Shortly after it went live I realised that nobody apart from me could see it and it started to dawn on me what this 'Internet thing' is all about. It is not about having a stand-alone website plonked somewhere that nobody will ever see - it is about being part of an INTERconnected NETwork of other websites. INTER-NET. The penny dropped - I needed to start getting connected to other websites.

Much has changed since then (my hair got longer, shorter and has since started to recede further up my head for one thing) but it seems desire and pressure you face as a website owner to exchange links shows no signs of fading. But link swapping is killing your website! Here's 5 Reasons why...

Reason No. 1 - It's Addictive!

It's true. You might not be that far down link-swapping path yet but I promise you it will happen sooner or later. One day you'll find yourself laughing like a maniac as you run a report to see how many in-bound links you have and start rubbing your hands gleefully as you reach that magic milestone you set yourself six months ago. You'll start mainlining reciprocal links:

"Just one more link. Please - all I need is one more link!"

Take a deep breath, step back from precipice and think for a moment. Why do you want all these links pointing to your website? No, honestly - why do you REALLY want all these links pointing to your website? To improve link popularity? You're falling into trap. Do you want it to boost that little green bar that Google assigns to your page? (see toolbar.google.com) Wise up!

Reason No. 2 - It Is Eating Away At Your Time Like A Hungry Hippo!

Just take a look at last time you went out looking for a link and got it. How long did it take you? Not long? Well, let me put this another way - how long did it take you to find right type of websites, look through those and find ones that even have a links page, find contact information for websites you wanted to contact, create email, send email, respond to email, place their link on your website, check that they reciprocated with you, email back and forth a few times more and so on...?

If you add up all minutes that each of these elements takes you could be looking at half an hour per reciprocal link established - maybe even longer!

And don't think you're cutting corners if you're using software. It might be quicker to find possible linking partners using software but it's a false economy as, to my knowledge, people are still cleverer than machines.

How do you make more money online? Increase your online visibility! And how do you increase your online visibility? Driving traffic to your website is key. Achieving and maintaining a high ranking with search engines is a definite must.

The best way to achieve these directives is to link and be linked with similar websites. This is called, reciprocal linking. If all of this seems a little confusing to you, keep reading because I'm going to give you a free tool that is most likely one of best resources you will ever find for increasing your visibility, gaining higher traffic, and reaching better rankings with search engines.

Let's back up a little bit though and explain what reciprocal linking is and does.

You create a reciprocal link by placing a link on your website to someone else's website. They, in turn, will do same. As an example, take a look at Ideas For Home Businesses Motivation, Coaching and Goal Setting Resource page. Scroll down and you will notice a link for "The Realgoalgetter Website", along with a description about website. Now, let's look at The Realgoalgetter Website. Scroll down and you will notice a link back to "Ideas For Home Businesses", on left side margin!

These are reciprocal links. We each found value in one another's websites. We also found that our websites, while not dealing with same subject, complimented each other quite well. Furthermore, we both realized that other's site was a valuable, high ranking, reputable site that our visitors would appreciate. All of these points are extremely important when deciding whether to accept a reciprocal link. Personally, I have declined over 100 requests for links for varying reasons. Some of sites were poor quality with very low rankings. Others did not relate in any way to home business. Some were link factories. While still others had annoying pop ups, pop unders, or automatic downloads of Gator or Gain Publishing. I could not see value in these sites and as such, I felt sure my visitors wouldn't appreciate a link to those sites.

You must, at all times, keep interests of your visitors your foremost priority. If you feel they would not appreciate a link to a particular site, regardless of reason - don't do it. I cannot stress this enough to you - Only link with websites that are reputable and hold value to your visitors!

Now you may be asking yourself a few questions right about now. How does creating reciprocal links increase your search engine ranking? How do you find good quality, valuable and similar sites to link with (aside from surfing net 24/7)? We'll answer those questions now.