So you've built your site and it's ready to go live. You've worked your keywords and done all your search engine submissions. If it's a link site, you've harvested some links either from friends or acquaintances or by some other "legal" means. Now what? How can you start to build traffic while waiting for the SE traffic to kick in?
Link exchanges are an excellent means of filling in the gap. They provide your site with much-needed traffic and are a great source of free advertising. All sites, new and old, should exchange links with as many sites as possible to maximize exposure.
"But I've just opened a link list... why do I need recips?" There is a difference between link lists and reciprocal (or recip) links. Ask any webmaster who has an established link list and they will tell you that your biggest mistake would be counting on that link list for traffic. You must pull traffic from outside sources if you wish to have a successful site.
Take a look at any of the major sites out there and you'll find recips. Major link lists, TGPs, webmaster organizations, and paysites use them extensively. Both adult and mainstream sites use recip trades to boost traffic and maximize exposure. While link trades aren't your only option, they should certainly rank right up there with SEs and link lists when mapping out your traffic and advertising strategies.
Trading links is basically pretty easy. You'll need a small reciprocal graphic, nothing over 5K and preferably a text-only graphic. Then you'll need to do some research into which sites you want to trade links with. Start with the larger, more established sites, but don't overlook the smaller sites that are just getting started. The smaller sites may not send you as much traffic, but you can bet they're in the same boat you're in and are working hard to increase their numbers as quickly as possible.
Once you've compiled a list of the sites you want to trade with, start writing emails to the webmasters. There's no need to write 25 different emails; write one and use copy and paste for the rest. It's usually a good idea to have their recip up before you contact them. This is a gesture of your dedication and a gesture of goodwill, and will usually seal the deal for you.
You should always try to avoid the falling into the "recip farm" trap; that is, having 50 recips on a single page. If necessary, copy your main page, give it a different name (enter, main, go, etc.) and limit each page to three or four recips. Warning: It is not a good idea to name your mirror pages index1, index2, index3, etc. There are webmasters out there that won't except a recip trade on index5. Also, be sure to submit all of your mirror pages to the SEs!
When placing recips on your pages, always place them in a neat arrangement above the enter link. Keep in mind that there is no law stating that all your recips on a given page have to be together; feel free to place them wherever you want, just make sure they aren't buried somewhere. Always remember to play it fair. Treat those you are trading with the way you'd expect them to treat you. This doesn't mean placing their link at the very top of your page, but try to think of those recips as traffic sources rather than "clutter" and see how this approach can alter your attitude.
Recips do take some work. You need to periodically run through your site, click each recip, and check for (1) a valid link, (2) a working site, and (3) your recip. There are scripts out there that will check your recips automatically which can save you loads of time.
If you decide that you'd like to remove a recip from your site, ALWAYS email the site operator and tell them you are taking their link down! Simply removing a recip can result in your being labeled a cheater and you may find it increasingly difficult to find webmasters willing to trade with you in the future. Again, don't do anything you wouldn't want someone else to do to you.
I've been in this business for over two years now and have many different types of sites out there, and I personally swear by link trading. With the SEs constantly changing their algorithms and causing sometimes major traffic fluctuations, link trades have proven on many occasions to be the only steady source of outside traffic for my sites. Yes, they can be a hassle... when you have 200 sites and you need to check recips on all of them, for example... but it's been my experience that the payoff far outweighs the negative aspects of it.
Set aside some time today and trade some links. You'll be glad you did.
WENCHY
