Just Ask Matt - Answers

Do Link Exchanges Still Work?

QUESTION: (Gerald) I have a number of people asking me to exchange links. I have read that this is good, but can’t find anywhere how to do it. Any suggestions, or is there an article you have that would help me. Appreciate it.

Good question, Gerald, because we really don’t hear as much about link exchanges as we did in the past.  I think the big reason for it is it’s effectiveness (or lack thereof).  Search engine spiders are much smarter than they were 2 or 3 years agos.  And most will recognize a “link exchange” rather easily.

For those who don’t know what a link exchange is, it is when you approach another website (usually with similar content to yours) and ask them to place a nice, keyword-rich anchor text link back to your website.  In exchange, you will do the same for them.  Remember that an important part of SEO is backlinks (i.e., receiving links from other websites pointing back to you).  A few years ago, a lot of this “linking power” was represented by a Page Rank.  Getting high Page Rank websites to point back to you effectively will increase your own page rank.

Personally, I think Page Rank is a bit of a farce these days (at least the public one).  I do think the major search engines (like Google) have there own ranking system based on popularity, but it would not be public.  Still, getting links from “authority sites” with relevance (to your niche) is always key. 

Now getting back to the question…I think link exchanges (or “reciprocal linking”) is really not going to help or hurt you.  Any backlink (in most cases) usually will help you.  But if there is a reciprocal link, the spiders will usually recognize this and probably not give you proper popularity for it. 

Again, like everything SEO, this is speculation, but I know there has been a lot of abuse of link exchanges over the years (like link farms, paid text links, etc.) to draw a lot of attention to it.  I used to do it quite a bit.  I don’t really do it any more (unless I am quite friendly with the website and we exchange primarily for the traffic, not the SEO).  I think your efforts would be better suited to article writing/submission, press releases, even directory submissions. 

You can also consider n-way link exchanges.  For a 3-way link exchange example: Site A links to Site B, Site B links to Site C, and Site C links to Site A.  You can do this rather deeply, too.  But still, the search engine spiders are smart and may start recognizing the linking footprints.  The larger the “n”, the better off you are…but of course, this is a hell of a lot more work and requires some skillful coordination.

Personally, I have become somewhat of an a-hole about link exchange requests.  I don’t get as many as I used to, but when I do I usually ignore them. 

cheers…matt

P.S. If you want to know more about Getting Backlinks, check out SEOExciter.com.  (There are 10 free videos over there that shows you how!)

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Matthew BredelMy name is Matthew Bredel and as of March, 2007, I am a full-time, work-at-home internet marketer. For close to 10 years, I worked for a defense company which was an OK job, but I was so uninspired in life and frankly, I needed some more money. That is when I first discovered internet marketing! Now I admit that I didn't start making thousands in my first couple of months (in fact, I lost my shirt!), but I finally saw the "internet light"...

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So I was reading Lynn Terry’s KillJoy blog this morning and it really has prompted me to write a well-overdue post for today.  It is kind of fitting, too, because on the other end of the spectrum (to what Lynn was saying), I received one of the nicest thank you letters (from Hilda…thanks!) this morning.
But [...]

So I was reading Lynn Terry’s KillJoy blog this morning and it really has prompted me to write a well-overdue post for today.  It is kind of fitting, too, because on the other end of the spectrum (to what Lynn was saying), I received one of the nicest thank you letters (from Hilda…thanks!) this morning.

But just like Lynn says, there are some days that are unbelieveable in this business and some days that are down-right awful.

The Rollercoaster.

One thing that I learned early on this business of “making money online” is to be strong, positive and (as they always say in “Meet the Robinsons”), Keep Moving Forward.  This business is more a mental one than a technical one, believe it or not.

-> Websites are assets.

-> Marketing is a process.

-> Knowing what to sell is experience.

It is the external factors that really drive this business, though.  And in most cases, these external factors are positive.  These are the great relationships we have with partners and affiliate managers. It is the social network we do on a daily basis making new friends and (hopefully) customers in the future.  It is those days where the stars align and sales are through the roof!

But of course, it can go the other way.  One bad email or bad review can make you wish you were back in that old cubicle working 9-5 (well, I have never reached that point yet!).  Sales are cyclic and sometimes you ponder the question “Is this the end?”  Black hatters can come and steal all of your business and you need to decide “should I join the dark side”?

Yes, this is starting to sound like a Star Wars episode.  And just like the movies, we seem to always come out on top, too.

And right now, during this recession that we are ALL experiencing, we need to start thinking positive once again.  This is what Seth Godin referred to as “The Dip“…and they are NEEDED to move forward in almost everything (Keep Moving Forward!).  So I look at this economic slide as our Dip to keep moving forward.  We WILL get out of this and we will be stronger for it, too.

But it is unrealistic to stay strong and positive everyday and sometimes it is just that one stupid email that will throw you off course.

Lynn suggests to throw the covers back over yourself for the day.  That works, and is only fair.

My advice is much the same.  Bad days are just bad days and trying to “make” yourself positive can sometimes not be realistic.  Instead, remove yourself from the bad and replace it with something good.  For me, it is turning off my computer and heading down to Starbucks to read a (non-marketing related) book.

  • No tweeting.
  • No email.
  • No marketing.

And once I am feeling good again, I can tackle the mess stronger and more positive than ever before.

cheers…matt

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One Response to “Internet Marketing Rollercoaster…”

  1. Its very good & quality content article …Really it is the thing about the marketing tha i was looking for

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