7 Steps To A Powerful, Useful Reciprocal Links Directory

The Problem

No matter how good your product or service is, if you are not receiving targeted visitors to your site or if your web site is not well ranked by the Search engines you will not sell much.

A solid, reciprocal linking strategy, properly executed will deliver both targeted visitors and improve your web site rank for your chosen keywords and all for "no money down."

Step #1 - Specific Keyword Search

It is important that your chosen keyword phrases are as specific as possible.

Scott Buresh of http://www.mediumblue.com/ says this about keywords and using "geographic", "adjective" and "noun" modifiers to make them specific.

"Modifiers are used for two main reasons: to increase the percentage of ideal prospects in the traffic the phrase attracts, and to find terms that are easier to target on search engines. Adding the right type of modifiers to your search engine key phrases will increase your chances of success."

This step involves effort and a capacity to brainstorm because you need a minimum of 100 keyword phrases for good results. Good search engine optimisers build lists of 300 specific or more keyword phrases.

The following resources will be of use as you build your keyword phrase list

* Overture Suggestion Tool - http://inventory.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion/

* Good Keywords by Softnik Technologies - http://www.goodkeywords.com

* Use a search engine to research "Keyword Phrases" and learn more practical details on this critical task.

Step #2 - Suitable Link Partners

Your ideal link partners are web sites based on

* High quality content - Ideally the material (articles, reviews, reports, e-books etc) should be original, fresh and informative to visitors.

* Tight web site themes - The content addresses a specific business, product or service type.

* Tight directory themes - A link to the link directory should be prominently shown on main pages and the directory must be tightly themed and not just a "link farm" of general, non-related web sites.

* Complimentary themes - While you may not want direct competitors to feature in your directory, complimentary sites that fulfil the above features will provide great value to your visitors.

Step # 3 - Find and Review Link Partners

Now, find web sites who may be "good" link partners.

Using a search engine or directory, go through each keyword phrase in your list and visit as many of the web sites that are returned as you can.

Evaluate each site on the basis of the criteria set in step #2.

Decide on the categories you want in your directory.

For an Internet marketing business these would typically be "Affiliate Programs", "Business Promotion", "Income Opportunities" an so on.

Qualifying web sites, may of course fall into more than one category depending on their business, product or service offerings.

With this information you can now make another list of :

* Qualifying web sites for inclusion. * Relevant e-mail address to which link requests must be addressed.

* Web site URL and a short description of the web site and what it offers.

* Make a note of "special" features on the web site which you can usefully put in your e-mail to *prove* you have actually visited the site. This goes a long way to countering SPAM problems.

Step # 4 - Build Your Partner Link Directory.

Build your Partner Link's directory using a separate HTML page for each distinct category.

Add the URL link and comment for each qualified site into the relevant category page(s).

Make your directory pleasurable to visit, where visitors find information quickly and easily.

Ensure ithe directory is easily found and reached from your main web pages.

Step 5 - e-Mail The Webmaster

Using the e-mail addresses, write to each Webmaster you have linked to.

Tell them :

* The URL address of the page where their link can be found

* Your own web site link information (URL and descriptive comments)

Finish by asking for a reciprocal link in their directory.

Make the e-mail personal and you might like to use the *special* feature note you made to help your request achieve success.

Step #6 - Maintain Your Directory

A partner directory is a work in constant progress.

It must change quickly to reflect obsolete, dead, new, and modified links and web sites.

This maintains it's usefulness to your visitors.

Depending on size, verifying the links may be more than you can achieve easily by your own efforts. Offer prizes to visitors who find and inform you of links that are no longer useful.

Maintenance also means giving added prominence to entries for other webmasters who respond to your mail and tell you that they have added your link and web site information to their own directories.

You can add a small graphic next to each Partner link making it stand out from the other web sites that have not provided a reciprocal links.

Remember your directory exists to provide useful content to your visitors. Do not immediately remove a non reciprocating web site, if it adds value to your visitors.

Step #7 - Repeat

Go through the six steps above regularly and over a period of 3 to 6 months you should notice a significant and sustained rise in targeted traffic from complimentary sites as well as a rise in search engine rankings for your specific keyword phrases.

Conclusion

Building a useful, tightly themed, Partner Link directory is a "No cost" traffic and ranking builder.

Will you devote 15 minutes to this today, and into the future ?

(c) 2004 Charles Kangethe

About The Author

Charles Kangethe of http://www.simplyeasier.com is a leading new wave Netpreneur and a published author from England. The "Simply Easier" brand name is your guarantee of high value, quality Marketing Products, Services and Resources.

charles@simplyeasier.com

More Traffic Building Articles

Why Traffic Touts and List Pushers Are Bad For Your Business
In this Article we look at the second competitive advantage of successful Internet Marketers - Warm Traffic and True O'pt- In Lists.Good, Bad and Ugly TrafficMarketing depends heavily on the type of Traffic you attract.

How To Generate Targeted Traffic...and Cash In On It.
We all know that generating traffic to your site is creating a flow of visitors, but what is targeted traffic? Targeted traffic simply refers to visitors who are actually interested in the topic of your product or service. Targeted traffic will greatly out produce non-targeted traffic in terms of open rate, click through rate, and sales conversions rates.

How To Get Free Traffic To Your Website
There are many ways to get free traffic to your website, but the method that I use beats all the traditional methods hands down - and best of all..

Reciprocal Linking Overload - Any Old Link Back Will Do?
Are you attempting to become a Google junior by adding thousands of links on your site? Don?t bother, listen to these facts first.So you want to get a Google top page rank and get your site listed on the first page when an internet surfer types in your keywords, right?!? Of course you do.

The Truth About Traffic Exchange Programs and Guaranteed Traffic
It's about time someone let the cat out of the bag, regarding traffic exchange programs and guaranteed traffic. I wasn't seeing the truth being written about the subject anywhere, so I decided to take it upon myself to reveal the truth about these programs.

How To Get Web Site Traffic
Web site traffic is essential to having a thriving online business. You cannot have enough web site traffic (visitors) unless it is the wrong traffic or you do not want to continue to build your business.

Link Exchange Program: Get Started Building Your Link Popularity!
Every website needs a link exchange program. Every week, set aside time to work on your link exchange program to build up the quality and number of your text links out on other websites within your niche market.

5 Free Ways to Increase your Website Traffic
I don't know about you, but when I first entered the world of internet marketing I thought I could just submit my newly finished website to a few search engines, then sit back as the visitors flocked to my site.I imagined that people would arrive on my website, as if by magic, purchase goods, and perhaps come back again for more.

How to Exchange Links With Other Sites
As a result of search engine changes, linking with other sites is becoming an increasingly iportant way to generate traffic to your website. Links done properly will repay the effort and not be subject to the whims of the search engines.

Winning The Hit Exchange Game
"How do I get more traffic to your site?" That's the eternal question. Or to be more precise, "How do I get more targetted traffic to my pages, people who are going to be interested in what I have to offer?"After all, there's no point, or rather little point in getting a steady stream of boxing fans over to your site, if its main theme is bread making.