Link Building / Popularity

When you send your email for a linking request, ensure that the tone of it is extremely courteous and not demanding. If English is your second language, run your promotional note by someone who is familiar with the complexities of the language. The way you word your note is the most important factor as to whether another web master will even bother with taking the time to take a look at your site.

Your canvassing note is your official representation - if you don't take the time to spell correctly, other web masters may believe that your site will be of the same quality, and discard your request immediately. Ensure your web site is complete. A half finished site will not gain you any links!

Don't expect an answer straight away and harass the site owner with countless follow up emails. Leave it for at least 2 weeks before second contact and ensure that the second note is equally as polite as the first.

Ensure you take a good look over the site you wish to link to you, be familiar with it's content and mention some of the content in your request for linkage. Identify the common theme between the sites. If the site has a "Submit your URL" page, ensure that you use it and read the guidelines for submission carefully.

Experienced site owners can pick a new web master or site a mile off, so don't misrepresent your site or its traffic levels if you propose a reciprocal (swap) links agreement. Point the web master to a section of your site where you provide content or tools that are original and would be of use to their site's visitors. If you have a banner rotator, you could offer the site owner a few thousand impressions as a sweetener for him in linking to you. Very few web masters will give you a link if they receive nothing in return, especially if they are earning money or gaining traffic from the links they already have in place. Even just making an offer of an exchange of services, no matter how small, will motivate the web master to at least consider a link - they may not even take you up on the offer. The best way to encourage other webmasters to link to you is to already have their link and a thoughtful description already present on your site - on a search engine friendly page.

There are a number of template examples of link request emails on the Internet, but ensure you modify them each time they are sent to different sites so they at least appear original.

Greetings [Name],I visited your web site, [Web Site Name Here] and found some great information regarding [Insert Subject Here]. [If you have linked to the other site already, mention it here and give the URL of the link - ask them to approve your link to them or to recommend editing suggestions - DO NOT threaten to remove their link if they don't respond in x days - these kinds of notes usually end up being deleted] I thought you might be interested to know that we have a web site dedicated to [Your Site Topic - special points of interest]. We were hoping that you might consider linking to us and invite you to review our site at your convenience. [Depending on situation, insert further offer of reciprocal linking, banner impressions or exchange of services here] If you determine that a link to our site is appropriate, please add it at your your discretion, or might we suggest the following link and description:[Your site name and URL] - [Your site description - keep it brief, focused and not too much hype] If you'd like to discuss this further, please feel free to contact us at [Your contact details].Thanks![Full official signature lines here]

This example is personal and courteous. It respects the other site owners time and intelligence. Remember to modify each note slightly to avoid the "template" stigma. Be prepared for rejection.