There are two major benefits when you do reciprocal linking. For one, you can increase your traffic, because visitors of websites where your link is found can also click on your link. Secondly, you can generate inbound links, which means you have better chances of increasing your page rank.
But because reciprocal links is a mutual agreement, you need to follow some steps to ensure that your proposal doesn’t get rejected. Here are some of them:
1. Look for quality websites.
You can look for them all over the Internet. These are actually websites whose themes are very much related to yours. You can easily gain favor when you link in interrelated websites as it’s very easy for webmasters to treat yours as additional resource.
2. Make the first initiative.
Unless you have well-established traffic and PR, in which case you will be the “hunted,” you need to place the website’s link first on any of your webpages.
3. Inform the webmaster.
Usually, webmasters do have their tracking software, which will help them determine what websites have been linking to them. However, you can’t expect them to do this all the time. Just so you are sure that they will know what you did, send them an e-mail. You can search for their address in their Contact Us page. If it’s not there, you can look for it in www.whois.sc. If it has a contact form, you can also fill it up.
4. Write a good letter.
Now your letter to the webmaster can either make or break you. That’s why you have to make sure that it has the right elements to it. If you aren’t still familiar with writing a link proposal to a webmaster, you can look for a template. However, ensure that you will customize it. In writing your letter, make sure that you can state the reason why you think their website makes a great addition to your link. Perhaps you can cite a particular article that you believe can benefit your readers tremendously. On the other hand, state what their website can benefit from you. You also have to mention where their link can be found, so they will be able to check it. In the end, don’t forget to politely request them to link back to you.
It’s important that you don’t expect a lot from webmasters. Others will be open, while some won’t. Just in case you don’t hear any reply within 3 weeks, politely tell them that you will be deleting their link from your website.
