Whatg is a Link?
What is a Link?
A link is either text or picture (graphic's) that when a visitor
clicks on it, they are taken somewhere else. This somewhere else
is either another page of your site or to another site. These
links can also be in your navigation. A link such as these are
out going links. You may also have other website on the internet
that have a link to your site or one of your site pages. These
are called in-coming links. Inside your domain you may both as
one page leads to another, and back.
The Links on the in-coming side, that is from other sites and
the links out going should be somehow related to the content of
the site page they are directed to or from.
You will also have temporary and long term links.
Long term links
Long term links are those you put on your site page that you
determine how long they stay, or you those that you have entered
at places like Alexa that may or may not be the same as those on
your domain. Although you can enter up to twenty at Alexa, they
will show only the first ten when someone using the Alexa
toolbar goes there. I have also tried for years to change the
first link that was to an old domain I had but for some reason
Alexa keeps it on.
It is suggested that they are, however there is a degree of
debate about this as we wonder if putting a link to MSN, Google,
or some other like site will assist a domain by the presence of
the link when the robot of that engine spiders your site. Do
they give credit for the link back to them at the same weight as
not having one?
If you are submitting articles to sites like 'Go Articles', then
it should benefit you to have a link to them. They will in turn
link back to you and will show up on the 'sites linking in' on
your Alexa report.
Submitting to FFA type of sites will do you no good for the
links themselves. These sites are a short term links are should
be used as a part of your traffic considerations only, as is the
volume of e-mail associated with them. For productivity purposes
they are almost useless today for generation of sales anyway.
This is due to the failure of proper regulation by the site
owners, as many allow spamming or rotate the links to quickly to
serve any purpose.
Some other types of short term links may be from other sites
that you may have an agreement with to have links back to one
another, called mutual links. Once you have traded links with
another site, you will want to check after a period of time to
see if the link is actually producing any clicks to your domain.
A link without any traffic may do no good for you, so I have put
these in my temporary link category. It is up to you however,
but if it is only a 'one-way street' then why have it?
The content of the page where the link is will also effect the
value of the link. A link on your main site page should be
related to what is on your main page. If you have a site page at
your domain where you send visitors for other reason ( like I
have for my Free Stuff and Resources page) then the links on
that page should be pertaining to the content of that page. Your
domain links, that is from one page to another within your
domain, along with a good 'site map' will take care of the
inter-relating to and from the whole domain.
The value of links of any type given by the search engines will
be determined by the engine itself.
They are constantly changing and you have to keep an eye on how
they weigh the links. Some may value the amount, some the
quality, some both. Even so, links are but one part of the
equation used for your domain or page rank. You may have one
page ranked higher than another in the same domain and that is
OK too. The bottom line is that a visitor to your site (
potential client ), if interested enough, will go to your main
page if on another for more information, or visa versa. How they
find your site in their search will come more from your content
and site theme and how that return is given to them from where
ever they started their search from. Your links to the engines
will give you an edge, but how much is that worth? Is it enough
to justify the expense , either in money or time on your part?
IF your Return On Investment ( R.O.I.) is sufficient, then YES
it is worth everything to you. IF, on the other hand you find
your are spending ten dollars for every sale before you make the
sale and your profit margin can not sustain it, then NO.
Many times I have been to sites that just do not give me enough
information to allow me to determine if their product is what I
want. It is amazing also as to how many make if almost
impossible to contact anyone. And these are from domains that
have spent thousands of dollars for custom site creation and
promotions.
It is better in the long run to have a well rounded site that is
easy for the visitor to find out the information they desire and
to make a purchase.
With more and more sales coming from the internet, the site
owners should be aware of the importance. The days of 'deep
pockets' paying their way to the top ten on the returns are
quickly fading away. It will not be too long before the search
engines see the trend also, and start putting the paid
advertisements on the side bars of their return pages. Buying
out the competition just won't work on the evolving internet as
many visitors get more and more internet savvy.
Convenience will outweigh the difference in the price of the
product, if the difference in the price is not a lot. Think
about it. There are many more 'mini-marts' in towns than big
name markets. Why is that? People don't want to wait in line for
something they need quickly. They will pay a little more for
this time saving. They will still go the the big name market for
the weekly grocery purchases and wait at the check out, but not
for the purchase of just a bottle of water.