Link trading is the task of getting links to your site on other sites by trading.. umm.. links. This is done to get more traffic to you web site. Link trading creates more traffic in two main ways, increased search engine rankings and also from the traffic the links themselves generate from people clicking on them.
Link Trading and Search Engines
Trading links helps search engine rankings because the algorithms that determine rankings factor in the number of sites that link back to the site to be ranked. The logic is that sites that have many links pointing back to it must be relevant and good in some sense, and are therefore ranked higher in the engines.
How to Trade Links
Now that we know what link trading is, how is it done? There are many methodologies. Since link trading can involve many contacts, requests and link categorizations, it is best to use software to handle your link trading campaign.
Link Trading Software
The software you choose should allow you to create a link directory, ad links to that directory, send requests to have your link posted on other sites and a method for keeping track of responses.
Link Trading Process
The general process begins when the site owner identifies a site which he or she would like to trade links with. Generally, these sites should be relevant to the topic of your site, or at least have a section dedicated to the topic of your site. Trading links with huge numbers of unrelated sites will actually hurt your search engine rankings in most cases. Also, usually it is a good idea to look for well-ranked sites to trade links with. The importance of a well-ranked site's link to your site in search engine algorithms will be greater than those of not so well ranked sites.
After the site to trade links with is located, a link to that site is posted on your site. Sometimes the link would be posted on a different site than the site wishing to get a link back. This produces non-reciprocal links, which weigh heavier in search engines.
After the link is posted, a request is sent that a link back be posted, explaining that if a link back is not created, the original link to the prospects site is likely to be removed.
If a link is returned, then the trade is marked as successful and each of the link traders has one more site linking to it. Other wise a follow up is sent. If the follow up still does not result in a link back, often the link would be removed.
Link Trading Etiquette
Asking to trade links without posting a link to the site you are wishing to trade with is bad form. The prospect is likely to think "If this person has not already posted a link to my site, what will motivate them to do so when I post a link to their site?" Many people will not even respond to a link request whereas the link has not yet been posted.
This is of course only a brief introduction to link trading. In short, effective link trading requires organization, persistence and time, yet is often well worth the effort.
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Friday, May 21, 2010
A quick lesson in Graphic file formats.
There are two different types of file formats - bitmap and vector drawing. Bitmaps is the most basic of the formats with each image made up of individual pixels. This format is most often used with photographs and images that contain subtle shading.
There is however one problem with bitmap images, scaling up the image. This is because by scaling up the individual pixels become more pronounced, leading to a jagged appearance. There is the ability to improve this using a technique called anti-alias which acts to smooth the graphic, however this still will result in a jagged appearance as the image is scaled up once more. This again can be improved through increasing the image resolution, however this causes the problem of making the file larger and therefore slower to load.
Programs that produce such files are Adobe Photoshop, Paint Shop Pro and Corel Photo Paint, with file formats including BMP, GIF , JPEG, JPG, PNG, PICT (Macintosh), PCX, TIFF and PSD. The most popular out of these formats for web pages are Gif and JPEG, the former because of it ability to compress files and therefore speed up loading time, the JPEG because it allows a full range of colours.
Vector images differ because they are made up of paths. This makes them much smoother and clearer as the image I scaled up and is what true-type fonts use to ensure that they lose no quality with changes in size or resolution. It is for this reason that vector drawings are used for page layout / type / line art and illustration.
Programs that produce these types of files are Macromedia Freehand, Deneba’s Canvas and Abode Illustrator, the file formats include .ai, .cnv, .cdr and .fh8 .
The EPS format is a file type that allows a graphic application that can’t read the file types above and is a format that is likely to be most requested for illustration and line art because of the ability to scale the work with no lose of detail.
Hopefully this makes the scary world of graphic file formats a bit clearer and if your graphic designer is of any quality then as soon as you mention a format they should know exactly what you’re talking about and will be very impressed if you do too.
Please visit ImtiazTips- Webmaster Articles & Website Design, Development Tutorial for more information about web design.
Lot of people asking the question "Is reciprocal linking Dead?"
If you have been reading some of the internet forums, the last Google update certainly caused quite a stir, and it has left a lot of people asking the question "Is reciprocal linking Dead?".
This latest Google update affected a lot of websites that depended on their reciprocal linking strategy to rank high in Google.
If a webmaster wanted to outrank a competing site, They would work out how many links they needed from different websites with a certain PR rating and then commence a reciprocal linking campaign to out rank their competitors.
This strategy was certainly sound and was very effective. But most webmasters would swap links with anybody and everybody, so long as the site had a Google page rank (the higher the better).
Each link swapped was a step toward ranking higher in the search engines and beating out their competitors.
This strategy may have worked in the past when Google was not as smart, but it appears Google has wised up to this strategy. So, it is not surprising that as Google and the other search engines get more sophisticated that the effectiveness of reciprocal linking has diminished as an important factor for ranking well in seach engines.
Which brings us back to the question "Is reciprocal linking dead?"
Instead of asking yourself if reciprocal linking is dead, you should really ask yourself what outcome do you want to achieve with your reciprocal linking strategy.
If reciprocal linking is your only strategy to rank high in the search engines, then you should re-think your strategy because reciprocal linking is not quite dead, but it has taken a big hit.
I have not stopped my reciprocal linking strategies because I am aiming for the following outcomes:
1. To drive traffic to my site from other relevant websites.
2. To add value to my visitors by offering them links to websites that they may be interested in.
3. If I rank higher in the search engines, then this is a bonus.
Before swapping a link with another site I am always mindful that if a visitor sees a link on my site, they correctly assume that I have recommended this website to them, and, if the site I send them to is not relevant or very good, then I loose credibility and a possible return visitor.
Whenever I am going to swap links with another site I always ask myself the following questions:
1. What is the other site about and does it compliment my website?
2. Will my visitors find this site useful to them?
3. What is the quality of the content of the website?
If I think my visitors will find this site useful I then look at the site from the webmasters point of view and ask myself the following questions.
1. How will their visitors find my link? If a visitor cannot find my link then how am I going to get any traffic.
2. Is there a link on their home page (preferably on all their pages) to their links directory?
3. Where is my link going to be placed? Is it more than two clicks away from the home page?
4. Does the website have a sitemap and is the links page included in the site map?
If, and only if the website passes the above criteria will I proceed with a link exchange.
A reciprocal Linking strategy may not be as effective to rank high in the search engines, but it still is an important part of getting targetted traffic to your website if done correctly.
[ The Money making of a Niche ::Free Data Entry Work :: Imtiaztips Weblog :: Free Webmaster Articles :: More iPod Articles :: Download Freeware Software :: Updated Contents about Google AdSense for NEWBIES. ::ImtiazTips Online Business ]
This latest Google update affected a lot of websites that depended on their reciprocal linking strategy to rank high in Google.
If a webmaster wanted to outrank a competing site, They would work out how many links they needed from different websites with a certain PR rating and then commence a reciprocal linking campaign to out rank their competitors.
This strategy was certainly sound and was very effective. But most webmasters would swap links with anybody and everybody, so long as the site had a Google page rank (the higher the better).
Each link swapped was a step toward ranking higher in the search engines and beating out their competitors.
This strategy may have worked in the past when Google was not as smart, but it appears Google has wised up to this strategy. So, it is not surprising that as Google and the other search engines get more sophisticated that the effectiveness of reciprocal linking has diminished as an important factor for ranking well in seach engines.
Which brings us back to the question "Is reciprocal linking dead?"
Instead of asking yourself if reciprocal linking is dead, you should really ask yourself what outcome do you want to achieve with your reciprocal linking strategy.
If reciprocal linking is your only strategy to rank high in the search engines, then you should re-think your strategy because reciprocal linking is not quite dead, but it has taken a big hit.
I have not stopped my reciprocal linking strategies because I am aiming for the following outcomes:
1. To drive traffic to my site from other relevant websites.
2. To add value to my visitors by offering them links to websites that they may be interested in.
3. If I rank higher in the search engines, then this is a bonus.
Before swapping a link with another site I am always mindful that if a visitor sees a link on my site, they correctly assume that I have recommended this website to them, and, if the site I send them to is not relevant or very good, then I loose credibility and a possible return visitor.
Whenever I am going to swap links with another site I always ask myself the following questions:
1. What is the other site about and does it compliment my website?
2. Will my visitors find this site useful to them?
3. What is the quality of the content of the website?
If I think my visitors will find this site useful I then look at the site from the webmasters point of view and ask myself the following questions.
1. How will their visitors find my link? If a visitor cannot find my link then how am I going to get any traffic.
2. Is there a link on their home page (preferably on all their pages) to their links directory?
3. Where is my link going to be placed? Is it more than two clicks away from the home page?
4. Does the website have a sitemap and is the links page included in the site map?
If, and only if the website passes the above criteria will I proceed with a link exchange.
A reciprocal Linking strategy may not be as effective to rank high in the search engines, but it still is an important part of getting targetted traffic to your website if done correctly.
[ The Money making of a Niche ::Free Data Entry Work :: Imtiaztips Weblog :: Free Webmaster Articles :: More iPod Articles :: Download Freeware Software :: Updated Contents about Google AdSense for NEWBIES. ::ImtiazTips Online Business ]
How to create Website Stickyness
You may have heard this term before, "website sticky". This refers to the ability to keep your website visitors on your website longer and keep them coming back. The longer they stay the better chance you have to sell them on your product or service. Let's face it, once someone has been to your site, if you didn't have what they wanted or didn't offer something of value that changes, chances are they won't be back and your site will be long forgotten. One of the best ways to keep your visitors on your site, and to bring them back again and again, is by giving your visitors a reason to be there in the first place.
Content is key to getting traffic! If you can offer your visitors advice, tips or articles on related topics to your website, they will use you as a resource and as an expert in that subject area. A great example of using content to gain traffic can be found on any great website, from horoscope sites to interior design and on just about any subject. I recently read an interview with a website owner that offers flash cartoons that he creates on a regular basis. This was a hobby to him that turned into a huge money making venture. He actually sells nothing, but has click adds that bring in a huge revenue. This is rather of the reverse of most peoples websites. Typically the website is selling something and offers information and advice to keep their visitors around or coming back.
You probably have visited websites for the purpose of gaining knowledge on something, maybe even how to put your website together! You will probably find those sites selling hosting packages or domain names or something related. If you don't have someone that can write articles for you...don't worry. I doubt few website owners employ a full time staff writer. Never fear there are all kinds of websites that offer resources for webmasters including free content feeds. If you do a search on any search engine, look for "free reprintable articles." You get a good list of sites that offer just that.
The most inportant thing to remember is why people are visiting your site in the first place. Make sure whatever content you choose makes sense to present to your visitors. If they associate you with certain content you can believe they will be back again to read more. If you are not sure where to find free content,
please visit ImtiazTips- Webmaster Articles & Website Design, Development Tutorial for more information about web design but also offers free website content for webmasters via completely configurable javascript and RSS feeds in over 30 subject categories drawing from a databse of over 26,000 articles. You don't need to be a webmaster to to use these feeds. It's a simple copy paste process.
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