Website Directories and Link Exchange Sites - Part 5

CREATING A SUCCESSFUL LINK PROGRAM, Part 5

WEBSITE DIRECTORIES AND LINK EXCHANGE SITES

by Rick Hendershot
Linknet Publishing Network - http://www.sbo-linknet.com

In the first four lessons we looked at the reasons for creating a
link acquisition program and sketched out some important things you should do before getting your link program underway. In the next two lessons we discuss two major categories of link partners:

1. Directories and link exchange sites, and

2. Sites dealing with subject matter related to yours.

DIRECTORIES AND LINK EXCHANGE SITES

In this lesson we want to discuss the first category: directories
and link exchange sites. Generally speaking, these are listings of sites, categorized according to subject matter.

Follow up:

Normally your listing will be in the directory along with hundreds, or even thousands of others, with no way of determining the relative value or quality of the sites listed. So it is unlikely these listings will generate much traffic for you. In fact, generating direct traffic is not usually the point of such listings.

The point is to give you an inbound link, often from a high PR
page, and the Search Engines consider that important. This alone
will enhance the ranking of your site by Google and the other
Search Engines. The more times your site is listed -- with a link
pointing back to your site -- the more "important" your site will
be considered. And for that reason, you should be listed with as
many directories and link exchange sites as you can find. As
always, the higher the Page Rank of the page containing the back
link, the better it is for you.

START WITH POPULAR DIRECTORIES

One of the easiest ways to get inbound links is to register your
site with a number of website directories. These are usually
categorized lists of sites including a link and a brief
description. An easy way to get a list of directories is simply to do a Google search for "website directories". Another is to go to a directory site such as www.linkmaster.com and then check the Alexa toolbar for "Related Links".

Some of these will be well known directories such as Yahoo, DMOZ
and Jayde. You will also find some of the standard Search Engines
in a list like this. Some of the big directories like Yahoo,
Looksmart and Zeal require a payment to get listed.

My recommendation is to look around for free alternatives before
paying the big directories for a listing. You will find you are
able to get hundreds and hundreds of free links with a bit of
effort. Once you have an idea of where your link program is going, you can go back and revisit the pros and cons of spending money for listings.

FINDING F*R*E*E WEBSITE DIRECTORIES

This technique will also unearth some obscure directories. The fact is webmasters are creating website directories all the time because they view them as a resource they can use to enhance the search engine ranking of their own and their clients' sites.

One popular technique used by webmasters who have their own
directories is to do what is called a "three way link". They will
offer you a free listing in their site directory in exchange for a link back to one of their other sites.

This has a number of major advantages for enterprising
webmasters. First, it allows them to have hundreds of "one way"
links pointing at their important sites without having to give
"reciprocal" links from those sites. The assumption is that Google does not value a reciprocal link as highly as they do a one way link.

Second, they can use the directory to support any number of client
sites in this way. On Monday they can ask for reciprocal links
pointing to client A, on Tuesday to client B, on Wednesday to
client C, and so on. Of course nobody actually seems to do this in quite this way, but you can see how such a scheme might be
beneficial.

Submitting your site to directories is a very time-consuming
exercise, so try to be selective. Directories come and go.
And, remember, what you are looking for are links on pages with
"relevant" content, that have high PR, and that get a decent amount of traffic.

There is a list of about 40 free submit directories here:
http://www.sbo-linknet.com/directories.shtml

Because websites are constantly changing, it is almost impossible
to keep this kind of list accurate and up to date. But it will give you a good start.

FINDING LINK EXCHANGE SITES

A link exchange site is one where you register your site with a
description, basic keywords, and category. Then registered
webmasters can search through the listings, check out your site,
and request a link exchange if they are interested. In other words, a link exchange not only gives you a valuable inbound link, but (in theory, at least) also lots of suggestions for related-content link partners.

One relatively new exchange site is Ken Evoy's (of SiteSell / Site Build It fame), called "Value Exchange". This service will even let you know by email when "you have matches" -- link partner prospects in the categories you have previously specified.

Just a few other sites like this are

linkateer.com
linkexchanged.com
superlinks.com
gotop.com
links-pal.com

The more you look, the more of these sites you are likely to find.

My own experience with too many of these services is that a lot of the registered members are relative newbies, so their sites don't have much link value. Also I find there are lots of (low value) registered sites in areas like "website marketing", "business opportunities", and "online casinos", but not very many for hard-to-find keywords like "trade show displays" or "vinyl banners" (two of my client sites). Perhaps this will change as time goes by and the exchange sites mature.

It can also become a full time job just evaluating link exchange
requests from automated sites. These systems are often set up to
send out hundreds of automated requests all at the same time,
irrespective of "relevancy", so you end up getting requests from
every Tom, Dick, Harry, Sarah, and Penelope.

Once your site gains some exposure you will probably find that you will receive more link exchange requests than you can handle.
Being registered with a bunch of link exchange sites will just add to the long list of potentially unproductive tasks you can waste your time on.

My recommendation is that you may be better off not registering for the automated service, and just relying on a manual search of the listings for sites you want to exchange with.

In Lesson 6 we discuss how to find related-content sites, and how
to go about trading links with them.

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Rick Hendershot publishes the Linknet Network of websites.
http://www.sbo-linknet.com/products

The best and most productive links you can get are embedded in
ARTICLES. We can write targeted, keyword-rich articles about your
product or service and publish them to more than 20 sites...
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