Before you start searching for blogs to exchange links to promote your blog, there are some tips beginner bloggers need to bear in mind. Opinions are divided as to whether link exchanging does more harm than good but the general consensus is that it is no longer effective in getting a higher PageRank or higher rankings in Google search results. However it still has some value in getting targeted traffic to your blog.

Why Link Exchange Could Hurt Your Blog

Link exchanging as a method of blog promotion has fallen out of favour mainly because of abuse by webmasters who practice spam indexing. Spam indexing consists of various methods of deceiving search engines of a site’s popularity by link manipulation. These include creating hundreds of small web sites called link farms to link to a main site to give it a false representation of its popularity.

The quality of the site giving the link is now taken into consideration when ranking is given. So it’s a bad idea to put down cash for seemingly good deals that promise 1,000 links for $10 because you have no control over who links to you. Being linked by an undesirable site does your blog more harm than good.

How To Get Beneficial Link Exchange

Link exchange is still a useful process to drive targeted traffic to your blog. Just remember a few points when doing so.

1. Look for blogs in similar or complimentary niches to exchange links.
2. Look for blogs or sites whose readers you think will benefit your blog.
3. Don’t exchange links with a site that has a long list of indiscriminate links of irrelevant and unrelated sites.

Link Exchanges From Popular Blogs

Don’t waste your time trying to get link exchanges with popular blogs. Firstly, A-list bloggers won’t give you the time of day, let alone entertain your requests.

Secondly, a link from an A-lister is worth a few hundred dollars a month - why would he give you one for free? Instead, you’ll have much better results looking for blogs in your niche who are on similar levels with your blog.

How To Ask For A Link Exchange

Firstly, check if this blog policy is stated anywhere. Usually it’s in the “About” or “Contact” page. If the blogger states a no-link exchange policy then don’t ask.

Try to establish some kind of communication with the blogger you want to exchange links with before asking for a link exchange. Spend some time reading the blog and leaving several comments - intelligent ones - thereby introducing yourself indirectly to the blogger.

When you ask for a link, be polite and humble about it. It’s amazing how often I get readers basically doing the equivalent of plonking themselves down on the sofa, putting their legs up on the coffee table and asking for a drink without so much as saying “hi” first.

Compliment the blogger on his work sincerely and politely ask if the person would like to exchange links with you since you both have similar topic blogs. Give a brief description of your blog topic. As a gesture of goodwill, say that you will put up his link anyway and hope that he would agree to do the same. Leave your link for him to take action.

Then wait.

Check back in a week or so - that should be sufficient time for him to check out your blog first to see if he likes it. If he doesn’t include your llink and you don’t want to put up his link unreciprocated, you can then remove his link.

Don’t get discouraged or offended if your offer is rejected. There are thousands of other blogs to seek out for link exchanges. Move on.

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