[jared_aronson]

I was told link swapping would help my website get better known on the web. I took that advice and added a link page to my site. I am now in the process of finding sites to swap links with me. A lot of sites require that you use there banners but I only want text links. Anybody know a good way to find people to swap with me?

 

[photodiver]

Jared, there are many link exchange web sites out there. Remember that you don't want to just exchange links with every web site that comes along. You want to find web sites that would attract people that would also be interested in your products and don't exchange links with competitors.
Example: if you sold soap, you would want to exchange links with a site that sells gift baskets. Understand?

Many people will tell you that links don't matter, but my experience has told me they do. One of the things SE look for are links TO YOUR SITE not links ON YOUR SITE. The more sites you can get to link to yours the better chance you will have to get noticed.
Keep in mind that links exchanges should only be small part of the web site promotion strategy. There are many other ting you should be doing to increase your "odds"

Hope this helps..

 

[Rodney]

I agree with Dave in that link exchanges should only be a small part of your web promotion strategy.

You'll probably get dozens if not hundreds of link exchange requests as time goes by. Some will be from automated software some will be from spammers, and some will be from actual legitimate site owners.

If you want to make link exchanging part of your site promotional stategy, you'll need to sift through all those to find which are the "good" links and which are the ones you want to stay away from.

I generally delete all link exchange requests that get sent to my email as spam (because so many of them are).

To me, the best links are given naturally and are one way. However, that doesn't happen much anymore. But if you see a site you like and more importantly, a site you think your visitors will like, why not just link to it. If you send them traffic, they may end up linking back to you on their own.

You do need to get some initial links to your site because that's how many of the search engines find new sites (by indexing the sites that are already in their database and following the links that are on those sites).

You can try to get into DMOZ.org, pay for a listing at Yahoo (the directory part) if it's in your budget, or you can find other creative ways of getting links to your site.

You should make sure that your site is search engine (and people) friendly before you start finding links because the traffic and new search engine indexing is going to mean nothing if your site isn't ready for the search engine robot (or the people trying to navigate your site).
http://www.t-shirtforums.com/showthread.php?t=1368

 

[greycat]

I've also recently launched a new t-shirt web site & am considering text link exchanges. I'd planned to list a relatively small number of sites that sell other t-shirts I really like - thinking that the number of extra potential customers finding my site would outweigh any sales lost to customers finding products they prefer on the other sites. However, photodiver's comment about avoiding competitors is making me think again... What do other people think about it?

 

[jdr8271]

Dont be afraid of linking to competitors...If people like your designs, they will buy them. If they are clicking on links out from your site, it is because they are no longer interested in your site, and they werent going to buy a shirt anyway.

 

[Solmu]

Don't forget t-shirts aren't exactly the kind of thing you only need one of - there's no reason people can't buy from you and your competitor.

 

[photodiver]

hello all,

When we think about link exchanges to help traffic to our sites, we have to think about it like the customer would. Remember links going from your site have no benefit to you. As said above, if they click a link on your site, they are done with yours. (A little trick: when you build a links page, have it open in a new window. This way your site is always up there, they never actually leave your site.) What you are looking for are links going TO to web site. This is why I said to avoid competitors web sites. Some people only look so far and thats it.

SEs look at the number of links going TO your web site, not FROM your web site. But today the best way to request a link is to add their link to your site, hence "link exchange".

One thing you may have not thought about when it comes to links are directories. There are many directories out there that specialize in "shopping" for instance. These are called Vertical Directories. These are great for people to use if they know what they want. The searches are more "refined" then a horizontal SE like Google.

Do a search online and find a directory that will allow you to list your site. Some are free some charge a small fee.

Like any other form of advertising "word of mouth" is the best form, but it is also the slowest. Links to your site are "word of mouth" the site "recommends" your site.

Something to think about anyway..