How NOT To Request Reciprocal Links

I get reciprocal link requests all the time and unfortunately, 99% of them are like the one outlined below.

Dear Webmaster,

We have added a link to your site http://www.getblogs.com on our blog at http://theirblogurl.com/links/ and would appreciate it if you placed the following html code on your web site main page:

*Blatent Ad Here*

Our site gets thousands of visitors per month and is considered an authority site in it's field.

We will keep your link on our blog for 14 days. If we find that you have not included the code above on your main page, we will assume you are not interested in reciprocal linking or building your sites link popularity for the search egnines.

First of all, my name is not "Webmaster".

Second of all, their site is a blog, and they have sent an email reciprocal link request to a blog directory. Anyone with a legitimate blog can go to my site, follow the instructions and have their blog listed there.

Thirdly, how could they know their site gets thousands of visitors per month? I did a check in the whois database and the domain was registered about 3 weeks ago! Authority site? I won't even go into it...

Fourth, my link was buried on a hidden links page on their site, not on the blog itself. The only link to that page was a greyed out "Links" link at the bottom corner of a few pages. They wanted me to place their 30 word hard-sell ad om my main page in return?

Fifth, their snide remark that if I didn't link to them, I was not interested in promoting my site didn't go over well.

Obviously, the email they sent was generated by some reciprocal linking software. They didn't even take the time to personalize it properly. The exchange wasn't fair, they lied, etc. etc.

I mean, come on people.... automation of certain aspects of your business is great and all, but there are times when there's no substitute for a good old personal email. Jeez, at least LOOK at the sites your software has mined from Google's listings!

more...


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Originally Posted on 8/10/2005 6:28:28 AM
Content source: http://www.ebizreporter.com/arc/2005/05/how_not_to_requ.html