By Glenn Canady “Gorilla Website
Marketing”
http://www.gorillawebsitemarketing.com
I’ve been teaching people the
virtues of linking the right way for a long time in my book,
“Gorilla Website Marketing”. However, there
are many people out there that just haven’t got it
figured out yet. It seems that we are in the middle of a
“linking crisis” and it’s time that I
did my part in helping to stop it before it gets out of
hand!
Right now, I’m getting about
20 link requests a day from webmasters that haven’t
a clue about the right way to link! So I decided to write
the “Ten Commandments of Linking” to cover all
the basics for effective linking. If somebody told you to
read this article, you just might be violating one of them!
If you are, don’t worry about it, you’re not
going to go to hell or anything. But you might just get
banned on Google and that’s almost worse than going
to hell! Your website’s search engine rankings and
traffic ALWAYS go up when you do linking right so study
them carefully and figure out if you’re doing anything
wrong!
The Commandments
#1) Thou Shall Always Put Up A Link
BEFORE Asking For A Link
Putting up a link to someone before
you ask them for a link is proper linking etiquette and
is much more effective than the alternative. If you’re
going to ask somebody for a link then don’t waste
their time unless you’ve already linked to them. This
shows that you are serious about linking with their site
and haven’t just spammed the universe asking for links!
And if you tell somebody that you’ve linked to them,
be sure that you
really have. Otherwise, you’ve just lost your credibility.
By the way, always tell your prospective link partner exactly
how to link to your site. I do this on all my sites. For
an example of how I do this, just go to one of my link info
page here:
http://www.5starshine.com/linkinfo.html
#2) Thou Shall Not Build Link Farms
I’m seeing this commandment
being violated more all the time. Some people are in such
a rush to get links that they try to link to EVERYBODY.
They don’t have any type of cohesive theme to their
link directories. They are just a mish mash of totally unrelated
websites thrown together – in other words a “link
farm”!
Think about the types of sites you
want to link with and build a useful directory that is complementary
to what you are offering. For example, my website, 5 Star
Shine, sells a unique type of car wax that lasts for 5 years.
If you look at my Automotive Link Directory on this website,
you’ll notice that I have built a nice directory about
anything related to cars. Since I sell a car related product,
the people that will find useful information in my directory
are also a great source of potential customers. I’m
building a useful resource and that’s why I’ve
been so successful with this directory. Pick some kind of
a niche that is complementary to what you are offering and
build a great themed directory. For example, if you sell
merchandise, you might build a gift directory. That’s
what I did with my website, 5 Star Closeouts. Since the
people that are in my “gift directory” on this
site are also potential buyers of my closeout merchandise,
it’s a great way to build a useful resource AND let
potential customers know about my website. This seems to
be working really well.
#3) Thou Shall Not Hide Thy Link Directory!
This one really makes me want to smite
somebody! Some guy will ask you for a link, but when you
go to his home page, you look around for 10 minutes and
can’t find a way to get to his link area from there.
Most of these jokers are just trying to be sneaky and not
let their customers ever find the link directory. My general
rule is that I require a link to the link directory be prominently
displayed on the home page. If I can’t find it in
15 seconds or less, chances are nobody else will and it’s
of no value to me!
#4) Thou Shall Have No More Than 50
Links On One page.
Actually, 50 links on one page is
really pushing it in my opinion. If you have more than 50
links on one page then you are doing something wrong. Google
now ignores most web pages that contain more than about
50 links because many are just link farms. When I see the
4th Commandment being broken, it’s usually
because somebody is trying to have just one page of links.
Of course, there usually violating the 2nd commandment also
because the site is usually a link farm too! It’s
very important that your links are broken up into relevant
categories and that each one isn’t over 50 links.
To do this properly, you can use a
program like Zeus to organize your links properly. This
is the program that I use on all my sites and it’s
been the key for my own number one rankings. If you’d
like a discount on Zeus, be sure to get a Gorilla Marketing
membership at http://www.gorillawebsitemarketing.com/membership.html
#5) Thou Shall Only Ask For a Link
When It Makes Sense For Both Websites!
This is a pet peeve of mine actually.
I can’t stand when some idiot wants me to add their
Thailand hotel website to my 5 Star Shine automotive directory!
I don’t know what planet these people come from, but
they need to get a clue! Remember, you need to be building
a valuable resource with your link directory. If you are
marketing a hotel in Thailand, then build some kind of a
travel theme into your link directory, or maybe a
link directory of all the things to do in Thailand perhaps.
Be creative but always keep this in mind. Your goal is to
build a resource that will attract the kind of people that
would be interested in what you’re offering. If you
do this right, your business will pick up dramatically because
your link directory will always be attracting potential
customers.
#6) Thou Shall Always Tell Others
Where Their Link Is
Don’t make someone hunt for
10 minutes on your website to verify that you posted their
link. Just give them the URL where you’ve put the
link or tell them what category you posted them in. Everybody’s
time is valuable and nobody wants to hunt for their link
for very long.
#7) Thou Shall NOT SPAM For Link Requests
If you send email to unrelated web
sites in your link directory just because you want to possibly
get a link, then you are spamming in mind and spirit. The
webmaster who receives this kind of email is not going to
be a happy camper because your web site does not remotely
match their web site and has nothing to offer their visitors.
The webmaster is most likely just going to delete your email
but if you catch them on a bad day, he might report you
to the spam police. Either way you lose! Make sure you only
send email to sites that match your chosen theme and tell
them exactly what page you’d like to see your link
on in the letter. That way the person that gets your email
will know that you’ve actually been to their site
and that cared enough to tell them where to stick your link!
#8) Thou Shall Keep Thy Link Requests
Short And Sweet!
Don’t tell people your whole
life story when you ask for a link because they really don’t
care! When I get a link request, I’m looking at these
factors.
Is this site somewhat related to my
site and does it fit in my link directory theme?Has this
person already linked to me?
Can I easily find their link area
from the home page?
Does this site have a coherent theme
or is it just a link farm?
Is the page that my link is on have
less 50 links or less?
Does at least the home page of the
site have some Google PageRank? If not, then I’ll
probably let it slide if the site is fairly new.
So in your link request letter, just
tell them where their link is and where in their directory
you’d like to be placed. Also, give me them the description
that you’d like to use for your website’s listing
too. That’s all they need to know.
#9) Thou Shall Always Keep Thy Word
If you tell somebody that you’re
going to upgrade them to link partner status then make sure
you do it right away or let them know when they can expect
it to be done. Update your link directory promptly and always
keep your word to your link partners. They did give you
a link when you asked for it and therefore deserve your
respect.
#10) Thou Shall Not Take Down Your
Link Partner's Link
If you give somebody a link then don’t
delete it when you think nobody’s looking! I’ve
seen people try to pull one over on me by getting a link
then deciding to delete their entire link directory a few
months later! These people must think that a link directory
is just something that do for a while and then delete when
you have some links or something. Linking is not just something
you do for a bit and then throw away - it’s a total
way of life dude! When you’re doing linking right,
you’re building a valuable resource that will get
lots of traffic.
I hope you enjoyed this article. If
you did, be sure to get your Gorilla Marketing membership.
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Give Away This Article And Help Stop
The Linking Crisis!
If you’re a webmaster, you’re
probably sick and tired of people doing linking wrong and
wasting your precious time too. Well, here’s your
chance to do something about it! Just give this article
away to anybody that you see violating any of the 10 Commandments
of Linking. You're free to give this article away
anyway you wish. With your help, we can stamp out the current
linking crisis in our lifetime!
Wishing You Success!
Glenn Canady
About the author:
Glenn Canady teaches fellow entrepreneurs how to get traffic
to their website with his course Gorilla Website Marketing.
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