10 Mistakes to Avoid When Setting Up a Link Directory by Tony
Simpson
10 Mistakes to Avoid When Setting Up a Link Directory
When adding a link directory to a web site there are important mistakes to
avoid, or else you'll be storing up big problems for later on. I know, because
I made some of these mistakes and didn't have anyone to offer any advice or
tell me what I'm about to tell you.
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Don't create a directory page with all your links on one page. You should
have no more than 30 - 40 links to a page. The reason is that some sites will
not link to you if a page you put their link on has too many links, because it
dilutes the value of the link to them. To understand why, you need to know
about Google Page Rank and how it's passed to another site from your link page.
That's a subject too lengthy for this topic.
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Plan your link directory on paper first and decide what names you are
going to give each category in your link directory. Make the names fit with the
theme of your site and try to avoid adding categories which are nothing to do
with what your site is about.
For example if your site is about Making Candles and Candle Accessories, don't
have link categories for Computers & Games, or Search Engine Optimization
etc. The reason is that if you want your site to achieve a good ranking with
the search engines your site should be built tightly around your theme, in this
example Candles.
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Only link to web sites that relate to your site theme and have something
to offer your visitors. This refers to item 2. If you don't have categories for
unrelated topics, you'll be less tempted to link to them because you don't have
a category to put them in.
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Choose names for link categories that you want to use now and in the future,
because you can't easily change them later on. Once the pages are created by
your link manager software, it will use the category names you give it. So if
you have a category called "Candle Power" it will create an html page called
Candle-Power.html or something similar, using your category name. Once this
page is found and indexed by the search engines, in time it will gain Page
Rank.
If later, you change the category name to "Candle Lights" the link manager
software will create a new page called Candle-Lights.html and you will lose the
page rank you had gained for the earlier page. If your link partners linked to
you because the page you put them on had a good page rank, renaming the page
will cause this page rank to fall to zero. As a result your link partners may
drop the link they have back to you, which is not what you ever want to happen.
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Avoid having sub-categories or sub sub-categories in your directory from
your main category pages. The reason for this is again to do with how search
engines will rank your directory pages. If your directory pages are more than
two levels or two clicks away from your main index or home page they will
either not be indexed by some search engines, or if they are indexed they will
achieve a lower ranking. Some web sites will not link to you if the page you
are to put the link on is more than 2 clicks away from your home page because
these webmasters know what I've just told you.
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Ensure each page of your link directory has a link back to your home page.
Once again the reason for this is to do with how search engines will rank your
directory pages, so make sure these links are in place.
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Don't be obsessed at linking only to web sites that have a good ranking with
the search engines. Look first at whether the site has anything to offer your
visitors. If it has poor or unrelated content don't link to it. If it has good
related content that compliments your own content but has zero or low page
rank, consider linking to it. Later on you may be glad you provided a link,
when it's page rank improves.
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Don't use link directory software that doesn't automatically check links to
your web site are still present on the other sites. Doing link checking
manually can be tedious and you have to remember to do it. Software that you
can set a schedule to check links and automatically send out emails to
webmasters when links are not found will save you a lot of time. Link
management software that will automatically suspend links and delete them if
they are repeatedly not found is an added bonus.
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Don't use standard templates that come with any link manager, link
directory management software. You need to modify these templates to match the
look and design of your own web site. This requires you know something about
editing a web page using an HTML editor. Also don't use the standard email
templates, personalize them in some way, even if it's only to add your name.
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Don't assume you're finished once you've set up your link directory and
done all the things I've said. You must test and retest every aspect to ensure
everything is working properly, before visitors arrive.
This means making an add a link request, as if you were a visitor to your own
web site. Setting up test links and making sure these links are being checked
by the software so it detects when links are removed or defective. Making sure
it sends out email notices correctly and check the formatting is correct when
they are received. You should also check you can make backups of your link
directory database and be able to restore it in the event of a problem.
About the Author
Tony Simpson, Has been doing Web Site Design, Promotion and Optimization for 5
years. He provides advice, product reviews and products at
Web Page Add Ons to Make Automation of Your Web Site Work for You.
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