Alt Tags & Affiliate Programs

[busy1]

Can someone show me the proper code to write an alt tag for my links?
Also does linking to affiliate programs help your rankings?
Thanks,
Lynn
http://www.thegifts2give.com

[paulhiles]

Hi Lynn,


Can someone show me the proper code to write an alt tag for my links?
do you mean your links or your images? if it's for your images then Yes.. the ALT tag is a property of the image tag.. and generally follows this syntax
/images/yourimagename.gif
If you mean your links.. then you will need to use the TITLE property as outlined below:
<A class="" href="http://www.thegifts2give.com/catalog/item/733449/359615.htm" title="Buy this winsome Santa now">



Also does linking to affiliate programs help your rankings?
This can vary according to your particular business area, I think in your case, you will find that affiliate marketing will bring you increased traffic, and should also improve your ranking.

Hope that helps,

Paul

[cbp]

Also does linking to affiliate programs help your rankings?

No.

CBP

[cbp]

This can vary according to your particular business area, I think in your case, you will find that affiliate marketing will bring you increased traffic, and should also improve your ranking.


How can linking to an affiliate program improve your ranking?

The oppoiste would improve your ranking - is running an affiliate program with the links to you (increase sales and traffic as well)

[minstrel]

If you mean your links.. then you will need to use the TITLE property as outlined below:
<A class="" href="http://www.thegifts2give.com/catalog/item/733449/359615.htm" title="Buy this winsome Santa now">
...or simply
Buy this winsome Santa now (http://www.thegifts2give.com/catalog/item/733449/359615.htm)

[Duncan Pollock]

I understand the code, but I don't get the idea of it when we're dealing with links instead of images.
In other words, when, if at all, does the alt line show?
With an image, it displays when someone runs the cursor over it (and appears if the image isn't there for one reason or another) -- this much is clear to me.
But is there an equivalent result when people slide on to the link but don't click on it? And/or does it show if (for reasons I'm not at all sure about) the link isn't showing on the screen?
I'm a tad confused!

Duncan

[paulhiles]

Sorry if there was any confusion over my explanation of tag properties...

If you mouseOver a link with a 'title' tag, it will produce a tooltip with the contents of the title tag. Equally, if you mouseOver over an image with an 'alt' description it will produce a similar result (in IE).

Paul

[paulhiles]

How can linking to an affiliate program improve your ranking?
The oppoiste would improve your ranking - is running an affiliate program with the links to you (increase sales and traffic as well)
I did make the point that this can vary from area to area.. I think in the case of this site, where the products are fairly generic, and belong generally to the 'gift shop' category, links to other sites could well produce an increase in traffic.

IF the products were unique to 'thegifts2give.com' then I would accept that they should seek to distinguish themselves as offering a unique / niche set of products, and may well profit from setting up an affiliate program of their own, as you suggest!

Paul