You are Being Lied About Reciprocal Links!© 2004 Vishal P. Rao
Exchanging links has been an important part of generating traffic since
concept of Internet marketing was first established, but at least 90% of people looking to trade links don't understand real benefits and, therefore, fail to make most of them.
The vast majority of web site owners think that exchanging links is only helpful because it can boost their rankings in search engines such as Google.com. They are however, useful for this purpose since number of links back to a site is figured into ranking calculations. But according to WebSideStory's StatMarket Web site optimization service, search engines account for only little more than 13% of an average web site's traffic.
The most important benefit of a link exchange is traffic resulting directly from these links. That same StatMarket research found that 21% of site visitors get there via links which means links themselves are more useful than search engine listings!
Search engines are highly unpredictable. They keep changing their algorithms every now and then. Your site is on top 10 results today but it may not be so tomorrow.
I don't say you should neglect search engines. However, your main concern should be getting traffic from direct links. Search engine ranking should be your secondary concern.
Furthermore, your links page can serve as an excellent resource for your visitors. As any Internet marketer will tell you, it's content that makes a successful site. When you provide useful links for your visitors, your site becomes more credible, more helpful, more likely to be bookmarked for future visits. All of which adds up to a steady stream of traffic.
So how do you identify sites that can send you more of direct traffic? Here are some pointers to consider while exchanging links:
1) Look out for sites that have good content.
Content is #1 reason people go online. If a site has good content, more number of repeat visitors it'll have.
2) Look out for sites that display a prominent link to their links page on their home page as well as on rest of pages.
When I say prominent, I don't mean a link with h1 font size! What I mean is that link should not be less prominent than rest of links on site.
Many web masters, particularly those who want links to help only their search engine ranking, will hide their links page or place it only on their home page, some where at bottom with a -1 font size. The most common reason for doing this is a fear of losing visitors, but that fear is absolutely unfounded when you really understand how Internet works.
