer? Bottom Sidebar?
Natalia Ventre said:
Very good guide, Nick. I think that once the bloggers/webmasters reach certain amount of success they quit link exchange, so it’s quite hard to get a high page rank backlink, but you don’t loose nothing by asking.
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Nicholas Cardot said:
That’s exactly right. And it’s especially true if you take the time to build a friendly relationship with the other blogger. Then even if you don’t get the link you’ve still gained a friend.
Aminul Islam Sajib said:
Once a blog relationship is made, it’s really easy to get a backlink. Also, if you write recommendable posts, you will get some links back to your site without even asking some bloggers. They will feel great to redirect their readers to your site to read something interesting and helpful in one way or another.
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Don Gilbert said:
What is your take on link exchange between blogs? I have found that Google treats blogs much different than other sites.
For example, you would get docked for duplicate content if you copy and paste content from another site – but if you copy from a blog to a blog, I have seen that you don’t get docked for it. (At least noticeably.)
So, applying that fact to this article, does Google treat link exchanges on blogs differently than it does for other types of sites?
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Nicholas Cardot said:
Don Gilbert » I honestly didn’t know that Google treated blogs differently than websites. I’m honestly not sure why they would do that. I didn’t know that they treated duplicate content differently. I’m going to have to do some more research into that.
Eric said:
The way I see it, if your blog has nothing to do with mine or with an article I’ve written about and I haven’t commented on your blog a few times I normally won’t link to you.
This is why it’s also so important to get out there and find new people who share common interests and share the same ideas.
This way, we all help one another by adding links that are relevant to our own sites/blogs.
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Nicholas Cardot said:
Eric » That’s a good policy. It really is important to get out and find fellow bloggers who share common interests with you.
Fire said:
Nice article again Nicholas, I read through your article and all the comments. Very very nice writing, and I would describe it sweet and simple.
Keep it up. I really like your writing…
Thanks
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