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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
