How to raise your profile through website linking

20 November 2008

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One of the most powerful aspects of the world wide web is the ability for websites to link to each other, producing a set of references to other sites that may be of interest to the reader. By having links to and from other websites you will drive increased traffic to your site which in turn will help you make money.

What are links?

Links, or hyperlinks, are found in the content of a website. These links are often highlighted in blue and are underlined such as this; www.fpb.org

On clicking the link you will normally be redirected to another website which has related content. Indeed some websites are no more than a collection of links, acting as a setting off point to other websites.

The more links there are to your website then the more important your site is considered in the hierarchy of millions of web pages. This is because it is believed that someone will only link to another site if the content is relevant and of interest, so the more links the more interest and the better the content. In fact search engines such as Google will look for the number of websites linking to yours and incorporate that metric into the ranking for your site. This is called search engine optimization (SEO), you can read more about it here.

Links from industry sites

Clearly as a small business it is difficult to get seen above the general "noise" on the web. By getting a bigger partner or supplier to link to your site is a great way of getting your company known.

For example you may be in an industry with one or two major players that run a partner program, by which we mean that you join a scheme that encourages you and your customers to use a certain product from that main supplier. Often by joining such a partner program one of the benefits will be a link from the major player's site to yours.
Although this may be useful there is little that sets you above any other partner, so you need to think creatively.

If you have partners and suppliers, create a page for them on your website with their links and logos, then ask them for a reciprocal link back to your site.

Content is king

On the web content is king. People will visit your site if it addresses their concerns or interests. That is why many small businesses will put interesting content on their site as well as information about their products. For example:

If you are writing an article or letter to a publication then why not put it on your website?
If you have contributed to an industry event why not put your presentation on the site for people to download?

Don't forget that by linking with your site people are showing that they wish to be associated with you. They will only do so if they like what you do, how you say it and how you present it.

Buying links

It is possible to buy website links. Some marketing companies aggregate websites and will interlink them in an effort to drive up web traffic. Whilst this may appear to be a good idea initially you should be looking for quality rather than quantity. In addition many of the better known web search engines will filter out data from such aggregated sites. In fact some search engines will place sites that are seen to be falsifying such links onto a black list to be ignored in future searches.

Links for free

You don't always have to pay for links, though it may take a bit more hard work on your part. The web is an interactive community that anyone, including you, can contribute to. Getting involved in valid discussions in forums and on other people's blogs is a great way to put your website's link on another website. This is particularly easy on forums where you can set up a signature so it will be there every time you leave a comment.

Replying to posts is an efficient and cost effective way of raising your company's profile, but be careful not to make pointless comments just for the sake of leaving your link. People who use blogs are web-savvy and will see it as "spam", the least trusted form of content on the web. Writing insightful and entertaining contributions to go with your link will do a lot more for your company's reputation.

About the author

This article was first published as Website linking in the Business IT Guide, part of e-skills, the Sector Skills Council for IT and telecoms. The Business IT Guide has been developed in collaboration with industry experts to help small businesses find the right IT solutions for the issues that affect them.

How to raise your profile through website linking

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