| I created my first website in 1995 - it was so long ago I | | | | link established. |
| built it out of rock and wood, not HTML. | | | | Reason No. 3 - You Are Spending More Time On |
| Shortly after it went live I realised that nobody apart | | | | Other People's Websites Than Your Own |
| from me could see it and it started to dawn on me | | | | If you spend a lot of your time researching and |
| what this 'Internet thing' is all about. It is not about having | | | | creating reciprocal links you'd better make sure that |
| a stand-alone website plonked somewhere that | | | | your website is perfect. Remember - all that time |
| nobody will ever see - it is about being part of an | | | | you're spending developing reciprocal links could be |
| INTERconnected NETwork of other websites. | | | | spent adding new content to your website, sending out |
| INTER-NET. The penny dropped - I needed to start | | | | an up to date newsletter to your mailing list or even |
| getting connected to other websites. | | | | sitting down and writing out goals for your website. |
| Much has changed since then (my hair got longer, | | | | If you spend all the time on improving your website, |
| shorter and has since started to recede further up my | | | | adding great content, providing excellent service, |
| head for one thing) but it seems the desire and | | | | keeping it up to date, testing different headlines and |
| pressure you face as a website owner to exchange | | | | homepage layouts INSTEAD of spending the time |
| links shows no signs of fading. But link swapping is | | | | building links guess what? You will magically find that |
| killing your website! Here's 5 Reasons why... | | | | more people link to you anyway! |
| Reason No. 1 - It's Addictive! | | | | In fact - your website will become such a great |
| It's true. You might not be that far down the | | | | resource because of all the time you're dedicating to it |
| link-swapping path yet but I promise you it will happen | | | | that people will go OUT OF THEIR WAY to link to |
| sooner or later. One day you'll find yourself laughing like | | | | you! How ironic is that?! |
| a maniac as you run a report to see how many | | | | You go hunting for links and your site suffers and |
| in-bound links you have and start rubbing your hands | | | | therefore hardly anybody links to you. You spend time |
| gleefully as you reach that magic milestone you set | | | | on making your website THE BEST IT CAN BE and |
| yourself six months ago. You'll start mainlining reciprocal | | | | everyone starts linking to you as, shock horror, you |
| links: | | | | have a brilliant website that is worth referring to.. |
| "Just one more link. Please - all I need is one more link!" | | | | Reason No. 4 - You Don't Have A Multi-Million Dollar |
| Take a deep breath, step back from the precipice and | | | | Budget To Beat The Boffins |
| think for a moment. Why do you want all these links | | | | Those white-cloaked geeks over at Google towers |
| pointing to your website? No, honestly - why do you | | | | and the like have millions of dollars at their disposal to |
| REALLY want all these links pointing to your website? | | | | create the latest technology that can sniff out the |
| To improve link popularity? You're falling into the trap. | | | | merest whiff of dodginess when it comes to link |
| Do you want it to boost that little green bar that | | | | swapping. |
| Google assigns to your page? (see | | | | If they think something is suspect you might get |
| toolbar.google.com) Wise up! | | | | penalised. First you started to see sites that used the |
| Reason No. 2 - It Is Eating Away At Your Time Like A | | | | same phrase for their inbound links get penalised. Then |
| Hungry Hippo! | | | | it was sites that engaged with link farms. Who knows |
| Just take a look at the last time you went out looking | | | | what's next? |
| for a link and got it. How long did it take you? Not long? | | | | Ultimately you can bet your bottom dollar that the |
| Well, let me put this another way - how long did it take | | | | search engines will change their tack with reciprocal |
| you to find the right type of websites, look through | | | | links and their importance - some of them are already |
| those and find ones that even have a links page, find | | | | starting to look at the words that appear before and |
| the contact information for the websites you wanted | | | | after each link to make sure it is on a relevant page |
| to contact, create the email, send the email, respond to | | | | and not just created as part of a reciprocal linking deal. |
| the email, place their link on your website, check that | | | | It's a risky game we're all playing and my money's on |
| they reciprocated with you, email back and forth a | | | | the guys with the white coats and millions of dollars.. |
| few times more and so on...? | | | | Reason No. 5 - You Are The Weakest Link, Goodbye! |
| If you add up all the minutes that each of these | | | | When push comes to shove this whole 'game' of |
| elements takes you could be looking at half an hour | | | | website marketing is about balance. |
| per reciprocal link established - maybe even longer! | | | | Imagine you are a tightrope walker. Fifty metres |
| And don't think you're cutting corners if you're using | | | | beneath you is a huge vat of boiling hot lava. To help |
| software. It might be quicker to find possible linking | | | | you across the rope from the podium of "website |
| partners using software but it's a false economy as, to | | | | launch" to the podium of "website success" you get a |
| my knowledge, people are still cleverer than machines. | | | | balancing rod. |
| What I mean by this is I can tell if you email me using | | | | Spending too much time and effort on reciprocal link |
| software rather than using your own fingers. If you go | | | | building is like having a large sack on one end of the |
| looking for reciprocal links using software you are FAR | | | | rod. This sack has an elephant in it. The elephant is |
| less likely to get a response so the whole process will | | | | wearing boots. Made from concrete. Get the picture? |
| probably take you as long in terms of time spent per | | | | |