What is Reciprocal Link?

Reciprocal link is important way of directing traffic to a new website. Most of the websites contain lists of other sites that may be of relevance to their visitors. It is therefore logical for a new venture to approach any website that may be relevant to its customers and ask if the site include a link to the venture’s homepage in exchange for a similar link back to the site. Thus, for instance, if you had recently opened an internet company selling antique dolls, it makes sense to approach another venture offering antique doll restoration and set up an arrangement of reciprocal link.

Obviously, the more reciprocal links a company can establish, the more people are likely to be directed to its website. In the same way banners provide another useful way of making your presence known online. Fundamentally, a banner is a small advertisement that appears on someone else’s website advertising your company’s existence.

Many companies remain skeptical about adding reciprocal links to other sites within their own web pages as they feel it is providing visitors with a reason to leave. The fact is, however, that people are going to leave your site whether you incorporate external links or not. By clicking through to a site you have recommenced, a visitor will be keeping yours in mind as he or she journeys around the linked site. Instead of viewing links as a reason for people to exit your site you should therefore consider them as an additional incentive for people to get there in the first place.

Some of the ways to find suitable reciprocal link partners are as follows:

• Trade organization sites often include links to various sites within their industry. You could therefore approach not only the trade site itself, but also the site it has links to, if it already has links.
• Few other search engines also enable you to conduct link searches, whereby you can type in a domain name and find all the links leading to it. This can help fore sites likely to link to your homepage as well.
• Websites that function as ‘information providers’ often have lengthy link pages. As they do not have any rival products or services to sell, they are also likely to be more receptive than your competitors to the idea of reciprocal link partnership.

Once you have found sites that have a suitable and substantial audience profile, find the relevant e-mail addresses and contact names. The next step is to put together a tailored and individualized message for each website manager. If you give the impression that you are sending out a bulk e-mail you will not receive a good response.

When you are writing each message get to the point in the first couple of sentences. Tell the recipient what you like about their site and why you want to link to it. Tell them also how a link from your website could prove beneficial. This will lead nicely into the reasons why the site you are contacting should link to your site. Make sure that you are giving the person you are contacting a genuine impression of your site and include a link to your homepage at the foot of the message.