Swapping links can also help you with your search engine traffic. Some search engines calculate number of links to your site from other sites and use it to determine your ranking. As you know, a better position equals more targeted traffic!

Another way reciprocal links can benefit you is by drawing repeat traffic back to your website. If you offer a high- quality list of relevant links, visitors will return often because they know that they can quickly find what they're looking for.

PROACTIVE LINKING METHODS

One way to approach reciprocal linking is be proactive. You actively search out websites that would complement your own, and send a note to owner asking to swap links.

This is actually a very time-consuming task. It isn't as easy as purchasing a list of "targeted" and "willing" email recipients (also known as SPAM!) and then blasting out a link swap request.

It requires research, pure and simple. To find possible link partners, visit any of major search engines such as Google < http://www.google.com/ > to find websites that can offer valuable content to your visitors.

My position is that first, your ad copy must be short, to point and have no spelling or syntax errors. Well, in a recent article, I goofed. I wrote - "I try to keep articles around 700 words, as ones much longer seem to drag, and quickly loose readers interest. What I meant to say was "lose readers interest". This was a case of "fat fingers", and of course spell check didn't find it.

I usually have my articles proofed by someone else, but was running late that week. I read it over several times, but once you make an error, odds of finding it diminish with each reading. I guess this all goes to prove, that concept of having someone else read your copy, is really best idea.

Let's talk about some of things you must take into account. You need to ensure your message is read, otherwise you are simply wasting your time and advertising dollars. In order to do this, your copy must stand out from rest. There are a number of ways to do this, and contrary to what many of "pundits" say, there really is no magic formula.

If you are in business, you should subscribe to a number of ezines. Take care to read ads, and see which ones get your attention. There are some very good copywriters, and you could do well to learn from them. Keep an electronic scrapbook of ones you feel are worthwhile.