[dpakman91]

what's the best way to work out link exchanges with other websites?

using the various "link exchange" websites is not something i'm too keen on, as you are going through a middleman by putting a rotating ad script in, and lettin the link exchange website determine what ads are shown.

i imagine link exchanges are a fantastic way to build additional traffic, but not sure about the best way to go about it.

i always feel kind of strange just emailing webmasters and saying "let's do a banner exchange" or something, but maybe that's reall the way to do it.

[jpomerenke]

Originally posted by dpakman91
what's the best way to work out link exchanges with other websites?

using the various "link exchange" websites is not something i'm too keen on, as you are going through a middleman by putting a rotating ad script in, and lettin the link exchange website determine what ads are shown.

i imagine link exchanges are a fantastic way to build additional traffic, but not sure about the best way to go about it.

i always feel kind of strange just emailing webmasters and saying "let's do a banner exchange" or something, but maybe that's reall the way to do it.

Thats the way you do it. Be personal about it though. DOnt make the email look to template like. Say why you like his/her site, etc.
Link exchanges is the best way to get your site good traffic because obviously google ranks sites heavily based on back links, etc.

What i did was went into the google directory under the sections that related to my site..... collected over 400 sites and contact info, etc. I plan on emailing every single one of them when i am done with my store (end of july launch more then likely)

Also see what competitors of yours have back links to whom, etc.

[jpomerenke]

I forgot to mention that google has thier directories sorted by pagerank so that makes things a lil easier also.

[dpakman91]

interesting, i will look into it in more detail then.

[jon@gns.eu.com]

Don't believe the hype. Banner adverts (if your lucky) get a 3% clickthrough rate, plus the majority open in an 'eyeform'. This means that the ad itself is not actually in the static page coding. 'Google', calculates something called pagerank which it determines by how popular your site is. The more popluar your site, the higher your page rank (pr). Make your site more popular be getting static links ( in the coding of the page) from sites with high pr. Download the Google toolbar, you can see the pagerank system on that. All links should be encoded into the site your linking from. Any outgoing links drains your pr, not good for search engine placement, in my experience, the best way of getting people through to your site.

[Karen]

Create your site with alot of content and people will link to it without asking. They will see the site as worthwhile and will want to refer others to it.

However, if you do send out emails asking for links, write the email so that the receiver believes you actually are interested in a link exchange. As was mentioned, make the email personal and go into a small amount of detail about why you like their site.

I have to laugh at some of the link exhange emails I receive, it is plainly obvious that the sender didn't even look at my site.

Karen

[jpomerenke]

I agree with Karen. But obvioulsy when you first launch a site you need to work to get links yourself. What it all boils down to in the world of google is content, and backlinks. Plain and simple.

[jon@gns.eu.com]

i HAVE FOUND OUTBOUND LINKS WITH GOOD RELEVANCY TEND TO WORK ALSO, PRIME EXAMPLE www.fairprice-mobilty-scooters.co.uk on google uk is a crap site, nothing special about backward links, yet outgoing links are going to quality sites like organsiations for multiple schlerosis, fund rasing sites for disabilites etc. Must be to do with the quality content.

[Brad2332]

http://wolfram.org/writing/howto/3.html

This is a great website explain page ranks and how to get to the top!