Reciprocal link request from "The Mouse That Roared."

 

Dear Mental Health Advocate:

 

The Web master and Search Engine Optimization gurus are agreed: The best way for smaller non-commercial Web sites to attract visitors--especially niche sites--is establishing quality links with other quality sites with the same audience (see below).  You'll be able to read about the Bethesda Beatniks Dinner Club's latest special event--a November 8th consumer art show/music night/dinner/lecture by Dr. Kay Redfield Jamison--in local, national, and even international publications, plus on local news leader WTOP Radio.  That's the kind of exposure most mental health non-profits only dream about, that we are getting; and that you can share in by linking with the Beatniks and our affiliated DC Mental Health Consumers' League sites, 

www.bethesdabeatniks.org and http://www.dcmhcl.org/.

These two affiliated, Washington-DC-region consumer-run mental health organizations--the popular "Bethesda Beatniks Dinner Club" (www.bethesdabeatniks.org) and the "DC Mental Health Consumers' League" (www.dcmhcl.org)--have recently greatly enhanced our respective Web sites, and are both interested in establishing reciprocal Web links in the resources pages of your organization's Web site. 

The "Beatniks" club hosts biweekly educational dinner meetings with prominent after-dinner speakers, plus occasional mental health consumer arts & music festivals.  The club and its activities have been written up or reported multiple times in "Washington Post Montgomery Extra," "Washington Post Metro," "Washington Post Health," "Gazette Newspapers," "City Paper," "NAMI Newsletter," "Schizophrenia Digest," "Psychiatric News," plus half a dozen local radio stations including news leader WTOP.  The focus is socialization, peer support, education, and advocacy.  Prominent sponsors include NAMI/Montgomery County, Mental Health Assn./Montgomery County, CORE Service Agency/Montgomery County, and the Washington Psychiatric Society. 

The "Consumers' League" focus is on advocacy first, plus maintaining a mental health information clearing house and providing peer support.   

Our constantly-growing inter-organizational mailing list now exceeds 1,200 people, locally and nationally. 

Please visit our respective Web sites, and if you like what you see, contact Phil Quiett, Web master for both organizations, at pkq66@erols.com.  He will answer any questions and promptly arrange reciprocal Web links with you.  Thank you!!  ###

 

Use and distribution of this article is subject to our Publisher Guidelines whereby the original author's information and copyright must be included. Getting Relevant, Effective Links!   by Jack Humphrey Once upon a time a website owner looked for and secured links from other sites simply to get traffic from that site and send some traffic back for the privilege. There was no Google, Yahoo, or MSN setting rules about reciprocal links which have now somehow become "the law." Links were for traffic...targeted traffic. Since, to this day, nothing does your site more good than a good, visible, relevant link from a site which caters to your perfect market base, I propose a test you can run in your marketing for a couple of months. Get links from sites based upon factors that matter most: 1. Good content 2. Strong reader base 3. Willingness to link from a prominent place Let the engines worry about their silly algorithms for a couple months. Pretend they are not there. I think you will be surprised when you come back and see that they actually like you more than before! Google "banned" reciprocal linking because it was being abused and they set about to detect the abuse and rectify their rankings by giving you no love (PR) for the links you got (if you used automation and got a lot of senseless links). The solution for you? Don't go grabbing links from link directories and non relevant sites, no matter how high their rankings or PR. The rule is: less links, higher value, less time spent getting them. Choosing the right sites... Good Content A site that does a great job on real content (not just sales material and pitches) is a great link partner. People flock to content and appreciate it. Get your links in front of people who appreciate the content they are reading. They will be in a good mood when they hit your link. Strong Reader Base Does the site have an obvious following? If it's a blog, are there a lot of comments and conversations going on? Are they from today or last year? Willingness to Link from an Obvious Place Links need to come from pages on other sites that actually see human visitors in as high number as possible. And the owner must be willing. It shouldn't be hard to convince someone or you should move on. Easy Ways to Get Links (Reciprocal and Non Reciprocal) *Be a part of something. If you are in a halfway decent niche, there is a wider discussion going on around you. Are you listening, commenting on blogs, doing trackbacks, and participating in forums? *Do content exchange rather than link exchange. Write original content for someone in your niche and host their content on your site. *Write exclusive content for another site in your niche just for the link. If someone wrote killer content for my blog that was perfect for my visitors I'd have a hard time turning it down! There's no better place to be than in the posts of another popular blog! Links make the web work. Now that there is a difference between good and bad links, just focus on what would be best for your site and your readers when acquiring links. That's all Google wants after all. About the Author Jack Humphrey is the editor of The Friday Traffic Report. For more linking and website promotion tips, head over to the Friday Traffic Report and get some serious traffic. http://www.jackhumphrey.com/