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Choosing Complimentary Reciprocal Linking Partners
You want sites that share your theme, that draw the same type of visitors in terms of demographics. Sites that share relevant keywords with your site are likely similar in terms of content and interest groups. Rule out sites that are in direct competition with you, but first, make sure it is direct. Sometimes products are similar, but fulfill slightly different needs (video cameras versus underwater video cameras), in which case, you may decide to team up to each capture the part of the market the other would lose anyway.
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You may be worried that if the other site sells shoes and you sell shoes, you’re going to be competing for the same shoppers, but unless you happen to sell the same shoes, that’s not going to be a problem. Perhaps you specialize in men’s hand-made Italian dress shoes, and your prospective partner sells men’s hiking boots. There’s no reason for you to avoid linking, because the guy who comes shopping for Italian dress shoes isn’t going to forsake that site for hiking boots, is he? In fact, he may be looking for shoes for that upcoming trip to Cannes when he sees a link that says, “Looking for something more casual?”, and remembers that he’s always wanted to hike in the Dordogne’s. He buys shoes from both sites.
So, choose your link partners with an eye to complementarily, and don’t worry much about them stealing your traffic.
Choose Quality over Quantity
How many times have you heard those words? It’s true that linking to a strong partner is much more effective than dozens of links to partners weaker in content, ranking or product. This is a good thing because it means you can set a stopping point when you are hunting for the perfect link partners. Don’t get a hundred possibilities and then drive yourself crazy trying to research them all. Get twenty good ones and focus on them. Use Google or Alexa to get page ranks, and check out sites in the upper (5-10 or 10) rankings.
Give Good Content
Be aware that a good prospective partner will also be evaluating your site. In a way, you’re offering yourself up for inspection, so make sure your site is nicely plump in the content department. Articles, advise, facts, trivia and nice-to-know stuff make for interesting reading and make your site “stickier” (that’s a good thing on the Web). Your site’s stickiness is added value for your prospective link partners, just as it is for your customers.
Link Exchange Topics
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