Bad Websites, dead links, and redirects

[pintobuck]

I used LinkManger to make 1000+ link exchange requests since it is easy to do with just a few clicks for each request.

Then I went back to visit each site and I found that many sites were dead, a redirect to another site (sometimes adult), or a single parked page full of advertising. I estimate up to 5% of the real estate sites were of this type.

[pintobuck]

Now I have started going to each website and trying to add my link through their Add-Link page. I am finding that many more LinkPartner websites do not allow me to add links for one reason or another. For example:
a) add-link web form does not work
b) no add-link web form, but the website says to email your info and the email address is dead
c) there is no Links page to display your link after you use their Add-Link form.
d) They require a Google PageRank 3 on your links page. (Difficult to achieve, but they have it.)
After a couple of hundred attempts, I estimate that another 5% of the websites are broken in a manner that prevents you from adding a link.

Total:
5% missing sites from my 1st post
5% broken link-exchange forms from this post
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10% of link-partners sites will cannot accept link exchanges by my rough estimate.

[Phil Staff]

Now I have started going to each website and trying to add my link through their Add-Link page. I am finding that many more LinkPartner websites do not allow me to add links for one reason or another.

Please keep in mind that LinkPartners is free to everyone who meets the guidelines. We *cannot* force the other site to respond or link back to your site. This is why we created ResponseRank. This way we can track requests and automatically remove LP members who are non-responsive or who have bounced email addresses.


For example:
a) add-link web form does not work

Yes we see this many times where webmasters have add link pages that do not work. Either because they use a broken system or because their website is broken.


b) no add-link web form, but the website says to email your info and the email address is dead


Having an add link form is not a requirement for LP listing. All they are required to do is post a contact method. This could be a phone number, email addy, email contact form etcetera. If the email address they used to sign up to LP is broken then we will find out and remove their listing.

Additionally we depend on feedback from our LinksManager users. If you know a site doesn't have a "working" way to contact them then you can report their link to LinkPartners. Just go to LinkPartners home page (not your Search for LinkPartners is your LinksManager account) and search for their site listing. You will see the Report Link next to their listing. Clicking that will reveal many ways to report problems with any listing.

c) there is no Links page to display your link after you use their Add-Link form.


All LinkPartners sites are required to have a link on their home page to their links pages. Additionally that site must already have some links on the links pages in order to qualify. One of two links isn't enough. They need to show they are interested in link exchanges.

These items are checked when our human editor reviews their site upon submission. Unfortunately there isn't anything stopping someone from changing their website after the review. We do periodically re-review all sites and we do review sites that are reported. Violators are immediately removed and emailed as to why there were removed.


d) They require a Google PageRank 3 on your links page. (Difficult to achieve, but they have it.)


Unfortunately too many webmasters think that PR is so important that they cannot link with other lower PR sites. This is considered gamesmanship by Google and they *do* notice if a site has all links to only higher PR sites.

We have always and will continue to always preach to link for your end user and not just a PR figure. My site has a '0' PR but I rank the first page for many of my keywords. Go figure. I run into the same problem with people denying my exchange because all they looked at was my PR.

Typically I try to contact these webmasters directly by phone or email and ask them to reconsider. Yes my site is PR0 but I am highly relevant to your site and would be beneficial for your visitors. etcetera.

Other times I just forget about them and remove their link or if it is a really good site I leave their link up and contact them in a few more months. Yes this is a lot of work but no one said it would be easy. ;)

I try to focus my time on linking with sites that know what linking is about and not spend any time with sites that have such odd requirements. I have seen some really strange requirements out there.


After a couple of hundred attempts, I estimate that another 5% of the websites are broken in a manner that prevents you from adding a link.


Again this happens but there isn't anyway for us to know unless someone reports this issue or we figure it out during a re-review. ResponseRank will help cut down on these issues as well.

If they don't have a working contact form or working email then I wouldn't want to swap with them anyway. If their potential customers cannot contact them then why even have a website.

Hopefully this information is helpful in addressing your concerns. Linking is difficult especially with unresponsive webmasters; however, hard work and determination often produce good results. I have contacted webmasters every month for 6 months before getting a response.

Phil Staff

[pintobuck]

I just started visting LinkPartner sites in the Real Estate category. The first 10 out of 10 sites that I visited have dead link exchange functions. Apparently their link exchange feature/function is set up with "LinkHelpers.com," and it is not working.

[Phil Staff]

Pintobuck,

I am sure there is an alternate method of contact to get ahold of these webmasters? An email address, phone number or snail mail?

Maybe someone should just mention it to them and how frustrating it is to try to exchange links with a site when their linking pages don't work. Maybe someone could tell him about LinksManager and try to get a free credit for referral?

LinkPartners doesn't require that all of a site's pages work to include any linking forms. In order for that to be done it would take forever to approve a site.

They are required to post a method of contact and that is all. If they don't have an email, don't have a phone number or address *and* their add link page doesn't work effectively making them impossible to contact about it then we could have them removed from the directory.

There are just some things that are out of our hands...

Sure would be nice if people would fix them forms or remove them. Typically what I will do when I get to any form is just hit the submit button. Hopefully that will try to fire the process and return any obvious errors. That is if they don't require certain information before you can hit submit.

That should be of some help.

[pintobuck]

Earlier I estimated that 10% of LinkPartner websites were dysfunctional so they were incapable of exchanging links, and I listed 4 typical reasons.

That was probably true for the Legal category.
Now that I have visited a couple hundred Real Estate sites, I estimate that about 40% of sites cannot exchange links. (Very rough, unscientific estimate.)

[pintobuck]

In prior posts, I estimated the percentage of website with dysfunctional link exchange features. Since then, I have visited more LinkPartner.com sites in the Real Estate Category. As a result my estimate of bad link exchange site has been revised:

1st Estimate: 10%
2nd Estimate: 40%
3rd Estimate: 70% is my current estimate for Real Estate Category.

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Edit by Author:
Now that I have visited about 1,000 Real Estate sites from LinkPartners.com, my overall estimate for Real Estate sites with dysfunctional link exchanges is about 50%. As I visited many sites, there was some variability for better and worse over smaller sample sizes of a couple of hundred sites.

My rate for successful link exchanges with Real Estate sites stayed at 5%. ( I recieved 1 link for every 20 that I gave.)
After I deleted 50% of my links to obviously dysfunctional sites, simple mathematics gave me a success rate of 10% from the remaining Real Estate sites. I sent them all reminders, but at some point I will have to delete the non-reciprocating sites.

So, out of 1,000 link exchange requests, I got 55 reciprocal links from the Real Estate category.

[westernfront]

[QUOTE=Phil Staff;648]Pintobuck,

I am sure there is an alternate method of contact to get ahold of these webmasters? An email address, phone number or snail mail?

Maybe someone should just mention it to them and how frustrating it is to try to exchange links with a site when their linking pages don't work. Maybe someone could tell him about LinksManager and try to get a free credit for referral?

LinkPartners doesn't require that all of a site's pages work to include any linking forms. In order for that to be done it would take forever to approve a site.

They are required to post a method of contact and that is all. If they don't have an email, don't have a phone number or address *and* their add link page doesn't work effectively making them impossible to contact about it then we could have them removed from the directory.

There are just some things that are out of our hands...

Sure would be nice if people would fix them forms or remove them. Typically what I will do when I get to any form is just hit the submit button. Hopefully that will try to fire the process and return any obvious errors. That is if they don't require certain information before you can hit submit.
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Suggesting two things here... one USE THE REPORT LINK to report this stuff.
I have on many occasions, & the "bad" sites are removed within 24 hours.
two.. suggest you guys have a limit on whining posts. Too many is too much! If it's so bad, take it elsewhere. After a while, it just sounds like what it usually is....sour grapes. If you don't have a solution or legit question, what is the point of posting? Just to whine? If LinkPartners is so bad, use your LinksManager acct to look for links on the Net. Jeeeez! Please
keep up the GOOD WORK & GREAT PRODUCTS!