Using Internet Directories as a Link Building Tool - Making the Exchange Offer Properly
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Simply click on the links, one by one, and examine the sites carefully. Know something about the site. Look for contact information and find the webmaster's name if possible. In your e-mail to the prospective exchange partner, be certain to offer some strong indication that you have actually visited the site in question.
Tell your prospective partner that you have already linked their site and you feel your site would be beneficial to their site visitors as well. A really good idea is to tell the webmaster of a part of their site that you found especially interesting and informative.
Place a link on your own site to the sites you have decided to contact first, prior to any requests. That is simply proper linking etiquette. It also displays your professionalism to the recipient who is probably tired of link exchange spam.
Be sure to always visit the site as well. It is never a good idea to link partner with a site you wouldn't feel comfortable recommending to all of your customers. Your business and personal reputations are at stake.
Don't threaten to remove the link to their site if they fail to reciprocate. If the site was interesting and helpful enough to offer a link partnership, it should be one you intend to keep, as a permanent link. Be sure to know your potential partner sites well.
As an additional policy, maintain a chart of all of the sites contacted for exchanges, and the dates and e-mail details of those requests and the results. Good records will also prevent you from constantly contacting the same webmaster, over and over, as a result of having forgotten their response.
Far too many people send e-mails without having visited the site at all. Don't be part of that group. Know your potential partnership sites and their benefits to both your business and that of your visitor traffic.
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