Chris Richardson of WebProNews is in San Jose for SES 2005. Today, he stopped by a session that is part of the Linking Track on today's agenda.

Buy that link.

Lots has been said about not buying links on other sites. Dire penalties like banishment from the search engines have been promised to those who disobey this tenet of optimization.

Eric Ward, CEO of EricWard.com, has long done things his own way in terms of advertising online. Buy links, but buy good links. Sites that cover topics related to your business make good places to invest in a link purchase.

The same goes for newsletters and feeds that offer coverage of related topics. Sponsor a whitepaper on a site-related topic, with your advertising displayed prominently.

That buying behavior should be done in a measured fashion. Purchasing a whole bunch of links at one time, or buying them from link farms who suddenly fill the Net with pointers back to your site, won't help and could even hurt your efforts.

Ward's suggestions don't center on the search engines; they focus on traffic. You can't convert a visitor if they don't make it to your site in the first place.

Patrick Gavin, president of Text Link Ads, lists some specific benefits to link buying: direct traffic, link popularity, branding, and spidering. Buying a single page link doesn't provide as much benefit as a site-wide link; again, be careful not to buy too many too quickly.

Outbound links don't provide SEO benefits to a site. If you must have them, aim to make them ones that point to authority sites in your field. Incoming links enhance one's PageRank with Google; Gavin notes that Yahoo does a much better job with link analysis, though.

When considering where to purchase links, Alexa will be a general indicator of site traffic. Gavin observes that a company press kit will probably be more accurate with traffic counts.

When you buy those links, mix up anchor text and destination URLs, and also switch between index page and deeper landing page links.

Thomas Bindl, CEO of OPTOP, discussed some of the hazards and pitfalls with links. First and foremost, you will want to verify a site's PageRank. Check their search engine cache, their backlinks, and related sites.

He also says a site owner should plan to keep the link they've purchased for eight weeks, to give it time to get weight. After about two months, a site owner should see some benefit from that purchased link. If not, it's time to dump it and move on with another part of your linking strategy.

Debra Mastaler, owner of Alliance-Link.com, extolled the virtues of buying links that spread your message across a wider audience. Even though a lot of visitors can be gleaned from links purchased on sites related to your target market, your target market generally has interests beyond just those topics.

Real world ad agencies mix up advertising campaigns to try and gain more market penetration, and you may wish to do the same thing. Like the rest of the panel at this session, Mastaler feels link buying is not a bad thing.

Greg Boser, president of WebGuerilla, makes the point that the Internet does not belong to Google. It belongs to the users, and link buying is a legitimate method of site promotion. Google sells ad space, and that's just another form of selling links.

Boser agrees with contentions made by those who've looked at recent discussions regarding Google's patent applications. He believes Google ages links, and won't give credit to a new site that arrives with dozens of inbound links.

Buy links incrementally, and take advantage of a completely legitimate way to promote your site to your satisfaction, not the search engine's.

I signed up to www.Direct-Link-Ads.com; they have hundreds of websites that they sell direct links on.

What I like the best is that I have control to edit the anchor text of my link advert and select where my links add appears.

They are Alpha testing a new link building interface, during witch time alpha testers can publish text link ads for free!

Check them out for a great deal!

Ive been following the posts, albeit from out of the corner of my eye, but what cought my attention this time was the line that said something to the affect of being banned from search engines for using non paid links...whats that all about? Surely a link is a link is a link, no?

Like everyone else, Im trying to increase my sites visibilty - www.paulcooklin.com and would greatly appreciate any feedback about legitmate ways that work. I dont mind spending a few quid if its going to pay off. Whats the scoop with these software programs like IB8 or whatever its called?
Any useful suggestions welcomed over a nice cup of tea.

Paul Cooklin
www.paulcooklin.com
www.digitalimagery.uk.com

It's a good idea to buy a link when the site offering the option is really going to provide a sincere effort to justify and make worthwhile the fees requested.

Anyone can request a link from many a site and be placed on the bottom of a page with 500 other links and non-functioning banners...but what have you gained?

I operate a niche directory for Home and Garden websites. I don't wish this response to sound like an ad, but i will say that we go far and wide to make sure that those who pay to be listed are at an advantage to having been listed.

Granted, not all web sites requesting money to be listed are going to benefit you, so I have a simple guideline you can follow:

• 1. Does the site you wish to link to have an Alexa Rating better than yours?

• 2. Will your link be placed on a page with a PR of 3 or greater?

• 3. Will your new listing be above the fold of the page?

• 4. Will your listing be found in a site search?

• 5. Can you find the link area from the Home Page?

• 6. Is there an option to make this a One Way Link?

Bottom line, you can be successful and benefit nicely from a paid link if you take a few moments to see if the opportunity will work for you or not. Not every type of site listing opportunity will work for you, so be patient, be wise...but don't be afraid to try.

Have a great day!

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Web Design by David Nelmes, Webmaster - Designing Online, Inc. Home and Garden Design solutions, Online Magazine, Shopping Mall, Custom E-Cards, Home and Garden Resources and many more family oriented features. http://www.designingonline.com

How much does a link usually cost? Maybe i could start selling links from www.liquiddesigns.biz?

Can anyone give me a good suggestion for a company who can manage my link building (anchor text)?

There is no way to put a price on a link without taking a good look at the site which is giving you the space.... There was alot of good points posted above but many other things to consider aswell..

he first thing I look for if I'm going to buy a link is "Google Pagerank" - Pagerank will give me a quick idea of how many people believe this to be a good site.... Sites with high pagerank are generally good sites since they have aquired lots of inbound links...

The next thing I look for is "Google Cache". When I consider advertising on a website, I want to see Google caching it in their database often... The stronger the site, the more frequently Google will come and take a look at it. The more frequently it comes to take a look, the more frequently my ad or link is likely to get credit for being there..

Generally, I like to see a daily cache. A daily cache tells me that Google likes the site very much and is willing to take the time to come by each and everyday and look for updates. It is also a good sign that the site is more than likely updated with fresh information, which is good for everyone: My ad, the site itself, and the users.

if these two things check out good, and the site is relitive to my site, then I will persue an advert.

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Long Island's Largest Online Publication
Long Island Exchange ® - by Searchen Networks Inc.

your site is still not work. page was jump to google translation page after I submit.

superdollarmall - online dollar items store
china seo

Here is a good place to check out some prices on links. These are one way and you can choose the PR etc. http://www.consultingace.com/Link_Bu...imization.html


Let me know what you think.

Great reccomendation, Link-Ads Alpha Tester.

"Greg Boser, president of WebGuerilla, makes the point that the Internet does not belong to Google. It belongs to the users, and link buying is a legitimate method of site promotion. Google sells ad space, and that's just another form of selling links".

Is it possible to distingush between commercial solutions and research results?

KW's:
Fractal compression:
Research site is first on Google.

Fast Fractal algorithm
Edu site first hit on Google.

Try that if you work with compressing image files.

I have not tried the other SE's, but CETERIS PARIBUS, I do not want an ecommerce site to be on the first hits. Of course, a Cisco site may be the first hit on security related KW search.

You know what I mean.

Kjell Gunnar Bleivik
http://www.multifinanceit.com/
http://www.blognorway.com/

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Learn object oriented programming where it started

That's the premise behind the Yahoo! Mindset Beta and I'm sure others will have something similar fairly soon. It works - sometimes.

Brian.

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ToolBarn.com, an Internet Retailer Top 500 and Inc. 500 Company | Tool Parts | Pet Supplies

About 30$/link for PR4???? Better go to a site like LinkAdage. ;)

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SEO Expert | Internet Marketing

Well, I checked out direct-link-ads.com and all of the sites I looked at in their network seemed suspiciously similar in design and not really good as far as content goes. How they get a page rank of 4 and I'm stuck at 3 is beyond me. The free offer isn't real clear either.

It sounded like an ok idea.

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Zen Cart, Drupal and Southware Netlink E-Commerce - www.OnTargetPro.com

I was wondering about the conversion rate of text ads. This is assuming that the link is on a related site. What are your experiences?

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What we've seen is that a decent text ad will get double our site's typical conversion rate. That's an actual ad, not just a text link. Those tend to convert considerably lower since they're only targeting one phrase that may or may not really say what that person is looking for. A couple sentences converts best.

Brian.

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ToolBarn.com, an Internet Retailer Top 500 and Inc. 500 Company | Tool Parts | Pet Supplies