Step Seven - Swapping Links with other websites
To increase your ranking in Google, you need to have lots of other web sites linking to your website, with the keywords used in the test of the link.
In a nutshell, this means the more people link to your website, the higher your ranking in the search engines! The links however must:
- Be from a site that is related (if you run a hardware store a link from a beauty site is not relevant)
- Must use your keywords
- You should also reciprocate with a link on your website to theirs.
Even better than a simple link is for you to share content with another popular website and have them reference the content to your website. This is extremely useful, if you have articles which you can share with other websites and is covered in step seven.
Getting Started with Swapping Links
Start off by entering your keywords in Google and look at the top 20 search results. Visit each of the websites and look for contact details and write these down for later.
You need to decide whether you are asking for a reciprocal link, or whether you are offering content to be published on their website.
If you are asking for a reciprocal link you need to have a standard email with appeals to the webmaster and gives them something! The top reasons for convincing a webmaster to link to your site are:
- Your website offers complementary material to theirs;
- Your website offers something totally original;
- A link on your website will help drive traffic back to their website; and
- If you already have a link to their website on your site this goes a long way in getting them to link to your website!
Some words of caution though:
- Don’t misrepresent your site’s traffic;
- Make sure the spelling and grammar of your email is correct!
- Actually visit the website and make sure a link to your website would be useful and relevant
Check the site for guidelines for adding links (the site may have a way you can suggest a link already)
A sample letter format is below:
Greetings [Name],
I visited your web site, [Web Site Name Here] and found some great information regarding [Insert Subject Here].
[If you have linked to the other site already, mention it here and give the URL of the link - ask them to approve your link to them or to recommend editing suggestions
I thought you might be interested to know that we have a web site dedicated to [Your Site Topic - special points of interest].
We were hoping that you might consider linking to us and invite you to review our site at your convenience.
[Depending on situation, insert further offer of reciprocal linking, banner impressions or exchange of services here]
If you determine that a link to our site is appropriate, please add it at your discretion, or might we suggest the following link and description:
[Your site name and URL] - [Your site description - keep it brief, focused and not too much hype]
If you'd like to discuss this further, please feel free to contact us at [Your contact details].
Thanks!
[Full official signature lines here]
