Is your site a "contender"? Or do you have a "limited
presence" online?
Maybe your site is a "900 lb. gorilla?"
What's with all the jargon today?
Glad you asked.
A slick new "Visibility Index" opened recently that you
should try. It measures your website's visibility on the web
by counting up all the links to your site. But rather than
simply telling you how many links you have across the world
wide web, this one rates you from "limited presence," to
"contender", "player" and even "900 lb. gorilla."
The site also lets you enter up to four other URLs so you
can compare yours to them. What's more, the results show
your URL among lots of popular sites on the web.
Not only is this free tool fun to try, it can reveal
important information about your web presence.
Give it a go at: http://www.marketleap.com/publinkpop/
I just ran my http://www.bizweb2000.com site through and it
was interesting to see it wedged between www.Coke.com and
www.SouthWest.com, but a bit shy of www.MarthaStewart.com
and www.GeorgeWBush.com. (See, I told you it was fun!)
But all fun aside, whether you find your site in the limited
presence category, or even "Contender" or "Player", you
should always be working toward one goal getting more
links.
Not only do lots of links bring the obvious lots of
traffic, they also help you in another important race;
search engine ranking. Major search engines have been
relying more and more on link popularity as a deciding
factor in where they rank sites in their results pages.
- Could you become a gorilla?
OK, so how many links can you really get? Well, let's be
honest. A lot has to do with your overall business budget
and specifically, your marketing budget. If you think you
can get to 900 lb. gorilla - that's half a million links -
you could be setting yourself up for disappointment.
Take a look at the "gorilla sites". Every last one is a
giant company with big marketing dollars, including presence
on television, radio, and the like.
So how about the next category down, "player" - with 100,000
links or more? Is it doable with a small or home business
budget?
Why not! Sure, it would be quite an accomplishment on a
limited budget, but it is possible. You just have to have a
plan. And I'd like to help you with that right now...
- Put a powerful "get links" plan in place.
So how does a site start moving up the list?
Simple. Get links. Or better yet, have a powerful plan to
continually get links.
But getting other sites to link to yours takes a bit of
originality. You can't just slap up a "link to us" page and
hope the job gets done. (Well, you can, but don't expect too
many quality links!)
Here are three link strategies you should consider. They are
not used at too many sites, they work well and they
can put you ahead of most of the pack...
1. Pre-license all your best stuff.
If you ever create your own tips, articles or content for
the web or email newsletters, consider pre-licensing it to
others.
If it's content you write, pre-licensing it for others is as
simple as including a short footer after your work. It looks
something like this:
"You have permission to reprint what you just read. Use it
in your ezine, at your website or in your newsletter. The
only requirement is including the following footer..."
Article by Your Name.
Visit www.YourWebsiteUrl.com for more original content like
this.
If you're a web designer you can use this strategy too!
Simply put a statement like that one above in your terms of
use page. Something like this...
"These images can be used freely. Please include the
following at your site..."
Some images at this site, courtesy of Your Name.
For more original artwork for your website, visit
www.YourWebsiteUrl.com.
Getting the idea? See how this continually works to get you
links? There are lots of websites in need of decent content.
Supply it and you can benefit greatly - if you do it right!
2. Bribe webmasters into linking up.
Another strategy that can work very well is the "bribe". In
a nutshell, you simply give something of value away to
anyone who links to your site.
There are lots of ways to do this, and you are limited only
by your imagination. Here's an example...
Just a few days ago I set up a new niche directory at my
site called the Internet Marketer's Resource Directory. But
rather than a run-of-the-mill directory, it's actually a
link generation tool that bribes my visitors into linking to
my site. It does this by offering two distinct rewards:
a. Marketers can get a free listing in the directory - a
link from my site to THEIR best Internet Marketing
Resources.
b. When they reciprocate with a link back to my site, they
get a free book.
If you want to have a peek at how this works, see:
http://linksmanager.com/bizweb2000/
Now I'm not telling you about my directory to get you into
it. That's already happening by itself. (My little niche
directory has generated 100 new links in just three days.)
The message I want to get across today is this:
- Never stop looking for links
I've been marketing online for five years. But I never stop
looking for ways to grow links into my site. And there are
endless opportunities for ANY webmaster to do just that. You
just have to use your imagination then ACT on your linking
ideas.
And there are lots tools available for you to use. Heck, I
found 69 indexing scripts just today at:
http://cgi.resourceindex.com/ProgramsandScripts/Perl/
Pick one and run with it!
And if you're not cgi inclined, there are also web services
that can automate your link growth ideas. The one that runs
my own little niche directory is called LinksManager
and it does everything from directory
creation, URL submission handling, email confirmations, and
reciprocal link checking. The system even gives away the
free eBook when reciprocal links are verified.
No matter how you do it, start growing your links. And
remember... the last thing you want is NO strategy. That may
leave you looking back a few years from now thinking, "If
only I'd had a link strategy, I coulda' been a contenda."
Start a solid strategy now and who knows, maybe someday your
site will be a 900 lb. gorilla!
About the Author
Article by Jim Daniels of JDD Publishing
Jim's site is packed with free help for anyone trying
to start or grow a business online. Get your free help
today at: http://www.bizweb2000.com