| The
Popularity Contest - How Link Popularity Can Improve Your
Website
Did you ever wonder why high-school kids are so fully preoccupied
with being "popular"? To teens, being popular
means everybody knows your name and who you are. On the
other hand, not being popular almost means you don't even
exist. It sounds harsh, but similar rules of popularity
exist on the web. While some websites are generally "known",
other websites scream for attention yet rarely get noticed.
When I speak of "Link Popularity" I basically
talk about the total number of sites on the Internet that
are linking to your own website. When a lot of other sites
are displaying a link to your website, you have a higher
degree of popularity than when only a few other websites
are linking to you. It is a simple concept, but very important
for webmasters, because most net search engines list and
rank websites in their databases based on this link popularity.
Again, websites with higher link popularities will get listed
faster and higher in search engine results.
How Does it Work?
Google helped start this idea. When adding websites to their
own search engine, Google has automated software (called
Spiders) that "crawl" or search the web, following
hyperlinks from site to site. These Spiders document how
many links exist on the web to your website. Google states,
"When a URL is submitted to Google, I look for it in
our next crawl. If you've already submitted your URL, your
site could easily appear in our new index, which will go
up when the current crawl is completed. However, if no other
site links to yours, it may be difficult for our crawler
to find you. Conversely, if many sites link to your page,
there is a good chance I will find you without your even
submitting your URL. If Google has not found your pages,
it is because I have not encountered any links on the web
pointing to your site. If you increase the links pointing
to your website, Google will likely find your site in the
future."
Quality Versus Quantity
So, the more links to your site that exist on the web, the
more likely the big name search engines will both pick your
site up, and list it high in users' search results. Understand
though, that simply creating a few hundred pages with your
URL on it and posting them to a website for search engine
Spiders to find won't automatically get you listed. Search
engine Spiders are smart critters, and they know junk websites
from quality websites. How? They examine each website's
link popularity! A link to your website on powerhouse CNET.com
(with a high link popularity) is much more valuable than
a link to your website on bobspants23.org (with a low link
popularity). With this in mind, it may actually be better
to have one link to your website on a popular site, than
50 links to your website on a multiple unpopular sites.
To carry this idea further, another "no-no" when
it comes to getting your link on the net, is posting them
in low quality list sites, also called "link farms"
or "banner farms." Big search engines like Google
will ban sites that participate in these type of list sites.
What to Do?
As you can see, the rise to popularity isn't easy work.
What can you do? Simple - increase the number of quality
links pointing to your website by creating a reciprocal
links page! We use the recommended service of LinksManager.
As a service that will automate the process of exchanging
links.
What
is LinksManager?
LinksManager isn't a link swap farm, it is the premier tool
to help you create and maintain your website's links pages.
Most importantly, LinksManager
will tell you if a webmaster who submits a link to your
site is reciprocating your link. Without that reciprocating
link, your link popularity won't increase. Remembering the
quantity versus quality issue, you can even search for sites
with high link popularity ratings, and email them asking
for a link swap. A series of tasks can be performed to test
your own link popularity, to compare your link popularity
with your competitors, and to find other websites with higher
link popularities.
How does LinksManager work?
After you sign up a new LinksManager account, you gain access
to your customized account Control Panel. Your Control Panel
allows you to perform all the necessary functions to setup
your new links pages and maintain your account. You can
setup your account yourself, or request LinksManager support
staff to help setup your links pages for you.
After your links
pages are setup, full testing is suggested so you understand
how the system works prior to swapping links with other
sites. LinksManager provides you with a Setup Guide that
explains how to test your account.
When other webmasters
ask to swap links with your site, you will point them to
your add link page which is published with your links pages.
Every LinksManager account gets it's own add link page and
this form is what allows anyone to suggest a link to your
site.
As other webmasters
ask to swap links with you, you will receive an email notification
from LinksManager alerting you that a new link has been
submitted for approval. From your LinksManager account control
panel, you can view link submissions, see whether or not
the webmaster is reciprocating your link, and approve or
deny the new links. Approved links are automatically added
to your links pages with a single mouse click.
Other
administrative functions allow you to fully customize and
optimize your account and links pages. Click here for more
information on all LinksManager
features.
Conclusion
Many webmasters think that the way to drive traffic to their
websites is to spend thousands of dollars on banner advertising,
or to add a jazzy Flash introduction to their homepage.
In reality, a simple, long-term reciprocal linking campaign
can do more good for a website than anything else - period.
LinksManager gladly takes charge of the "busy work"
while you focus on other important tasks.
Tip
To check your link popularity, you can either visit the
engines and check it from there, or you can use this free
link
popularity checker. It currently supports MSN, Lycos/FAST
and Altavista.
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