Going all the way before the first date: the folly of sham link exchanges
Picture this: You’ve got your eye on someone special. Maybe you haven’t met them yet but have worshiped them from afar. Or maybe you just met them in passing at a party, but barely know them. But you heard they’re popular and you’d love a little of that popularity to rub off on you.
You decide to email them. “Hello, I’m a really big fan and I just know we’d be a good match. Would you be my friend? Or maybe we can just hop in the sack right away?”
Yeah, right.
You can anticipate the success of the email…and easily see the absurdity of it. Asking an ADR blogger (or any blogger, for that matter) for a link exchange is pretty much akin to that.
My pal Diane Levin wrote a great post about the annoyance of link exchange requests from bloggers and web designers she doesn’t know or follow. Said Diane,
I get emails all the time from mediators, lawyers, and other professionals asking for link exchanges from this blog. It’s nice that they perceive me as an authoritative source for ADR and negotiation and that an outbound link from MediationChannel.com counts for something. Unfortunately all too often these folks are missing the point.
Missing the point indeed. Requests like that make any good blogger’s eyes roll, and Diane’s typical response in those circumstances is on the mark: No.
Why do bloggers and web designers ask for link exchanges? The more links to your site from a credible site, the better for your search engine rankings. And if you’re new to blogging or the web, links to your site help the linker’s audience discover you…and perhaps you build readership. Wanting healthy links from other sites is a reasonable desire.
How you achieve it matters. Just like how you achieve third base or a home run. As one blogger I link below says, “It is about integrity.”
And just as with new friendships and dating, building the relationship is important if you want the union to be meaningful. Blogs are social media and social media is all about relationships, relevant connections and online networking.
Want to build links from credible bloggers and from blogs that are authorities in your target market’s eyes? Keep these tips front and center:
- Write relevant, compelling content on your own blog/site. People will be more interested in linking if your smart content has merit for their audience.
- Give before you receive, just like mom and dad always said. Link out to good content your own readers will appreciate and perhaps the generosity will come back to you over time. Blogging software, Google alerts, and sites like Technorati tell bloggers who’s linking to us, so we’ll know you’re out there.
- Network, online and off. I regularly link out to people I’ve met at professional events and some of my most to-die-for incoming links are from folks I met and developed relationships with in person and via online networking. I’m much more likely to link to someone whose work I’ve been following for a while than someone whose post I stumbled across, because I want to be sure – for my own readers’ sake – that I’m linking you to someone credible.
- Don’t be selfish. I know a blogger who mentions me, but doesn’t provide an actual link back to my blog, so her readers can’t leave her site for mine (what’s that about?). That’s old-school thinking, and seems petty and selfish. Especially when she asks me to promote something she’s doing by writing about it here!
- Take the long view. Just like many good relationships, building relationships with bloggers takes time and good dialogue. Home base will be so much more fulfilling!
- If you offer up a post for a blogger’s consideration, be sure your offering matches the blogger’s topics and likely audience. I get many posts emailed to me by other ADR bloggers, asking me to consider linking, and only a small percentage are relevant to Mediator Tech’s purpose and audience. I love to link out…when the content’s on topic.
For more on the folly of link exchanges and more effective ways to build relationships with bloggers whose attention could help you expand your own web presence, try these excellent resources from other bloggers:
- 17 Principles of Building Good Relationships with Bloggers
- Why I Don’t Participate in Link Exchanges
- What You Don’t Know About Blogging Can Hurt You
- How to Promote Your Blog through Networking
Making Mediation Your Day Job by Tammy Lenski is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. Based on a work at MediatorTech.com.
Making Mediation Your Day Job: How to Market Your ADR Business Using Mediation Principles You Already Know
Tammy, thank you kindly for the link to my post…and for the hilarious title which certainly woke me up early this Monday morning.
I’d add one more thought, if I may, to your list of excellent suggestions. That would be “Give credit where credit is due.” Sometimes I see new bloggers “borrow” ideas that I know they discovered elsewhere and omit giving credit to the source. (Remember those college term papers you wrote? And how you have to give attribution to your sources or you risk getting a failing grade? Same idea works here.)
Link back to the source of your ideas. If you’ve seen bloggers use the word “hat tip”, followed by a link, then you’ve seen attribution at work. It’s nice to acknowledge the blogger(s) who inspired you, and it’s a great way to get their attention and gain their appreciation. They may even return the favor some time.
Linking is the currency of the economy of the blogosphere. Build your capital by linking to others.
Again, thanks, Tammy. As always, a terrific post on an important topic.
Diane Levins last blog post..See a man change his mind before your eyes: learning that waterboarding is torture after all
Hey, Diane, happy July to you.
I heartily agree with your addition. It’s old-school to be fearful that linking back to a source or someone you’re mentioning will cause people to leave your site for theirs. That’s fixed-pie thinking, in mediator-speak.
Mediators get “expand-the-pie” thinking, so apply it to your marketing, too. Today’s marketing is about sharing, referring, connecting and being generous. If you link to a source and your reader goes there, they’ll remember you as the generous giver of useful information. That’s the new marketing.
In fact, I think I’ll do a post about this! Thanks for the spark, Diane!