Link Popularity, PageRank, and Reviews of Reciprocal Linking Tools and Resources
Issue 83, Summer 2004

Dear Friends,

In this issue:

• Reviews of Reciprocal Link Management Software
• Miscellaneous Link Management Software and Services
• Where to Find Willing Link Exchange Partners
• If You're Short of Time You Can Pay for Links
• What to Look for in a Quality Reciprocal Link Partner
• Linking Strategy Resources on the WilsonWeb.com Site

If you're serious about getting more traffic and higher search engine rankings, you'll need to develop a linking strategy for your website. Of course, you should get listed with large directories, as well as smaller directories focused on your industry or niche. Giving away free articles, submitting press releases, beginning an affiliate program with links pointing to your domain name, and offering award logos linked to your site can be valuable. But to accumulate enough incoming links to your site, you'll probably need to resort to one or a combination of these strategies:

• Reciprocal linking. Request links from other webmasters in exchange for a link to their site. These are usually from smaller sites with lower PageRanks, but they still can be quality links if the sites are very much like your own. To facilitate getting reciprocal links, consider the software described in this report.
• Purchasing text links. Instead of going to the work and time of developing relationships with other sites for reciprocal links, you can purchase text links to other sites. See in this report some of the sites that arrange text link sales.
• Employing a link-finding service. These services do the hard work of finding you quality links to your site. In this report, several legitimate services are mentioned.

If you'd like this issue as a PDF document, Reciprocal Linking Tools, paid subscribers can immediately download it free of charge, while others can purchase it for $8.95 in e-book format, $10.95 in print format..

I hope that the tools and resources in this issue help simplify the tasks of finding linking partners for you, helping you get more links and climb in traffic, PageRank, and search engine rank.

God bless you,
Dr. Ralph F. Wilson, Editor

Reviews of Reciprocal Link Management Software

This article explains the functions of various types of reciprocal link management software, divides them into three types, and provides reviews and recommendations on best-of-breed software. It includes brief reviews on Zeus, Arelis, LinksManager, Links4Trade, Hot Links SQL, Linking101 Link Management Script, LinkManager Lite and Pro, Duncan Carver's Link Management Assistant, and PowerLinks. Four of these packages win the "Web Marketing Today Editor's Choice Award" for excellence at a reasonable price. This information is contained in Dr. Wilson's report on Reciprocal Linking Tools. See the Reviews.

What to Look for in a Quality Reciprocal Link Partner

I've invited John Gracey, a linking strategist from LinkageXpress.com to share with my readers how to build a careful list of reciprocal linking partners. He stresses the importance of limiting linking partners to those who have closely related sites -- especially since Google seems to be moving to Latent Semantic Indexing (LSI). He also suggests linking partners who limit links on their pages to 20 to 40 maximum. Read the Article.

Link Analysis Software

Here's software to help you analyze links to your site, your competitor's site, or your client's site. These are just brief mentions, but will help you see what's available. See the Software.

Where to Find Willing Reciprocal Link Exchange Partners

Need places to find link exchange partners? Here's my "Top Ten" list of reciprocal exchange directories. Beware, however, of linking partners who link indiscriminately and don't have a clear focus to their links directories. See the list.

If You're Short of Time You Can Pay for Links

Here are reviews of a couple of paid approaches -- a firm that specializes in developing targeted reciprocal links and a text-link auction. See the Resources.

Linking Strategy Resources on the WilsonWeb.com Site

"Link Strategies" Category of the Web Marketing Info Center. 60+ articles and resources. Also page two of Link Strategies articles. /search/cat.php?page=1&querytype=category&subcat=mp_Linking

Improving Link Popularity, by Ralph Wilson, Web Marketing Today, August 25, 2004. Suggestions for finding links to your site. http://www.wilsonweb.com/art/promote/link-popularity8.htm

How to Analyze Incoming Links to Your Site or a Competitor's Site, by Ralph Wilson, Web Marketing Today, March 31, 2004. Explains how Optilink Link Reputation Analyzer helps you evaluate your linking strategy and effectiveness. http://www.wilsonweb.com/art/promote/optilink-review.htm

Linking Strategies that Improve Traffic to Your Site, by Eric Ward, Web Marketing Today, April 2, 2003. Interview with a linking specialist. Explains how to find quality links to your site. http://www.wilsonweb.com/wmt8/linking_ward.htm

How to Increase Search Engine Rankings through Links to Your Site, by Ralph Wilson, Web Marketing Today Premium, March 15, 2004, for paid subscribers. 3,600-word article explains why Google's PageRank system makes good sense in determining relevancy of your website. I explain the factors involved in Google's linkage pattern analysis and how to make the most of your knowledge. Finally, I offer eight linking strategies that you can (and should) implement to move your site up in the search engine rankings. http://www.wilsonweb.com/wct7/seo_linking.cfm

New Ecommerce and Web Marketing Articles

Each month our team of link editors scours dozens of online periodicals and resources to find key information on e-commerce and Web marketing. With so much new literature available to you, how do you find what you need quickly and painlessly? Here's a selective and searchable database of article and resource links to help your research and keep you up-to-date in the field. (Links gathered in a given month are usually available during the second week of the following month.)