How NOT To Request Reciprocal Links

Posted on June 7, 2007
Filed Under Advertising & Marketing, Blog Promotion, Search Engine Traffic, Spam, Viral Advertising

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How NOT To Request Reciprocal Links!

At some time or another you may find that other web sites are asking for reciprocal link requests.

Link building is just one of many ways to improve your ranking due to people being able to find your site on other locations on the Internet.

Think of in-bound links as portals pointing back to your site where visitors will come.

OK, so you do some research and you look for sites that match your content then you email the web site owner via their contact details on-site.

I take this matter personally and would believe many other webmasters would too.

Here’s my suggestion as what NOT to do to make FIRST contact.

1. Bypass the "contact us" page and use the WHOIS email address.

The contact us page is there for a reason.. TO MAKE CONTACT! The Whois information is primarily for your domain registration. Probably one of the main reasons more people use Private Domain Registration!

2. Ask ambiguous questions because you have not bothered to look over the site for detailed information.

Take the time to go through some web pages within the web site. What is the point if you can’t be bothered to have look?

3. Don’t ask to put a link on a page that has NO reciprocal links.

Don’t tell a website owners to put your link on a specific page, especially a web page with NO OTHER reciprocal links. You will not only risk annoying the site owner and will seldom get a reply back.

**Some ideas of what to ask a company before they seek out links for your site(s).**

1. Ask them not to contact webmasters through the WHOIS records. Instruct them to seek out the on-site contact form, email address or support desk.

Don’t bypass the available contact methods. This shows that you couldn’t be bothered to check the basics before making a formal enquiry.

2. Ask them to check for a reciprocal links directory or links page.

This question may seems like common sense but if you don’t ask… If the site has an automated links directory then that is the preferred method of adding link requests.

3. Ask them for a sample of the initial contact email they will be using on your behalf.

Know exactly what terminology will be used and make amendments where necessary. The results of which could have a lasting affect on your reputation.

What I find tiresome about delegating work to someone else is finding out the hard way that there are questions to be asked that may not be immediately apparent.

You’re best course of action is to brainstorm a list of the things you want done and don’t be reluctant to ask as many questions as necessary.

If you’re paying for a service make sure YOU know exactly what tasks are being performed and gather as much information about how they will carry out the work.

Get EXACTLY what pay for. Not what you THINK you are paying for!

How do you know what to ask if you didn’t know it was an issue?

We learn by trial and error. Things are seldom as straight forward as they seem!

If you have a similar experience or would like to share you ideas and thoughts on paying for links do add your comments.

Best of luck,