Increase site popularity by Exchanging Links

It has been said, "Build it, submit it and they shall come." This is a common misconception.

Search engines are very important to any web site promotion scheme but it is only half the battle. Self promotion must be the other half. Many things fall into this category. Word of mouth, business cards, print and media adds are all good ideas but a commonly looked over aspect is link exchange.

Link popularity is a driving factor in today's search engines. The more sites that link to your web site the more popular your site looks to them. The more popular your site becomes, the higher your ranking becomes in relevant searches on most search engines.

Point of relevance here is that the link exchanges should be with similar web sites. This can fall into three different basic categories of exchanges.

1. Similar content or market
Link exchanges with similar web sites can be mutually beneficial to both parties, by soliciting a targeted audience that is on one of the web sites already looking for that certain type of product or content.

2. Location
Exchanging links within your local region can be a great way to target your desired audience. For example, a large hotel linking to a local restaurant could attract tourists, or a flower shop linking to a local DJ service could attract brides and grooms looking to consolidate wedding plans.

3. Web Rings
Web rings are a linking system between similar subject matter web sites that you join like a membership. A good selection of them can be found at WebRing.org. Look for one within the same content subject as your own and then visit some of the sites on the ring. First, look for consistent support of the web ring. If it has a lot of members that don’t display the link then it’s not being supported. Your odds of getting targeted visitors will increase if the membership is manageable in numbers.