One of the best ways to improve your ranking in the search engines is to find ways to get other sites to link to you. The web has always been about "links" and it still is.
Active linking campaigns that you pursued with determination, will be successful in adding traffic to any web site. You can find proof that linking works by running a Google, MSN, or Yahoo search using a phrase that is important to your niche. Now look at the top ranking sites. They all have a large number of links. They are "link popular". One of the best ways to determine exactly how many links they have is to use Microsoft Search at MSN.com. To do a link search type "link:yourdomain.com". The link search shows you all of the sites that link to yourdomain.com. While writing this I performed a link search for weather.com and I found "...758,342 results containing link:weather.com "
The search engines use the number of links to identify popular sites. Of course, there are game players and people attempting to trick the search engines. They have tried a number of tactics to get links quickly. However, once they start becoming successful using a single technique, Google and MSN figure it out and drop them like a hot rock.
The search engines attempt to reward straightforward, honest, determined linking efforts - much to the dismay of SEO gurus promising you top ten in a week.
Reciprocal Link Exchanges are a new tool that can help you build links rapidly. Reciprocal Link Exchanges (RLE's) act as a middleman for web masters who are actively promoting their web sites. They offer a very interesting service if you are seeking additional link partners. They offer you a way to post your site and easily find hundreds of link partners. Once you set up an account at an exchange, you can begin contacting site owners and requesting them to link to you. The beauty of the exchanges is that lots of offers will come pouring in to you.
Don't get Link Exchanges confused with link farms. When Google became successful for improving search results by factoring in each sites link popularity, the black hat gang invented link farms to fool the search engines. Link farms are stand-alone directories that anyone can post a link on and serve no other purpose. I still see one from time to time but they are getting rare. The search engines developed methods to detect and ignore link farms
Link exchanges are unlike farms. They simply provide some help to you in your efforts to find sites to link to. Link exchange operators offer their basic service for fr*ee. They make some income by providing you with extra goodies or by adding advertising.
The link exchange that I like the best provides an upgrade that is a paid option. It provides you with automated link management software that you can install on your web site. The automated link manager lets you "click to add" link partners. You can change categories and manually add links. It easily saves me a day or two a month, which is really worth the cost.
Several of the exchanges offer filters so that you do not get unwanted links from categories that are of no interest to you. I find that two exchanges give me all the additional links that I need to keep the traffic to my sites growing nicely. I find that they are a good addition to my other linking efforts. I have provided a list of several link exchanges on the Linking Guide on Trafficisthekey.com.
About the Author
John Thomas is an author, mentor, and business consultant. He works exclusively with entrepreneurs and owners of small and mid-size businesses. He also provides advice on web site promotion at TrafficistheKey.com.