Link Anchor Text as a Marketing Tool - Making your Link Text do its Marketing Job
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Every incoming link has some form of link anchor text. The wording ranges from simply your site’s URL, to your company name, to your most important keywords. Most website owners simply place their business name in the anchor text portion of the link. Of course, with many incoming links, your company name may be all that the linking partners will provide. While it’s not the best anchor text, the business name does have a few benefits, as we shall see in a moment.
Whatever you do in the way of link text, avoid having only your URL displayed. Almost no one will click on it. It’s very uninviting, as it provides no compelling reason to click on it. The URL offers absolutely no benefits to any potential visitors to your site. Remember, people look for sites that benefit them, and not you. Everyone is concerned with their own needs and desires. It’s your job to demonstrate to your possible customers some very good reasons to visit your site.
Fortunately very few website owners, except those with almost no ability to use HTML, will leave the URL as the link text. It can still happen with experienced webmasters though, as an oversight, so watch out for it. A friendly e-mail will often remedy the situation, and the appropriate changes will usually be made to your link.
To ensure the proper link anchor text is used from a marketing standpoint you need to display benefits to the buyer. Everyone cares about how a product or service will provide personal benefit to them. They don’t care about you or your business. Forget about describing yourself and your business. Focus on the needs and desires of the potential customer or client.
Prospects have no interest in how many years a company has been in operation or how many awards the management team has won. If those items are mentioned at all, they should only be in the context of how they assure quality products or service to the customer. Customers care about themselves. Well-worded marketing anchor text will reflect those concerns.
Next: Choosing the Proper Link Text Wording >>
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