Tips for running a successful link exchange program

  Link exchange programs aren't just for page rank.
  The primary goal of your link exchange program should be to generate Free Targeted Traffic, not get better page rank.

  A well-managed link exchange program can bring you thousands of visitors. It won't happen overnight, of course. It takes time and patience to get a hundred, a thousand, or even more link trades done... but the results are totally worth it.

  Here's the part that makes all the effort worthwhile:
      All that traffic is Targeted, and it's Free.

  What about Page rank?  Ok, I admit it, better page rank is another good reason to set up and run your link exchange program with certain standards, but page rank considerations are better addressed by optimizing your pages for search engines.
  I believe that a responsible, well informed webmaster will make the page rank a secondary consideration when he or she is setting up a link exchange program.

  After a while you will be getting more traffic from your link exchange program than you do from the search engines - and that traffic is more dependable.
  Search engines periodically change their standards, your page rank will change, and you may find that your website is suddenly not getting anything from them. Meanwhile your link exchange partners are still there, still sending you good quality traffic day after day.

  Tips for starting and running a successful link exchange program. The following suggestions will help you to set up a link exchange program that will attract other webmasters who are ready, willing and able to trade traffic with you.
  There is more detail, and a bit more information in this free e-book: Link Mastery 101, but the following tips and suggestions will get you started...

  Design your 'Link Directory' as a service to your visitors. This is the primary consideration, and all other design criteria follow naturally from it. Keep that 'Visitor friendly' consideration in the front of your mind while you are setting it up.

  Your visitors are going to leave anyway. So don't be worried that a link exchange program will take your traffic away. A well-managed link exchange program will actually increase your website usefulness and your visitors will appreciate it. Many will realize that your link directory is a good resource, so they will remember you better and will be more likely to return at another time.

  With that in mind:
* Separate your link pages into categories, and make an index for those pages.
* Have a link to the directory index from every page, right where your visitors can find it, do not hide it at the bottom.
* Make the category pages easy to scan... leave space between the links and make the text large enough to read easily.
* Limit the links on each page to 30 or 40... maybe 50 at the most.

  Use software or scripts to automate some of the process. It's probably not a good idea to allow everyone to add their link to your database automatically, but you can certainly automate as much of it as you are comfortable with.

  At the very least, use a script that will monitor your links on the other websites. If your link 'drops off' the other website for any reason you will want to contact the other webmaster and see what's going on.
  Sometimes you will have to remove their link because the website has gone offline, but often it's just an error or page name change on the other end and you only need to update your database.

  With good software, you can automate everything except finding other link partners. But, again, let me recommend that you do not let anyone automatically add new links to your pages.... that's a task you should do manually.

  Consider using Linking Management Software
I use an old copy of ReciprocalManager, but any decent script will make it easy to manage your link database, and also monitor your link on the other websites, to make sure that your link stays on their page. The price for decent scripts are minimal, considering how much time they can save, and all the benefits of using one.

  One good product is the Linking101 script - I can't give a personal recommendation for linking101 because I use ReciprocalManager, but it has gotten some very good reviews and it also comes in an ASP version for those with Windows-based servers.

  If your budget won't allow buying software right now, then the free script below will do a good job, but it uses the dynamic "?" property in the url - and search engines can't properly index the pages. You can use it for a while, to get the link exchange program going, then switch over to something better later on.
Chipmunk Directory Script
It is highly configurable and will serve you - and your link partners - fairly well until you can upgrade to a more flexible program.
You may also want to use this free Link Trade Monitoring software.

  Make it easy for other webmasters to initiate a link exchange with you. Here is another place where scripts & automation will help you a lot.

  At the very least, provide clear and concise linking requirements, instructions, and a variety of linking options. Some webmasters may be willing to place your button or banner, others will place only a text link, and some only your site title... so it pays to give them a variety of ready-to-use link codes so they can simply copy and paste.

  Use a dedicated email address for link trades and check it daily. You can even have that email address autorespond with more information; such as how long it may take to review and add (or reject) their link, or a repetition of your linking guidelines and a copy of your link code, etc.
  Better yet, provide a form they can fill in to send you their information.

  Make your website an attractive place to exchange links with. If you follow the basic design concepts outlined here, your website will be a good one to trade with and more webmasters will approach you to trade.

  Optimize each category page for the search engines. Every little bit helps. Use the correct META descriptions, use good page titles, keyword placements, etc... just as if you were optimizing any other page on your website.

  You can make a few bucks off your link pages.
  It's easier than you think to 'monitize' your link pages... simply add a Google AdWords ad to the top or side column and add the SearchFeed content above or below your partner links. What I like about searchFeed (besides the paycheck) is the easy way it integrated right into the ReciprocalManager script, it's set up right in the administrator function. (See any links page for an example of the output.)
  There is more detail on all of this stuff, and a bit more information in this free e-book: Link Mastery 101
-Get Google Adwords -»

  A few other things to think about:
  There is a lot of disagreement among webmasters about wether or not to link trade only with related websites. On the one hand, traffic from related websites is better targeted. On the other, link trading with hundreds or thousands of unrelated websites may be a better service to your visitors and you will get more traffic overall.
  So it's up to you to decide if you want to limit your link exchanges only to related websites or not.

  I strongly recommend that you exchange links only with websites that follow good linking practices. Those that don't will be sending you very little traffic, if any, and you may even be penalized by search engines if you are linking to a website that they classify as a "link farm". (You won't get penalized if the link farm has a link to you, but a link from your website can cause trouble.)