Reciprocal Links

What are they?

Reciprocal links are the stuff of the Web: hyperlinks exchanged between sites to encourage visitors to jump from one website to another. 

Not only do these links encourage relevant niche traffic across websites but also many search engines score you by the number of links that come into your site. The more sites that link to you, the higher your position in the search engines. 

There are a number of websites and software packages that offer a "shortcut" to getting reciprocal links. Most do not appear to work, although Linkomatic has built up a good reputation. The personal approach is far more likely to succeed. It may take time but it will bring results.

How to get links

Bear in mind that a new website will neither be trusted nor widely used immediately, you can't expect everyone to want to link to you from day one (unless you've already got a well-known brand.

Also, stability is important. People prefer not to link to a site that may be gone tomorrow. Emphasise that you have now been around for a while and have improved the site. 

Where will the link to the other site go? If you can offer an obvious and interesting location that's all the better. You are looking for quality rather than quantity when it comes to links.

A link from a site that is it self very popular is better than fifty links from minor sites.

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Requesting a Link

How do you go about requesting a reciprocal link? 

A common introductory email often goes along the lines of: "Dear Webmaster, we have just visited your excellent website and we saw that it complemented our own so well that we would very much like a link from your site to ours".

 A little polite praise is a good idea when you are asking for a link. Then explain the main topics on your site and why the two complement one another. When you ask for a link give the webmaster a clear URL for the link and a brief title (up to six words) that explains your website.

If you have a particularly high traffic level then explain that - it makes your offer of a link attractive. If you have a high position on a big search engine like Google for a relevant keyword then draw attention to that advantage. Similarly, if your site has many links to it then that will make it more attractive for reciprocal links, so tell the other site's webmaster about that too.

For a well-crafted summary of the best way to get reciprocal links try either http://bigmoolla.com/linktrading.html or www.akamarketing.com/how-to-get-reciprocal-links.html