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Page 19
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Linking for Success
Even if all your tags are in order, to get highly ranked you'll need
many sites to link to your site. Search engines place great weight on
this.
Google, for example, tracks the total amount of incoming links to your
site, boosting your ranking more if those links come from what Google
considers a leading site in your area. Google explains this, somewhat,
on its technology page. (In truth, Google keeps its technology secret,
lest anyone learn how to trick the system.)
Ideally, you want to convince as many
related sites as possible to link to you - particularly big ones. To
find influential, non-competitive sites, install the Alexa toolbar,
which will provide a site's relative ranking.
You can contact related sites and suggest reciprocal links, but be
warned that is a tough process. It will only work if you can offer
something of value, at the very least, a link from a truly relevant site
(yours), which boosts their search ranking.
(Whatever you do, don't use those automated programs that request links
- your e-mail will only get deleted.)
One way to build a network of links to your site is through affiliate
marketing. With an affiliate marketing program, you sign-up other Web
sites to link to yours, and pay them a commission if a click-through
results in a sale.
The advantage to affiliate marketing is that you pay only when you make
a sale. Consequently, many well-established e-commerce sites use
affiliate marketing. They hire firms like LinkShare and Commision
Junction to help them administer their programs.
However, affiliate marketing is of limited value to a brand new online
store with a shoestring budget. It's hard to recruit affiliates to drive
traffic to an unknown site, and many of the programs charge a set-up
fee. But keep affiliate marketing in mind as you grow - with time it can
be a valuable traffic driver.
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Page 20 |
Online Money-Making Opportunities
Several Systems to make real money via
Internet
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