2) IT'S FREE Exchanging links is free (the only cost being that you have to put a reciprocal link on your website). This means that you will be getting targeted traffic for no cost at all, whereas you could be paying for targeted visitors from pay-per-click search engines, ezine ads etc.

3) LINK POPULARITY Each time you exchange links with a website it means that there is one more site linking to you. Now that link popularity is becoming more important with search engine rankings, it is essential to build your link popularity. And what better way to do it than by exchanging links? You increase your link popularity and get free targeted advertising at same time.

4) BUILDS YOUR SITES RESOURCES If your website offers resources to its visitors, then websites that your exchange links with can be added to those resources. In this way you can build up your resource directory with reciprocal links, thus offering an extra service/feature for your visitors as well as advertising your website at same time.

5) QUICK RESPONSE Once you have exchanged links with a website, then you can start receiving visitors from that link straight away. In contrast, if you submit your website to search engines, then it might take weeks or months to even get listed. This is a good way for new websites to quickly build a flow of traffic to their sites.

6) GUARANTEED LINK Once you have exchanged links with a website, that link is guaranteed. You know that your link will always be displayed on that site, as long as you continue to display their link. If webmaster that you exchanged with decides to delete your link, then you can delete theirs, and vice versa.

Notice I said 'simple concept' not 'simple process'. It is a lot of work to find sites that have a similar audience as yours, then search their site to see if they even offer free links to other sites, and then find contact information to ask them to link to you.

Here are top 5 excuses I have heard for not getting linked:

1. It takes way too much time 2. For every five I ask, I'm lucky if one actually links me 3. The sites that link to me always seem to have low traffic 4. I never get more than a few visitors a day from these links 5. I hate having to give a reciprocal link

My responses to these excuses:

1. Spend 30 minutes a day and find as many places as you can. If you stay with it you will be amazed at how much you will have accomplished after a couple of months.

Some days you may only find one or two sites, but on others you will get lucky and find a place with dozens of resources listed. You can then just visit each of those and wipe out a large number at one time.

2. It is definitely a numbers game but if you don't ask you will never know if they would have linked to you or not. There are also many factors that can better your chances of getting a return link. I will go into more detail below.

3. Many times this will be case because sites with tremendous traffic usually want you to advertise with them or have equal traffic counts for a reciprocal linking arrangement.

Several points to keep in mind, though. First, some of these sites may not stay small forever, and as their traffic grows you will hopefully start to see more visits from them. The other thing to keep in mind is that if you stick with this you will end up with a couple hundred links in no time. If each site sends you only one visitor per day that is an additional couple hundred visitors that you didn't have before. And its free!

4. The answer here is basically same as last. Another benefit of these links is boosting your link popularity for search engine ranking.

5. Create a links page with links to other useful sites. Place your reciprocal links on that page. Don't bury links page but offer it as just one more valuable piece of content for your visitors.

Some larger sites require a graphic or link on your main page to consider your request. I typically skip these and go to next site, unless their link adds value to what I'm offering on my main page and if there is a good chance I'll get a great deal of additional traffic from them. You can try it out for awhile and if you aren't comfortable with arrangement, just remove graphic and let them know that they can re- move your link from their site. At least you have given it a try.

To look at it another way, if you sell advertising on your site you are sending away some of your visitors in exchange for money.