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Using Links To Promote Your
Site
A very effective method of drawing traffic to
your website is to link to other web pages that relate to your site. This works
to your advantage in two ways; one it draws people directly to your site when
they click on the links and secondly, it helps the position of your site in
search engines since this is one of the factors they use to determine which
sites to list first (sites that are linked to other high traffic sites are
usually ranked higher).
Links provide many benefits both to the users
that discover them as well as webmasters that use them. For the user the
benefits are fairly obvious. Good links that pertain to your site should serve
as reference material for your users. Linking to sites that relate to you or
your business is a good way to provide additional or background information for
your business. For example, some of the links on this site direct users to free
products and downloads that can be used to view some of the products we create.
A clothing store owner might provide links on their site that would direct a
customer to products or items related to theirs that they do not carry like
shoes or handbags for instance. A link from that store’s website might point
back to the clothing store for people who may be looking for items that the
clothing store carries. Drawing this example out a bit further you can see how
links could be used between various websites that relate to each other but do
not necessarily compete with one another.
Links also can provide benefits to the website owner. Using links is one way to
expand the market for your products. Instead of visitors reaching your site
directly, they could be directed there from other sites that have links back to
you. In this way, you could use these other websites as affiliates that could
receive a small commission for any customers that buy your products from their
sites. Links could also provide you with a way to add new content to your
website. There are many sites out there that provide free content for websites.
In many cases, the only thing they ask in return is to provide a link back to
their original site.
Although there are many benefits to links, you may want to follow a few
guidelines in order to increase your chances of success:
1. Make sure any sites you link to are relevant to yours.
There is no need to add links just for the sake of having links. They
serve no purpose and will not add any value to your site. Too many irrelevant
links with no value will deter users from checking links that may actually help
you. Conversely, if users know that your links will provide them with something
of value, they will have another reason to return to your site.
2. If possible, try to link to sites that have higher traffic than yours.
In many cases, sites will request that you provide a link to their site in
return. Having a link to a higher traffic site will work to your advantage.
3. Provide a good reason for other sites to link to you.
There are always places on the web that are searching for good content. If you
have it, chances are someone will want to link it to their website. This method
is extremely popular among artists. It is an excellent way for them to get their
work seen.
4. Create affiliates.
If the primary purpose of your website is to market your products, be sure to
offer an incentive to sites that direct traffic your way. Setting up affiliates
can be very beneficial, provided they they have a reason to link to you.
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