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Is your website’s link directory even worth having?
By Derek Arnold
A reciprocal link directory if a vital part of having a good Google
page rank. However there are ways to make it a useful and important
part of your website for reasons other than a high ranking in the
Google directory. Let’s face it, getting (and keeping) a good
Google page rank is no easy task and requires constant attention.
Not just in getting reciprocal links, but honing your Meta tags,
and keeping your content fresh. But we are here to discuss only
one part of the pagerank dilemma.
In fact this article will focus more on other, and in some cases,
more important benefits of a proper links directory.
Directory Structure
• Categorize your directory well- Meaning the more
categories you have the better organized your directory is. More
categories means your visitors can locate particular links a lot
faster.
• Minimize the depth of your categories- You should
not make your directory more than three category levels deep, for
instance if you are a travel site and have a category for Jamaica,
then the structure example would be Travel>>Caribbean>>Jamaica.
Easy navigation for your site visitors is the main reason for this.
• Reason two for minimizing your directory depth- Search
engines will spider each page of your website, they will determine
the pagerank of each page based on its content, and distance away
from your homepage. Use this as a rule of thumb; each level down
from your homepage will cost that page “one” pagerank
point. Using the example above, this is what is meant here, Travel>>Caribbean>>Jamaica:
the Travel” page would have the highest pagerank being closest
to your homepage, let’s say it has been give a Google rank
of 4, the next level “Caribbean” in all likelihood would
have a rank of 3, and so on.
• No more than 20 links per page- There is not a link
partner in the world that wants his/her site to be on your link
page as link number 100. I would rather be link number 3 on page
number three than link number 100 on page one. This is clutter,
and useless to all involved, you, your link partner and especially
your site visitor. Keep this in mind as well, when the search engines
spider your site they will also notice more pages on your site thus
determining that you offer more content. Your link partners will
also appreciate it. Relevant Links
• Do your visitors really care if you own a travel site
and have links to recipe sites? Of course not. Although locating
good quality link partners for your site will take more time, it
will be well worth it in the long run. If you have a travel site,
seek out rental cars, vacation spots, travel accessories, and the
like. Your visitors are on your site because they (at that moment
in time) are interested in what your site has to offer, do not change
the visitor’s train of thought into anything other than what
you want them to think about, in this example, traveling and things
associated with traveling. Make Money from your links?
• Of course! Reciprocal linking is a great way to help
your website’s search engine ranking, but making immediate
cash from your links is a whole level up from that.
• Join affiliate programs like Commission Junction
and add some affiliate links to your directory. For our travel site
example, you can get offers like travel accessories, rental cars
and the like.
• Have a good mix of links to other sites and affiliate
links- You do not want a directory full of affiliate links,
this is a major turn-off to your visitors. As a matter of fact,
you should have at least a 10 to 1 ratio of regular links vs affiliate
links. Advertise in your directory
• Since you now have a well organized directory with an excellent
structure, limited to 20 links per page, and a lot of pages with
good advertising space, it’s time to place some banners.
• You can advertise some of those good sites that you are
affiliated with and place a banner or two on every page.
• Keep it neat- You should have quality space on the
left or right side of your directory add a Skyscraper banner to
either side (only one per page though), it is well known that the
bigger the banner the more clicks on that banner you should receive.
A skyscraper is usually 120 x 600 in size. Add a single banner at
the top center of each page as well; make it a different ad, offer
something different than your skyscraper. This is the most valuable
banner location on any page, use it for banners.
• Sell banner spots- Now that you have a well categorized
directory, you can sell ad space to vendors whose products or services
appeal to that particular category. You can even offer the top spot
on a particular page for sale or as a trade for the same kind of
link for your site in someone else’s directory. Exceptions
to the rule There are those sites that do not fit into any category
of your site that have that HUGE Google page rank, and you want
them to link with your site. Here is a tip for you to keep those
sites happy and get that top rank. In addition to you’re regular
links directory, create a separate smaller reciprocal links directory.
This may be only 1-3 pages in size. This directory must have a direct
link from your homepage (most top rank sites require that), and
title it something like “Special Link Partners” or “Recommended
Links”. Add only page ranks of say 6-7 or higher to this special
directory. This will ensure your most important link partners that
you will not be burying their link inside your link directory.
We have quite a large selection of software in our downloads directory
at http://www.bullmarketer.com
that can help you automate the process of managing your own links
directory. One program in particular is Arelis by Axandra. This
software is not only VERY user friendly but offers tons of features.
There is a free lite version available for download.
Derek Arnold About the Author Derek Arnold is the President of BullMarketer.com,
a webmaster resource site offering many tools for webmasters, marketers,
and designers. Also has over 18 years of experience in the marketing
and advertising fields
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