Link Etiquette

This is but one of many websites that we have created and managed and we get our fair share of link requests from our web site, some are valid and some are not. While doing some research recently I came upon a great resource online that is appropriately titled: "Why your link exchange request failed Why your link exchange request failed" by Michael Bluejay.

To summarize Mr. Bluejay's article and apply it to obtaining a link from TiltNRaise.com:

To increase your chances of obtaining a link:

• Build a good site, make it one that is worth linking to.
• If your site is your business site then strive to be the best in your field.
• Link to our web site first, this isn't arrogance on our part but it shows us you are serious about linking.
• Don't threaten to remove our link from your site if we don't link back in your time frame.
• Abstain from using "reciprocal link", "link trade", link exchange". Webmasters are so inundated with unrelated link request that the terms mentioned earlier trip the SPAM filters and your request goes unheeded.

Some reasons your link request might be rejected for TiltNRaise.com are outlined in Mr. Bluejay's article:

Because you asked for one!

Build a really great site, don't ask for a link exchange as most webmasters with page rank well beyond your own site have no incentive to link to your site. Think about it. What does a PR5 site have to gain by linking to your site or even from a link FROM your site? Bottom line, a great site will attract links without solicitation.

Your site isn't worth linking to:

Your link request will be considered if exposure to your site will be of interest to TiltNRaise.com visitors. Visitors to TiltNRaise.com come here to learn about amateur radio and anything RELATED to it and not your wallpaper site, limo services, or ring tone web sites.

Because your site is a "crappy site". What makes for a "crappy site"? In Mr. Bluejay's own words:

• No compelling content!
• Filled with ads
• Animated ads
• Not any better than a dozen other sites that offer the same thing.
• Popup windows
• Done in Flash
• Scrolling text or images
• No compelling content!

One of the quickest way to get your link request from TiltNRaise.com rejected is to ask us to link to a site that is unrelated to ours. Links to sites which are unrelated are not rewarded by the search engines so it would do you little to no good to link with TiltNRaise.com even if we were PR10. Links to TiltNRaise.com MUST be about amateur radio, emergency operations (EmComm), portable operations, lighthouse activations and even your personal amateur radio page is welcome. Don't take our word for it, check out the search engines themselves and you will see why links between this amateur radio site won't help the PS of say a limo service or hotel site. Search engines place value on the quality of your external links not the quantity.

You used a form letter for the link request! Like the direct marketing materials that clog our mail boxes we have software that makes it easy for YOU to send out your emails for links requests but at what costs to you? Do you really think there is another computer at the web site you want to link to that is waiting for you to email it? Yes? If you seriously answered yes then don't bother reading any more of this page. Just as a Harley owner will tell you: "if you have to ask you wouldn't understand'. There are real people administering web sites and your use of a cookie cutter form letter tells them you don't have the time to treat them appropriately. Write the person administering the web site you want a link from, treat them like the person they are. And for goodness sake be sure to use the correct gender! Want to tick off a female web admin? Just call here "Dear Sir". If you don't know the gender then refrain from any mention of gender.

You demand a return link before you will link to TiltNRaise.com. How obnoxious! Aren't you the one wanting a link from TiltNRaise.com? Yeah? Well show some class and link to us first and show us how serious you are about promoting your site.

You didn't link to TiltNRaise.com first. You know that linking to your site should give our visitor's something to look at and learn from. Mr.Bluejay says it best, "if a site is truly useful and relevant I'll link to it". Sometimes a "maybe" on adding a link to your site becomes a "no" when we find you didn't have the courtesy to link to TiltNRaise.com before asking us for a link.

Your emails are "threatening". Do you really ask people for favors by threatening them? No? Then please explain how you ask for a link and threaten the other web site owner with.

You suffer from Michael Bluejay's "pebble and moon" syndrome. What is the "pebble and the moon"? Someone wanted Mr. Bluejay to place banner link on the home page of one of his very popular sites in exchange for a plain jane text links on their links page. You can only guess they didn't get the link and you won't get one here either.

You seem to think your site is equal to or better than the site you asking for a link from. Here you are with your PR0 through PR2 site asking a web site owner with PR3 or higher to link to you like you are worth more than their site. If your site truly was better then you would already have better page rank and a link from the site you are seeking. Get real, ask them nicely and hope they find your site worth linking to. Build a great site that applicable to their visitors and they just might link to you.

You didn't read our links page terms. You have to remember that other web owners are busy people, they are either out making money or working on their own site. To keep the link requests down they have a set procedure in place for requesting a link from their site. We have one in place here at TiltNRaise.cin and we even coded a small form for your to add your URL. Some sites do not link to other sites regardless of relevancy. If you happen upon a site that has no clear cut link system in place then it safe to assume they don't wish to provide links from their site. If they don't want to provide links then you should refrain from using Web Position to send a form email out to webmaster@iwantalink.com addressed to "Dear Sir:".

Your site URL? Yours, you know the one you want us to link to? Did you bother to send the URL of your web site with your link request or do you want us to Google ya? It ain't gonna happen, the search or the link.

What page on your site do you want us to link to? What? 'Does it make a difference?' you ask. If you want us to link to www.yourwebsite.com then you better home your site is pretty good! Best thing for you to do is request a link to a specific page on your site. On second thought, maybe you don't know enough about SEO to run your own link campaign.

You become a pest about your request. As was mentioned before, it just might be possible that the person who are trying to get a link from could be busy making money or working on their own site. Best practice when requesting a link from another site - patience. Make the request ONCE and then move on to the next project.

You disrespect the webmaster of the site you want a link from. How does one disrespect another webmaster? Misspell their name (first or last, makes no difference), use the generic "Dear Sir:" when addressing them (there are a bunch of female web professionals out there!), use a software package/form letter to make the request, demand a link to your site and then threaten others if you don't get theirs right away.

"SITE UNDER CONSTRUCTION" Why anyone would ask another web site owner for a link from their site to your podunk 'under construction' site is baffling. Take a walk through the search engines and web directories and you will come across a common theme: "NO SITES UNDER CONSTRUCTION!".

You challenge my pop-up killer. The ONLY time there should be a pop-up window is for it to be a link inside your site that might open a new window for a larger sized image or possibly an informational window. At no time should you try to control a user's browser by inserting your pop-ups for you wallpapers-is-us affiliate link or other junk.

Your email would make my 8th grade English teacher whack you in the head. Grammar and spelling, run your email through the spell checker and grammar checker BEFORE you send it out. Just for safety you should have someone else read your basic email request over BEFORE you use it.

Your site links to 'bad neighborhoods'. Bad neighborhoods are link farms, FFA sites, malware sites and other sites that the search engines have deemed as no-nos in their index. When you link your site to and from these sites you contract a STD (Search Transmitted Disease) and the search engines will penalize you for it. And they will also penalized sites like ours who may link to your site.

Is your site new? Isn't that what a page rank of zero means? Could be your site is new or it could be that Google™ has wacked you for something you did that they didn't like. Site a zero page rank have the burden of proof on their shoulders when it come to proving they are new or disproving they have been penalized.

Your links page lacks substance. Just putting links on your links page is not going to benefit you and it certainly isn't going to benefit the more established site that you are desiring a link from. Don't just put a link up with out a short concise description for the link. Remember, you are providing these links to YOUR visitors for THEIR benefit. Make your links pages 'tight', if you have a lot of VALID links then make several pages instead of cramming them all on one page. Another this you should do is categorize links and sort the links alphabetically within the categories. Is it a lot of work? Yes. Is it worth it? Think about the sites you have visited and could not find what you are looking for.

Your links page is unreachable by the spiders. Search engines spiders are ravenous little beasts and they will consumer all the data you provide them. But they must first and foremost be able to FIND your links page. Keep your links clean, dump any Javascript and other cute link techniques. Make it easy for Slurp, Googlebot, Scooter, Scrubby and other search engine spider to crawl your links page. Your link to TiltNRaise.com is of little value to us if the spiders cannot crawl your link pages.

Explain yourself! The web is jam full of pages and figuring out what some of them are all about is an art in itself. When you make a link request then it is YOUR responsibility to explain to others just what your web site is all about.

War & Peace. Keep it simple, we won't wade through pages of pages of your email trying to figure out what you are saying. The reason we added our ADD URL form on TiltNRaise.com was to control the content that is sent regarding a link request.

Keep the payloads down. Never, ever, ever send an attachment with your link request. No exceptions! Try to remember that the use of cell phones in use today means a great many web site operators are accessing YOUR email with their phone so don't send your Powerpoint presentation or other attachments. If, and only if, the other site owner requests your attachments then they will make it know to you. Until then keep the attachments on your drive.

You demand a certain phrase for your link. A good many site owners and bloggers will incorporate their link to your site in the content of their site instead of plastering it on a links page. Demanding a certain keywords rich link tells the other site owner that they need to adjust THEIR page content to fit YOUR SEO. Yeah, that ain't gonna happen here on TiltNRaise.com either.

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