MarketingTheory.net

This is a bit of a tip AND an example, but it’s not the traditional example where I show you by doing. Instead, this is an example of how someone tried to exchange links with by other blog and why I turned him down. There’s no reason for me to identify the site, but here’s the email I received:

Hey-

I’ve got a website targeted towards the keyword Voip Modem and I’m looking for link exchanges.

Would you be interested? If so, please reply and I’m sure we can work something out.

Have a nice day!

[his name was here]

[his number was here]

I sent this response to him, which covers most of my advice about link exchange requests:

The primary reason I said no to your link exchange request is the site comparison. While it certainly doesn’t hurt to ask a site with a lot of traffic for a link exchange, you’re better off asking sites with similar (or a little more) traffic than you. This is because you’re more likely to have success, the site is not going to dump your link weeks later, and you can truly use the phrase “mutually beneficial” in your pitch.

The pitch, itself is pretty important. In your email, be sure to include a link to your site. If someone has to do any bit of extra work to take a look, you could miss out on a good partnership. Additionally, it helps to offer some reasons why I want your site to link to me. Some key things to mention (but only if they’re good enough to bring up) are Google Page Rank, unique monthly visitors, type of content, and if you know it, some demographics about your visitors. Of course, you should also let them know where you plan to put their link and where you would like your link placed and the target words for your link and ask that it be a “follow” link if possible.

Finally, the best link exchange is with sites that closely compliment yours and that yours closely compliment. Try to stay within your industry and the cross traffic will be better for everyone.

Of course, I forgot about one other thing. Many of us have more than one site and sometimes have everything going to one email. I often get requests for link exchanges, but the sender never identifies what site they want a link on. If I have 15 sites, I may not know which one you visited, so include it in your link exchange request.

Do you have any tips or success (or failure) stories. Share them in the comments below.