Net Marketing Tips Part 4

Aggressive Linking Methods!

Where is your business located on the Web? I bet you rattled off your website address in answer to that one. You're right of course - but is that the only place your business is? You've got to be on the Web in as many places as possible i.e. linked on other people's websites.

It follows that the more places on the Net your website is mentioned the more visitors you'll have clicking through to your site. If your site is mentioned on a site about something related to your product or service then it follows that you are then going to be getting more targeted traffic to your site. And it then follows (we're doing alot of following today) that you are going to do a lot more sales and hence become more profitable.

The key to being on other websites are Links - these are clickable links that direct you to another website that's in some way related to the topic of the website you are currently surfing. For example - You visit a website on the wonders of the lesser spotted and bearded beagle and you find a links page with links to other websites dealing with various other exotic dog breeds.

Links are extremely powerful traffic generators because:

1. A well thought out linking strategy leads to large volumes of highly targeted visitors
2. A link on another website is equivalent to a recommendation from that website. The bonus is that credibility is established for your site because of the 'referral' link on another related website
3. Google and many other search engines use link popularity (i.e. how many other sites you are linked on) as part of their rating formula when they rank you for your keywords on their search results.

So then the power question of the day is: How do you get websites to add a link of your site to their site?

The simple answer is hard, dedicated perseverance and work! Just the answer you probably didn't really want to hear. But then again who ever said it was going to be easy? And if someone did they were lying and should be beaten.

Here is my suggested Step-By-Step Method to getting linked:

STEP 1: Choose and gather info on your linking prospects.
Surf the web for sites that deal with your target market and collect as much personal information as possible of the website owners such as:

• websites address or URL
• the exact address on that page where you would like to link
• name of the website owner
• their email address
• the date you visited the site
• brief description of what the site was about.

Remember: The more personal you are the more likely your link request will be taken seriously and the more effective your linking attempts will be

STEP 2: Set up the info you have on a Trackable List.
You need to keep track of who you've requested links from, whether they linked to you, whether they responded to you, how many times you have contacted them etc etc. You need accurate records in order to know who you have contacted and how - Don't trust your memory. I know I would forget the specifics and if I'm anything like you I'm pretty sure you would as well. There's nothing worse than contacting someone again after they politely told you to leap off the Drakensberg with your offer.

Make use of any tool to record this that you feel comfortable with i.e. Excel Spreadsheet, Access Database, Pen and Paper or Serviette :)

STEP 3: Rate your prospects and divide them into 2 lists:

• Priority List: Those sites you'd most like to get a link from. These are sites that have your ideal customer visiting them and should ideally not be your competition but rather they should be complimentary to the service you offer.
• Secondary List: These sites will relate to your target market but will not be as focused on your product or may not be high traffic churners. While getting linked on these sites will be great they are not as important as the Priority List and as such won't take up as much of your time in trying to get them to link to your site. This list will probably be quite large.

STEP 4: Write a personal email to each person on your Priority List.
Using the info gathered in Step 1 you can now get down to the core of the process - asking the owners for a link with a carefully crafted personal email. Your email should include the following:

• Positive, personal comment about their website
• Brief description of you and the reason you're contacting them and the win-win nature of your proposal.
• Specific details on why a link to your site will benefit their visitors
• Where on their site a link would be of the greatest benefit to you
• A brief discussion of how their site relates to your site content
• Details on how they can link to you that makes it easy for them
• Your contact information

... and anything else that you think of that will help you get the link! Just make sure that your email does not take on massive proportions - the shorter you can make it while still keeping it personalised and focused on their benefits the better!

To save time develop a 'Template Email' for all of these Priority List e-mailings where you can just insert the applicable personal details as necessary.

The key here is Personalisation. Let the person know that you personally took time to request the info - Make it pertinent to them! We all know the absolute horror of #$%#$$%# Sp*m and of the many, many "use-this-wonderdrug-while-decreasing-debt-and-also-simultaneously-getting-an-incredible-bank-loan" emails we are all bombarded with. Your email to them has to be focused, direct, personal and clearly not spam.

Remember to focus on the benefits to the person linking to you (i.e. how it is going to benefit their visitors) not on your own product and how you will benefit.

The beauty of establishing a link is that that link will probably get visitors coming to your site for years to come - So it's important to go out and get those links now - Persevere!!

STEP 5: Follow up the email to Priority List people with a phone call
Yes I know this will take time but it will increase your success rate in linking dramatically. The extra personal touch helps to increase the rapport and credibility that is needed in order to secure the link.

STEP 6: Write an email to each person on the Secondary List. Again try and make your email to them as personal as possible. However, because this list is probably bigger than your Priority List you won't be able to spend as much time individually crafting your emails to them. Get a template going and plug the personal info in. Even though you won't be spending as much time on your Secondary as Priority this whole endeavour is going to be taking up some valuable time - but it will be worth the extra traffic you generate!

STEP 7: Make records in the list you created in Step 2 about:

• Each time you have emailed a link prospect
• Whether they have responded and how (i.e. not heard, yes, no, maybe)
• Whether you are yet linked to them

STEP 8: Be consistent and persistent!
If a site you really want to link to doesn't get back to you then email them again and make the request again while offering something more - offer a reciprocal link on your site. Say something like: "Can we exchange links because I think it will truly benefit each of us. We are not competitors but rather co-operative businesses and as such I'll happily link to you if you are kind enough to link to me" and then make it very easy for them to link to you by giving them the exact HTML code they need to add.

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