Architexters

After the latest google update codenamed Jagger, reciprocal link has less relevancy than ever before. Many have abused this system before and there are even sites that thrived by offering link exchange programs.

Reciprocal linking occuring naturally is not wrong in any way. But, many that reciprocate take advantage of the fact that a site A will not be penalized for giving out links to another site B. Meanwhile, B has a higher link popularity due to the vote from A. So hey, why not reciprocate and increase the ranks for both sites? Doing so excessively results in both participants having a higher web rank despite not contributing anything to the overall internet community.

Now, Google values reciprocal link less. Specifically, if a site A points to site B that Google considers offensive, site A will be penalized. Therefore, each site now has to be careful on whom it gives its endorsement to.

Do not worry. With reciprocal link on its way out (slowly), we have no choice but to give the best information available to the web community. Here are several ways to increase your site rankings:

1. Create content.

The purpose of search engine is to help people find the information that they need. In the business world, successful companies always give what their customers want. Therefore, create content that your potential customers want and they will be grateful for that.

2. Give and You Shall Receive.

Give away your content and you shall receive more visitors. This idea is a basic marketing principle. This is like giving away samples of new products at a fair or at an exhibition. Your job is to let people know about your products and/or services. The more people try it out, the higher chance of them becoming your regular customers. It works similar in the search engine world. If you charge exobirant amount of dollars for service that nobody knows, who would come and try out your products?

3. List your website to good web directory.

Ok, submitting your sites to good web directories will require your site to be a high PR site or it costs money. Either way, this is not an efficient marketing campaign. Why would you want to link to web directories if you already have a decent PR rank? You will be better off concentrating on your existing visitors rather than acquiring new visitors. Therefore, linking to good web directories are for a new less-visited site. However, good web directories normally do not want to link to small unproven website. Why? As stated before, if site A links to a bad site B, then A is considered a supporter of B, which means that Google may penalize site A for linking to B.

That leaves us an option to paid web directories. Paid Web Directories generally has a good PR rank. However, to get a number of links from them gets really expensive. If your budget permits, this might be a good idea. However, please remember also that PR rank is not static. When a particular website provides useful information to its visitors, its PR rank will generally increase and vice versa.

4. List your website to general web directory.

Web submission is generally free or require a link back from you. Reciprocal linking is risky therefore it is not advisable if you can still find the free web directory. Please note that these free web directories do not actually want to work for free. They are building hard to provide relevancy to the search engine and increase their link popularity. Therefore, someday, these freebies might become quality web directories.

At that time, they will then charge fee for new site listing. Meanwhile, you are already listed … for free ! What is your risk? None that I can think of. If a bad site A points to your site, you will not be penalized for it. You cannot control who can or cannot link to your site. There are millions of websites to monitor. Therefore, register your site to the free web directories. Some of them will be mediocre or non existent within a few years. But, some that does succeed will bump your PR ranking up. The best thing of all is you don’t spend a dime listing your site with them. At least, not yet.

Listing your website is currently free at our general directory www.noviceinvesting.com/Directory. Furthermore, you can get your free investing idea by visiting our commentary section at www.noviceinvesting.com

For maximizing the value you receive for your money, the most important question is – How to select which websites to place ads on? Here is how you do it:

1. Identify Your Target Market

The first step will be to identify your target market i.e. who is likely to buy your product or service. Break down your research into:

Sex – Men, Women or Both

Age Group – Kids, Teenagers, Adults etc. v
Geographic Location – Country, State, City etc.

Interests

Example: If you sell anti-aging cosmetics, your main target market is likely to be women in the age group of above 50 residing in the countries where you can ship your products to and who are interested in maintaining their young looks. Your secondary target will be men of similar age group and beauty-conscious young women.

2. Identify Websites with Desired Demographics

Your next step will be to identify websites where you will find visitors of your target market. Continuing with the above example, you will find your target customers on beauty and fashion websites and forums with useful information for skin and beauty care for women above 50 years of age. Such websites should be your main targets for advertising.

You will also find your target market in the ‘Beauty’ or ‘Fashion’ sections of Women’s websites. And don’t forget that men might be interested in buying your products for the purpose of gifting. So, websites like AskMen.com can also be on your list.

Other useful places to advertise can be websites selling beauty products, directories and indexes of beauty-related websites, women’s message forums etc.

3. Other Factors to Consider

Apart from identifying your target markets, some other factors also play an important role in website advertising.

. Identify traffic statistics and Click-through Rate (CTR) of the individual websites along with the ad rates and compare. Try to strike a balance between minimum ad rates and maximum traffic.

. When identifying traffic, do not be mislead by only the number of ‘hits’ a website receives. Ask for page impressions and/or unique visitors etc.

. Check beforehand if the payment terms and methods are suitable to you.

. If the website provides you with the statistics of your advertising campaign, it will be an added benefit

. If you are NOT advertising on a CPM (cost per thousand) basis, i.e. you are paying a monthly/weekly flat price for advertising, take into account the number of other banners your banner will be rotated with. The more the number of banners, the lesser the chances of your ad getting seen by website visitors.

About the Author:

Lata Tokhi is a successful website publisher with a network of popular websites. She shares her internet success secrets with you at http://www.MomTycoons.com

Visit some of her other popular websites at http://www.DotComWomen.com, a Home & Lifestyle website and an online community and http://www.Celebrating-Christmas.com, a complete Holiday portal.