Am I wasting my time with reciprocal linking?

[brenda@houseperfect.net]

Why is it that when trying to exchange links with sites listed in the “Service”
section on the LinkPartners pages partners won’t respond or link back to my site?

I have tried to link with many companies that are related to my type of services. I setup a link on my site but LinkPartners won’t link back. So then, I windup removing there link.

It’s becoming to be a waist of time. Why be a LinkPartner if you can’t get any reciprocal links?

Thank you,
Bren
http://www.houseperfect.net/

[makphisto]

Even if you think that your sites are related, the "other" site might disagree. Or they set up their Link Partners information, then just walked away. Unfortunately, its not an easy process. You have to cast a very wide net in otder to catch the "good" fish.

[giftsofblessings]

Amen Makphisto...My first site (gift baskets) I requested link exchanges from over 1200 gift basket sites over a 3 month period and at the end of 8 months (and me still requesting exchanges from more people) I only had 198 exchanges. The newer you are and the fewer exchanges you have the harder it is to get exchanges. I had to rely on "newbies" like myself to get exchanges but now that I have been in business for over 2 years I have alot of the ones who werent interested in me asking for exchanges. I found that just cause we were new the search engines didnt care. Link with those who are new and in the same business as you, then collect as many of them as you can and keep your site fresh and time will take care of the rest. Just remember when your at the top those who stayed with you during the hard times. I still have most of my "starter" link exchanges and they stay at the top of my links pages. We battled together and worked hard and now we have people seeking us. I still accept "new" sites and it doesnt appear to affect my rankings so when you get to the top dont forget those just starting! ;)

[glenn33]

I published my first website about 12 years ago and was taught the importance of link exchanges by my webmaster. It was easy back then. I spent many hours trading links with like minded sites and as a result had a links page that was huge. I truely believe that the sucess of our site back then was due in large part to reciprocal linking.
Fast forward to today. We have just posted a new site about a month ago and after being off the net for about 5 years I see big changes. Yes, it is hard to get other sites to traded links. I don't know if the net has gotten too big or, people have gotten lazy or what, but it is tough getting links. I've sent out hundreds of requests and only have a handful of links at this time. I still believe in the value of good links and will continue to search them out, but I do get frustrated at times. At this point the site is new and I have the time to do the research and write the e-mails.
In conclusion, I feel that the process that used to be so fruitful is still worth the effort...don't give up, it's not a waste of time.....

glenn33
www.carartonline.com

[Tugeza]

Yeah, my first site had PR 0 allover + was sendboxed by Google. I would be really amazed when somebody exchanged links with me - giving PR 2, 3 and even 5 instead of my 0, anyway - I was pretty lucky to get a link per 5 - 9 enquiries. Now the site has around 60 links and PR 4 on almost every page, PR 2 - 3 on the resource page. So now time works for me ;)

[Tugeza]

And now I am more tolerant to the sites that have no Page Rank, it is only a matter of time... If I like the sites layout, usability and if it provides me with usefull information - why not? - I will add it to my Resource Page.

[Painless Parker]

Once upon a time, I'm told, you could launch a website and do all kinds of crazy things to ramp up your search engine positioning quickly.

For all I know, maybe you can still do that if you've got a six figure budget for it.

My experience is that building page rank and return position is like gardening. You start small, you add some content one week, a few good links the next week, rework your copy to handle keywords better the week after that, add some more good links and weed out a few questionable ones and eventually your PR grows, your site prospers and, like you said, time gets on your side.

The good thing now is the process, while remaining one of gradual accural, can happen at a much faster pace, kind of like a speeded up movie. I guess we have the almost continuous pace of search engine spidering to thank for that. Back when an SE crawler would only visit a site every three or six months the whole thing took a lot longer.

Of course, screwing up will get you spanked sooner as well.http://forums.linkpartners.com/images/icons/icon10.gif
Talking
________
Lovely Wendie99 (http://www.lovelywendie99.com/)

[The Old Sarge]

Brenda,

Don't be discouraged. Most of us have been there at one time or another.

Heres an idea that I tried when I was struggling for my first links.

Search Google, Yahoo! and MSN with all your top keywords/phrases and contact all the sites you get that are NOT DIRECT competitors. Forget the other sites' PR for now and concentrate on linking to quality sites.

THen ... keep plugging with your requests thru LinkPartners. You'll get there.

[Chevythunder]

Were new and trying to figure all this stuff out too......Thanks for all the good info here !!!!!

Hey glenn33
Nice site, wanna link up? check out my site....

[cvos]

The best advice for getting responses is to only contact people that have an existing link page. It is unlikely a 3rd party would add you if they don't link out to other websites. Also, send multiple, gentle requests. Many people won't respond before the 3rd request. Link requests MUST be personal, professional and not demanding.

[Cleaningprof]

He llo Bren,

I share your frustration! These time-wasters are a wet-sock-in-the-dust bag :mad:

Not a lot we can do about them, but I'll swap links with you......... I'm off to your site now

[Cleaningprof]

PS to the above....................

Bren,

Having seen your requested link I can see why some might not exchange - you are asking for two much!

The site software that I use will accept a maximum of somethong like 200 characters. Without actually counting, you are asking for 500+.

Try re-writing your link more concisely and many may find it more acceptable. Remember also that some do not directly input HTML but enter title and description into a form.

[The Old Sarge]

I share your frustration! These time-wasters are a wet-sock-in-the-dust bag :mad:

Just out of curiosity, who do you consider the time-wasters?

[Cleaningprof]

Sarge,

The time-wasters refered to are those who register a wish to exchange links (via a directory) then do not return to that directory to follow up and ignore all reminder messages. If they no longer wish to partisipate in exchanges they should withdraw their requests.

[The Old Sarge]

John, I couldn't agree with you more on that.

[Cleaningprof]

One thing that I find frustrating is when I find a site with which I would like to exchange links, only to find that the code they require has an embedded identity number. This would not be a problem except that I cannot input links as HTML, only enter title & description. This means that the other sites software will not recognise the existance of their link.

I fully understand that they are using audit software to check for continued linking but there must be many other sites in the same situatuation. I did try setting up an 'information page' that will accept HTML and advising this as the reciprocal link address does work about 20% of the time.

[Phil Staff]

One thing that I find frustrating is when I find a site with which I would like to exchange links, only to find that the code they require has an embedded identity number. This would not be a problem except that I cannot input links as HTML, only enter title & description.

I have noticed the extra html is becoming more commonplace. I know that LinksManager.com users can add this extra "id=4564654" type of code to links in their control panel. It does take a small workaround; however, I have shown many LinksManager users how to setup these types of links so they can link with the other site and still provide the other site with the full html they are looking for in their backlink.

For example:

When adding a link in your LinksManager account there is an entry box for 'Site URL'. Normally you would only enter in the full url like http://www.linksmanager.com .

When the LinksManager system builds this link it uses the value you entered in the input box to build a tag like:

<a href=" site url from account ">

Now lets say that LinksManager wants you to add [ id="12345" ] to their link on your site. Here is how you would *workaround* this issue.

In the Site URL entry box you would enter:

http://www.linksmanager.com" id="12345

[please read carefully as the quotation marks are intentionally closed after the url then opened after the id= and NOT closed after the id information.]

Remember from above:

When the LinksManager system builds this link it uses the value you entered in the input box to build a tag like:

<a href=" site url from account ">

Now when the LM system builds that link it will look like this on your site:

<a href="http://www.linksmanager.com" id="12345">

You know have a link that includes the ID tag that some webmasters are asking for.

Hopefully this information is helpful.

Thanks,

Phil Staff

[Cleaningprof]

Phil,

Thanks for taking the time to reply - I will certainly give that a try :)

[Cleaningprof]

Phil,

You're a star - it works a treat. thanks again for the help:)

[Phil Staff]

Your Welcome John, anytime!

Phil

[Duke]

The last time I checked, Link Partners does not allow for a "link queu" or "site status" info area. Webmasters such as myself can always use this type of site description as much of the e-mail requests forwarded to me from Link Partners end up buried within 20 - 50 e-mails/day (yes, that many). If I could login to my account here once per month instead of be burdened with individual responses then that would be a benefit as I see it. Also, my current site has limited me to what I can do from a backlinking POV so I've spent well over 4 months researching alternatives to my current CMS. It may be late summer before I'm up and running properly so it would be great if I could add a site status update on my Link Partners Site Status page so you don't waste your time requesting a reciprocal link.

Also, not to be offensive but some of the links that are offered are not "apples to apples" link exchanges. By this I mean that if I'm going to manually add your link to my directory (CMS Content Pages), then I want to be added in the same manner on your site. I find a number of sites (not necessarily sites in this program) make it extremely difficult to find reciprocal links by burying them 4 or more links behind the index page.

Also, I refuse to backlink or provide PR to any site that lists links alphabetically instead of by topic/content. There are many sites out there that don't seem to bother with clear structure in their linked pages so I consider backlinking a waste of time. If your serious about reciprocal linking, please put some time and effort into your program. Make sure you are only linking with sites that compliment your sites focus/direction or you will not only push webmasters like me away, you may be considered a link farm.

[thinkseo123]

Linking is really tiresome and time consuming. I prefer to seek link building services (http://www.seobuilders.com) that has affordable rates.

[Duke]

Linking is really tiresome and time consuming. I prefer to seek link building services (http://www.seobuilders.com) that has affordable rates.

Linking is something you should just get in the habit of doing and is no different really than adding news to your main page. Identifying good candidates is really the most time consuming part of the process but the rest is all gravy.

All you have to do is set a goal such as one or two new reciprocal links/week and your all set. Join a few programs such as Link Partners that pre-qualify many of your exchange partners and it makes adding reciprocal links all that much easier.

You don't have to add hundreds of new links all at once (I've read doing so may actually do more harm than good), just a slow steady flow of new incoming links will help any site, especially if you’re in the sandbox.

Regardless of what method you choose to add links just remember, webmastering is a lot of work. Yes there are shortcuts but there are also pitfalls to many shortcuts on the web. Make sure you do your research prior to joining any “too good to be true” program because the chances are, there too good to be true. A flourishing website typically does not happen over night so get used to a minimum of 2 – 3 hours/day, every day, to maintain your site status, more if you want to flourish.

I know some webmasters making well over $14,000 USD/month but they work 14 hour days, 7 days a week on their websites alone.

[thinkseo123]

I know some webmasters making well over $14,000 USD/month but they work 14 hour days, 7 days a week on their websites alone.

Impressive. It tells me I need to work full time on my site. Nice advice, I think I need more passion in promoting my site.

[Duke]

Impressive. It tells me I need to work full time on my site. Nice advice, I think I need more passion in promoting my site.

If your smart about your content, structure it properly and ensure it's on par with your sites overall focus, I'm sure you'll eventually start seeing some $ thrown your way as well.

I would suggest though that you start learning (assuming you haven't) about SEO and not just of the google kind. This has been one of my biggest pitfalls as I'm indexed well in google.com and google.ca but lousy in MSN, Alta-Vista and Yahoo. There's a lot of information out there on how to SEO your site for all the Search Engines so one of the things you may want to work into your day is registering at a few 00ber Webmaster Sites and start boning up on the SEO stuff.

[domenigo]

i suggest to link it by your self ,you will ,l spend a lot of time but that's the way you can do .i have an dating website and i have ...FREE URL.. button and still i am putting the free links from database.

[ccdoshi]

Dear Friend's You Are Not Wasting Your Time With Reciprocal Linking Because This Is Part of Link Building And Friend's I Tell You One Thing Please Regularly Check Your Link Is Live On Others Site Who Reciprocate With Your Site....

[Duke]

The other thing that you must do is check who the sites you trade links with are trading with. It's very important not to just follow your link but others on their sites becasue you don't want to get in kah00tz with a site that links to all kinds of nefarious crap (which is easy to do).

Also, check that your not linking to a link farm (a site just linking for sake of linking); the best reciprocal links are to sites that compliment your sites content.

[Duke]

hi
every one doing link exchange according to me its not a time waste process if you are doing 20 link exchange per day and one can live its realy help to your site and also important if its not responding after 4 days you mail it, its help you. some time its not work than after remove the link......... okay

If you're actually publishing 20 links/day you're either:

A) a directory or
B) a link farm

... there is no C option.

You may be seeing gains now if you fall into the "B" category but enjoy it while it lasts because it will likely catch up with you.

[The Leader]

You might be able to process 20 links a day but getting them indexed by google can take months so I can't see you being punished for that.

[Duke]

You might be able to process 20 links a day but getting them indexed by google can take months so I can't see you being punished for that.

20 links/day x 30 days/month = 600 links, pretty sure Google's going to notice eventually.

[The Old Sarge]

The SEs will find those links the first time their bots crawl the page/s the links appear on. If you have them all on one page, the SEs will definitly take note ... whether they index the page or the links or do not index them.

Even worse, possibly, is if the bot comes along after a 14 day absence and finds 280 new links (20/day X 14 days) all on the same page or two.

It's always best to add links for your visitors benefit and not for whatever value you think the SEs will lend them. That way the links are "natural".

[Phil Staff]

LinksManager recommends no more than 10 new links per day. This is still 300 per month and much more than many sites can do on a monthly basis each and every month.

I personally try to add 12 new sites per week.

Phil Staff