We Want Your Feedback!

[admin]

This time of year, we pause to say thank you for using LinkPartners and LinksManager.com.

Please tell us, what do you like about LinksManager.com and LinkPartners.com? What do you dislike? How can we do better in 2007?

We promise to consider all suggestions and feedback so please take a moment to give us some feedback. We love our users! :)

[The Old Sarge]

WHat I like best is your e-mail notification system. Everything seems to run smoothly ... no glitches, no hangups. I also like the quality of sites that I get requests from. I attribute this to your "live" editing of memberships.

WHat would I change/improve? I'll have to think on that one. lol

Seriously, for a free service (that's all I've taken advantage of), you're great. Thanks.

[rookie]

I'll be honest, the ONLY thing I have trouble with is the monthly price. I think $19.95 is a little pricey compared to other linking outfits.

However, I do realize that Linksmanager has one heck of a system with a LOT of features.:D

[The Old Sarge]

Rookie, I don't know if you've used other linking services or not, but LinkPartners is head and shoulders above the others we've tried. LP successfully filters out the sites you ask them to and it's next to impossible to turn up a "bad" site in their listings. Most of the other services don't even have filters and we were constantly bombarded with requests from every fly-by-night and inappropriate (for us anyway) site that went online. ANd the listings at some of the other services ... Crap!

[cvos]

It seems cumbersome to have to receive and reply to emails for editing the content of a link. The email confirmation for a new link works well most of the time, but it should be quick and painless to edit existing links in LP.


thanks

[admin]

It seems cumbersome to have to receive and reply to emails for editing the content of a link. The email confirmation for a new link works well most of the time, but it should be quick and painless to edit existing links in LP.


Not sure I understand your comment... you can submit an edit to an existing link listing in LinkPartners but all submissions require editorial approval. Our editors give change listing requests priority handling. Does that answer your question? If not please reply with specifics and we will try again.

[QuickCarl]

I love the product. I just wish that there were a way for me to notify people who link ot me and don't use any of my link suggestions (the example links and html code that I provide for them) that even though I am approving their link, I would really appreciate it if they would use

<myURL> with anchor text of <mysite> and a description of
<my description> on their links pages.

I tried to get something like that set up, but the variables are too limited.

Maybe we need a new type of notification email.

[admin]

I'll be honest, the ONLY thing I have trouble with is the monthly price. I think $19.95 is a little pricey compared to other linking outfits.

However, I do realize that Linksmanager has one heck of a system with a LOT of features.:D


Thanks for your feedback... It is appreciated.

Since you asked, let me help folks understand why we price the service at $19.95.

First of all, support is included, we don't nickle and dime you for support or for all of the features built into LinksManager. Many companies charge $35.00 or more for a phone call into support.

If we sold it as an installable script, installation support would be a nightmare (think expensive) as the LinksManager system is over 300 scripts and almost 1000 templates. It's a massive system, better offered as an application service, thus the minimal monthly fee.

Link checking is a monster.. Link checking occurs across almost two dozen machines powered by Linux and Apple X-Serve technology.. expensive. You should see our bandwidth bill!

If you pay a webmaster 20 bucks an hour to edit links pages, you can see how it can pay for itself quickly.

We hope these examples help you understand why we think LinksManager is a bargain for $19.95 a month. No software to install and free installation. Regular link checking updates. All for under 20 bucks a month.

Also note we offer discounts (http://linksmanager.com/faq/7.html#5) for users with multiple accounts. :D

[admin]

It seems cumbersome to have to receive and reply to emails for editing the content of a link. The email confirmation for a new link works well most of the time, but it should be quick and painless to edit existing links in LP.


thanks

Thanks for this feedback... due to security and spam control issues, all changes to listings in LinkPartners have to be human edited otherwise, this directory would be a mess. We have editors working full time on all listing revision requests.

Heres a hint.. after you submit a change request, you will receive an email letting you know the change request was received. REPLY to that email POLITELY and cordially letting our editors know you appreciate the prompt response.. you might even note that you made sure to comply with the guidelines for submissions to this directory. Dont forget to say thank you.

You will be amazed at how fast your change listing is approved and published. Our editors love it when you say thank you. But be carefull.. dont abuse that email address. Or you could get added to the spam filter and then you wont be able to communicate with them. Also note they get alot of emails and due to volume, they cannot reply to all of them but they do read them all and take the appropriate actions as necessary to maintain a robust and useful directory.

[admin]

I just wish that there were a way for me to notify people who link ot me and don't use any of my link suggestions ....
Maybe we need a new type of notification email.


Carl,

We appreciate your kind comments.

Because LinksManager is EDITOR BASED, each user determines what title and description will be used when linking back to you.. you are right the information sent to the link partners is just a suggestion.. it's the other webmasters choice to determine what they will publish. If you don't care for what they published, a kind and cordial email directly to the webmaster will usually start a dialogue where you can request a change so the verbiage you want used is published. Editorial control is paramount so you might not always get the title and description you requested but cordial correspondence will open the door for a possible change.

The email notification you want is available only to LinksManager users through the use of the Custom Email Notification function. That function is not currently available to webmasters who only use LinkPartners.

[sborder]

I'd like to see a place where we can specify exactly what type of links we will or will not accept.

ie. I will not not link to any link farms, even if they are related to my sites or not. You must be a real store and sell real products.

ie. If you post your link to a non-related category it will be automatically deleted.

I've been using linkpartners and linksmanager for over 5 years and it's time something like this was added.

Steve

[Phil Staff]

I'd like to see a place where we can specify exactly what type of links we will or will not accept.

ie. I will not not link to any link farms, even if they are related to my sites or not. You must be a real store and sell real products.

ie. If you post your link to a non-related category it will be automatically deleted.

I've been using linkpartners and linksmanager for over 5 years and it's time something like this was added.

Steve

Spam link requests are simply a part of doing business on the Internet. There are many things that you can do to 'decrease' the number or bad or irrelevant link requests.

We have an article written about this exact situation and explained in more detail here: http://linksmanager.com/spam-proofing-incoming-link-requests.html .

1.) Add disclaimer text to your add link page like you mentioned. You can add text in the Cosmetic Controls -- Add Link Page Controls in your LinksManager Account Control Panel.

2.) If you use LinkPartners you will want to setup the Swap Permissions to block requests from 'categories' of sites that you do not want to swap with. This will prevent sites under the 'Medical' category for example from initiating a LinkPartners swap with your site.

3.) Use the LinksManager BLACKLIST. It is very powerful and can assist you in blocking certain urls, words etc. from being used on your add link page. For example if you get spammed by some sites and you see one common piece of information you can add it to the blacklist. More information on using the LinksManager Blacklist is available here: http://linksmanager.com/knowledgebase/21.html .

In reality you will not be able to prevent all bad link requests; however, these options should help you cut down on them. We made link deletion as easy as possible in your LinksManager account and you can select and delete multiple links.

Hopefully this information is helpful in answering your questions and addressing your concerns. If you have any questions about your LinksManager account please feel free to contact the LinksManager HelpDesk.

Phil Staff

[QuickCarl]

Yes, I understand, but happily I am a LinksManager.com user. It is just that there are not the right kind of variable to notify webmasters of your desired link text if you have already approved them.

I know that I can send them an nice ahad generated, polite email asking for what I want, just wish that LinksManager would help me automate that process. It happens quite a lot.

One of the main culprits are desktop link grabbing/requsting software packages that find all the "add you link" URLs in a certain category... because it seems that they use that page as your linkback page.

[Phil Staff]

Carl,

You bring up a good point. Sometimes it is difficult to contact other webmasters who are using linkback information that is a) outdated b) not what you would like or c) completely wrong.

admin previously mentioned that you can use the Custom Email Notifications to setup a customized email for this situation. I understand that you looked into this and the variables are limited to what can be used however you can still hardcode almost any pertinent information into the custom email notifications.

Custom Email Notifications are reviewed by the LinksManager staff and must be approved before they can be used. That is the only way we can control spam.

You can use the custom email notification to send specific information to webmasters in your Modify or Delete Active Links List. You would also be able to select multiple Link Id #'s in your account to receive the customized email.

You could add a custom email notification like:

########################
Subject: Please update my link information on your site.

Body: Dear webmaster,

I visited your site to see how my reciprocal link looks to your visitors. I noticed that the hyperlink text and/or description is different then my new information.

Would it be possible for you to update my information on your site to reflect the following:

Site Name/Link Text: Your requested Site Name or Link Text
Site Description: Your requested Description

Thank you in advance for your prompt attention to this matter.

If you have any questions please feel free to reply to this email.

Cordially,

Carl Chapman
####################

or something like that. This would be the best way to 'automate' contacting webmasters in this situation. I think that email would get the attention of the other webmaster.

Later if you need to change the link text and description you want used you can simply update the custom email notification to have us review the new information or you can create multiple email notifications using different link text and descriptions. Then you could choose which webmasters receive which link text emailer.

In the end though, neither you nor I can force someone to show a link a specific way. It is the same thing the other way around. You have editorial rights to change the description that another webmaster asks you to use for their site.

Hopefully this helps to answer your questions and address your concerns.

More information on the Custom Email Notifications in your account are available here: http://linksmanager.com/knowledgebase/22.html .

Thank you for your patience and understanding!

Phil