Links, Banner Exchanges and Web Rings
November 29, 1999
Links, links, links!
The essence of the Web, and presumably the reason it was
named the "World Wide Web," is links. Being able to jump
from one site to one or more related sites at the click of a
mouse is what makes the Web unique among media. The goal
for Web site owners is to have as many links out there
pointing to your site as possible. Of course, not all links
are created equal. A link to your site from a page that gets
thousands of visitors a day is worth far more than a link
from a page that gets bupkes. Links from major search
engines are about the most valuable of all, which is why a
thorough search engine submission session is step one in
promoting your site.
But there are various other ways to get links, both formal
and informal. The formal ways include link exchanges, Web
rings and related arrangements, while the informal, old-Web
way is simply to email another site owner and ask for a
link.
Banner Exchanges
The concept of a link exchange or banner exchange is simple.
You place the exchange's banner code on your site, which
causes banners for other member sites to be displayed on
your page(s). This earns you credit towards displaying your
banners on other member sites. Once you join the exchange,
all this happens automatically. All you have to do is send
the exchange your ad banner, and place the exchange code on
your site. Don't have an ad banner yet? Make one, or better
yet, two or three. Even if you don't plan to buy any banner
ads, there are lots of opportunities to get banner exposure
free or by barter, as we shall see.
The best-known of these outfits is the
LinkExchange,
formerly known as the Internet Link Exchange or ILE.
Another good one is the
HyperBanner Network.
There are lots of others. See:
http://dir.yahoo.com/Computers_and_Internet/Internet/
World_Wide_Web/Announcement_Services/Banner_Exchanges/
For a new site, a banner exchange is a great deal. You get
exposure on other sites, and all you give up is a wee bit of
server load, and perhaps a wee bit of traffic, of which you
don't have any yet anyway. Most banner exchanges allow you
to target your banners to a certain extent. That is, to
specify a category for your site, so your banner will only
show up on other sites in your category. The more precisely
you can target, the more effective your banners will be.
The same keys to success in paid banner advertising apply to
banner exchanges. Go to the exchange's site often and check
your statistics. If you're getting low clickthrough (1% is
considered pretty good in the ad industry, and I would say
that about 0.5% would be a good showing for a banner
exchange), try changing your banner. Better yet, try 3 or 4
different banners, figure out which one gets the best
clickthrough, and then stick with that one.
Some consider exchange banners to be a sign of an amateur
site. True, you won't see exchange banners on major sites.
But that's not because big-time site owners look down on them.
It's because they're busy selling their banner space for cash.
If you can get paid ads, then that's always more worthwhile
than mere traffic-building banners. But if your site is too
new or too small to attract paid ads, then display those
exchange banners proudly. And by paid ads, I mean real,
impression-based ads placed by an ad agency, not the
pay-per-click, pay-per-sale or pay-per-wishful-thinking ads
that the countless sleazy ad networks foist on smaller sites.
I'd rather have a LinkExchange or HyperBanner ad on my site
than a pay-per-click ad any day.
Web Rings
Another type of mutual-help program is called a Web ring. A
Web ring consists of a group of sites related to a particular
topic, such as the Blues Web Ring. You place the Web ring
code at the bottom of your page, and it displays links to
the "previous" and "next" sites in the ring. When a user
clicks on one of these links, they are taken to one of the
other sites belonging to the ring.
Web rings
can be useful traffic builders, but I prefer
banner exchanges, because they're neater and simpler. A
standard banner fits neatly into most page layouts, and the
banner itself tells you what you'll get if you click. A Web
ring usually requires a messy cluster of text on your page,
and clicking takes you to a randomly-selected site. How
many people really click on these things?
I don't know of any one comprehensive list of Web rings, but
if you go to an appropriate category in Yahoo, then drill
down to "Web Directories," you'll find a category for Web
rings, if there are any listed for that topic. For example,
music-related Web rings can be found at:
http://dir.yahoo.com/Entertainment/Music/Web_Directories/Web_Rings/
You've submitted to all the search engines. Now what?
Regular Old Links
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