Link Exchanges

Most bloggers are familiar with link exchanges, but for beginners I'll give a brief explanation. A link exchange is when two blogs agree to put the other blogger's link up on their own. Most of the time link exchanges or a "link swap" goes on the sidebar in a blog list or blog roll or if you have a big website under a page just for links and affiliates. Every now and then you should check your link exchanges and make sure the other site is still linking you.

Why should I do a link exchange?
Link exchanges are good because it helps you interact with other bloggers and make a small community. Another great reason why link exchanges are good is because it'll help boost your ranking in search engine results which will drive more traffic to your blog. Doing link exchanges will also help up your ranking in Technorati and etc.

Are there such things as bad link exchanges?
There are some link exchanges you might want to stay away from. Link exchanges weren't exactly made to optimize your page on search results, but to lead the visitor of your site/blog to another site that provides similar information which would benefit them. If you're thinking about getting lots of link exchanges just to boost search results, I'll tell you this, you're going down the wrong road.

For example, if you're doing a fashion blog it wouldn't be too smart to be linking a fishing website. See what I mean? That messes up search results and this kind of linking is known as spam linking. So when you're requesting link exchanges or receiving requests, try to stay with sites/blogs that have the same topic as you.

Another example of a "bad" link exchange would go like this: You do a link exchange with someone, everything goes well, but then when you check 3 months later, you find that the blog you exchanged links with is no longer there or not being updated. This won't benefit you or your viewers and if you know that they're not coming back, then it's okay to take their link off.

Remember to link the other site/blog!
Sometimes I have problems with link exchanges because after agreeing to do one with another blog, the owner of that blog forgets to put my link up. Be courteous of each other and live up to your agreements. And don't be worried or scared to ask the other blogger to add your link, just ask them politely.

Another problem that happens frequently is when someone requests for a link exchange, the other blogger never replies and just randomly puts the link up. That's okay in a way, but it's better to let the blogger that requested for a link exchange know that you want to do one. Otherwise, some people might feel like they got rejected if no reply comes.

I have so many link exchanges and it's taking so much room on my sidebar, what should I do?
When you become a longtime blogger, you tend to have more link exchanges than others and it does take lots of space on the side. I personally like to organize all link exchanges into one small drop down menu. It really makes the sidebar look spacious and neat. For those that don't like drop down menus, you can dedicate one post or page to link exchanges and make a link to it from the sidebar.