The Art of Link popularity 101 part 2:  How to effectively increase your ranking with search engines

KlickonUSA.com Search Engine Marketing: Web masters Tip of the Week!

This is the continuation of "The Art of Linking 101."  In case your forgot or you just happened to stumbled onto this page by accident or you didn't start the series off from the beginning here is the part 1 of Link Popularity. 

In part 1 we talked about analyzing your competition.  Before you add a Link to your website and more importantly before you request a link to your website you should first see how popular that site is.  You want to make sure that the site you are linking to or from is NOT banned by other search engines, and if they (the site) is NOT listed you don't want to waste valuable time linking to or requesting a link from them.  

You can do that by visiting a site name Linkpopularity.com.  You need to enter in the URL that you are interested in seeing how many links are pointing to that site.  One common rule of thumb.  If your site is new and you don't have any links pointing to you, your chances of getting listed in Goggle or Yahoo are very slim.  So it is important that you find a site that is willing to link to you and that site should be listed on the search engine that you are hoping to indexed on. You then contact the Web Master and request a link exchange.  Note:  If you are trying to get listed on Google then you want to find a site that has a page ranking of 4 or higher.  Google may not consider links to or from your site if the page rank is less than a ranking of 4. Get your Googletoolbar to evaluate websites.

Again, your primary objective is to find sites that have the same theme as your site and get them to link to you.  These types of links will give more weight to your site when it comes to evaluating and deciding how your website should be ranked.  

If your site has solid content.  Content that you know your visitors will enjoy and are looking for then you don't have to worry about adding your competition's links into your Link Directory.  Actually, this form of competition is healthy and beneficial for both you, your competition and the consumers.  It forces you to ensure that you are constantly building a site that has strong content that is vital to the internet community.  Those sites which do not provide vital content will NOT be standing 6 months to a year from now, or they will be so high in ranking on search engines that no one will be visiting their sites and they will be forced to use unproductive marketing and advertising services like banner impressions and email bombs.  Quality will eventually be quantity anytime.  If you build a solid foundation then the house will be sturdy and secured when heavy rains and winds come through.  Our website is listed in the top 2,5,7, and 21 for our keywords on Google, Yahoo, MSN, Hotbot, Netscape, About, and other search engines.  Every month we battle other sites for these positions.  Our rankings as well as other websites rankings are determined by how many sites are linked to us, as well as the quality of the content that is featured on our site.

Tips on effective Link Exchange:

1.  Use a search engine and type in a keyword that BEST describes your site and get the URL of that particular site.  Your initial goal is to contact sites that share the same theme as your site.  If your site deals with Horses for example, getting a link from a site that sells gumballs machines will have little value in increasing your search engine positioning. 

2.  Visit a site like Linkpopularity.com and enter the URL of the site you want to analyze for the purpose of linking to or from you.  You want to see how popular that website is.  If you are trying to get listed in Google you want to see if it is listed in Google etc. For Google sites page ranking (at the time of this writing) is critical.  You must find sites that have a PR of 4 or higher who are wanting to link to you.

3. Once you have determined which website(s) you want to exchange links with it's time to contact the Web master and request a link exchange.

Folks, these 3 steps are critical.  However, there are tools out there to assist you in obtaining excellent quality results.  There are several programs out on the market that will assist you in developing what is commonly known to Web masters as "Link Partners."  Software such as   Arelis3 and Zeus.  We have tested each product and found that Zeus is the TOP of the line.   I'm not going to spend a great deal talking about Zeus, but rather I am going to cover the high points on what Zeus does and what all webmasters should do to develop effective Link Partners.

Zeus covers the first 3 tips listed above for you.  You first enter in a URL that best describes the type of websites you want to link to.  You also train the software to look for certain keywords for sites you want found. The software then spiders those sites just like the Googlebot would and extracts all of the links that are listed on the site.  The software will also look for all email addresses that are related to those links or URL's.  The software will determine whether it should maintain the site in it's database so that you can contact the Web master for the purpose of exchanging links based on how it was ranked using the keywords and parameter you set.  Using the software you then send a email to the site's webmaster or owner requesting a link exchange.  Zeus is loaded with features such as maintaining your email database, developing and maintaining your Link Directory, checks to make sure your Link Partners have not deleted your link from their site.  Allows you to give higher ranking to those sites which you exchange reciprocal links with and many more options that will assist you in developing quality Link Partners.

Before we end this weeks subject I want to expound on probably the single most important point here.  That is "Contacting a Web master for the purpose of requesting a link exchange".  This point is going to be the determining factor whether your email is read, reviewed and a favorable reply is given or your email finds it's way into the delete basket.

Contacting a Web master for the purpose of requesting a Link exchange!

First, let's discuss what NOT to do.

1.  Don't just fire off an email to a Web master requesting a link exchange with the subject line "Trade Links."  Don't try to trick the individual you're sending the email to with a bogus subject line either.

2.  Make sure your email doesn't look like some automated email.  If it does you can bet it will be considered spam and deleted or worst yet "Block sender" folder.

3.  Don't ask for a link to your site if you aren't will to add their site's URL onto your site first.  For this very reason it is important to have software program that will develop and maintain a link directory for you. No-one wants to link to a site that has either a cheesy unprofessional Link Directory or worst yet, a website that is extremely unattractive and looks like it was put together by an amateur.

With those 3 things said (Looks like 3 is the magic number).  We will continue with Link Popularity part 3 next week.  We are going to cover how to write an effective Link Request Email" and finish up our series (almost finish) on "How to obtain HIGH ranking on search engines". We'll see you then.  

Continue with Link Popularity part 3:  Writing an effective Link Request Email

The "Tip of the Week" is update each Tuesday. It is our goal to provide you with information and resources that will help all Web masters implement and develop quality search engine optimization techniques, website advertising/marketing resources and more.  You may also be interested in our tip on Pay per click advertising and "How to market your site effectively and affordably" just click on the link above.

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